The President of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) has urged young people “to dig deep into the radical roots of the old struggle against apartheid and to take up the New Struggle”, to transform South Africa.

In his 2023 Easter message Archbishop Thabo Makgoba called for transformation in South Africa to save the country from becoming an ungovernable failed state saying “History is replete with moments when people failed to read the signs of the times and paid the penalty, sitting on the sidelines watching their societies fall apart and become ungovernable failed states.”

The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa urged young people to become active citizens and to “dig deep into the radical roots of the old struggle against apartheid, and to take up the New Struggle, a new struggle for a new generation, a struggle to regain our moral compass, a struggle to end economic inequity, a struggle to bring about equality of opportunity and realise the promises of our Constitution.”

Archbishop Makgoba highlighted the #FeesMustFall protests led by students in South Africa and called for the adaptation of a “New Struggle” to “inspire the multitudes of disillusioned young people”, and urged South African youth to “register with the Independent Electoral Commission and to campaign to rejuvenate the country’s politics.“

He called on South Africans to “wage a revolutionary struggle in a disciplined and dignified manner… and peacefully.” He continued by saying that “there is no place for violence in a constitutional democracy.”

The SACC President also reiterated the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to be transparent about the Phala Phala farm theft.

He said, “The trickle of disconnected announcements on investigations arising from the theft of money from the President’s Phala Phala farm still hasn’t explained satisfactorily why such large amounts of money weren’t banked, and the ANC’s refusal to allow a parliamentary inquiry is reminiscent of the cover-ups of the Zuma administration.”

“If we are to build the nation we want, one based on transparency and honesty, the President needs to give us a single comprehensive account of what happened and why it happened”, said Archbishop Makgoba.