Archbishop Thabo speaks out on water injustice. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba was the keynote speaker at the launch service of the “Just Water” campaign hosted by St Pauls Institute in London. As I was preparing for this event, we learned in Cape Town that as a result of diminished rainfall over the past year, the dams supplying water for our metropolitan area are only 29 percent full, this at a time when we cannot expect our winter rains to begin before May. While I won’t go here into the linkages between the El Niño phenomenon and global warming, our water crisis had the effect of concentrating my mind on how precious water is and on how devastating the effects of scarcity can be. But apart from that, why would an archbishop be talking about water? Well, to begin with, water is mentioned 722 times in the Bible. It literally frames the Biblical story. The first book, Genesis, starts with a wonderful poetic image of water and Creation. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1) Before creation even took place, the waters were there. Water is a primal element giving birth to life. It is no wonder that when a child is created the waters break to symbolize the start of the journey – a new life coming into the world. And in the last book of the Bible, Revelations, we have a wonderful vision of re-creation. The followers of Jesus are being persecuted and in the midst of pain and destruction, John the writer encourages them to persevere, with this vision of re-creation. 22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. What a beautiful vision! Here, at the heart of restored creation, we encounter the river of the water of life, flowing from the hand of God. Water is channeled, sustaining life, not ravaging through floods.. The water is clear and clean. What a vision for our nations, if we work together to clean our rivers, and to plant trees – for the healing of the nations. Imagine clean rivers and trees soaking up carbon pollution and breathing out life-giving oxygen. Water is particularly important in Scripture because of the lands where the biblical stories take place. They are dry lands, with no great rivers like the countries of Egypt or Mesopotamia. Israel only has one main river – the Jordan, the rest of their water supply is dependent on the rains. So the yearning for water as the spring of life is a part of daily life. And so these scriptures resonate with us in sub-Saharan Africa where rain-fed agriculture accounts for more than 95% of farmed land. Without water there is no life. (International Water Management Institute) Water was present at the start of creation, and the entire history of God’s work on Earth is framed by rivers. Water in Southern Africa As I have mentioned, we are currently experiencing drought where I live. We have only three months’ supply left. And in South Africa as a whole, the drought impacts us all in many ways – the most obvious being food shortages leading to price increases, affecting the poor disproportionately. Many casuals workers have lost their jobs. The lack of water is one of the biggest business risks to our country , and with climate change drought will become more and more common. Last year the following story brought the shortages home as a reality. The family of a young pupil killed at Hlathelidumayo at KwaNongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal, apparently over drinking water, is battling to come to terms with their loss. Fifteen-year-old Qiniso Mhlongo was stoned by a group of boys and died a day later in hospital. Community members say the altercation started over water. It’s believed boys from another village accused some girls of dirtying the available water. Qiniso was apparently trying to protect the girls from the boys who were harassing them. His mother, who tried to stop the fight, was also injured in the face. Police in the area have since then arrested two people in connection with the murder. In another part of the church in Southern Africa, Mozambique, climate change leads to the opposite effect – of severe flooding which washes away homes and topsoil, leaving the land degraded and crops destroyed. Water justice The theme for tonight is Water Justice and we can see so clearly that the distribution of water is based on inequality. We cannot talk of water without talking of sanitation and for that reason the title of my talk is Water is Life, Sanitation is Dignity. Many of the threats to water are coming from companies who pollute rivers with industrial pollution. We suffer a lot from acid mine drainage affecting our water systems. The shareholders of mining companies make a profit, but the local communities are left with water degradation. As a church we stand firmly against fracking, since for short-term profit there is a danger of water systems being polluted for decades. Large corporate farms are also responsible, as the run-off from artificial fertilisers and pesticides pollutes the rivers. In robust deabates with such company, called courageous conversations with the mining sector in particular, we are slowly finding each other in service to the community. Southern Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. This is seen nowhere as clearly as in terms of
