Tribute for anti-apartheid cleric Allan Boesak

People who drew inspiration from Dr Allan Boesak, 79, had a chance to pay tribute to him during an event held in his honour on Saturday, June 14.

The event took place at the eatery at Langverwacht Plein Shopping Mall, Kuils River, from 2pm until 4pm and was organised by Cape Word Weavers, a community group that promotes poetry and short-story writing.

Dr Boesak is a South African clergyman who was one of South Africa’s leading activists against apartheid. He was born in Kakamas in the Northern Cape, but currently lives in Observatory.

“We decided to organise this event as part of celebrating the life of one of our own - a man who stood up against the apartheid government,” said Samuel Theron, founder of  Cape Word Weavers.

The chief executive officer of Boland Athletics, Mike Fraser, who delivered a lecture about Dr Boesak at the event, described him as a selfless revolutionary.

“The campaigns that he ran were campaigns that affected the people on the ground…his message has been consistent throughout the years - it’s about inclusiveness. We know what cost he had paid for his steadfast love of God,” he said.

Dr Boesak studied theology at the University of the Western Cape at the age of 17, and was ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church in 1968.

His biography states that he persuaded members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to declare apartheid a heresy when he served as president of the alliance from 1982 to 1991. 

It further says he helped organize the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the early 1980s, a multiracial association of all manner of groups opposed to apartheid, and in 1984 he and others organized a massive boycott of the national elections. 

Dr Boesak was arrested many times for his participation in demonstrations, and his movements and speech were restricted.

"As long as you have people in government who care more about their personal finances than they do about the lives of the (citizens) of their country, there's something to fight for. And so, as long as there is something to fight for, that is where we are, and that is what we do," Dr Boesak told the attendees.

In 1994, however, he was accused of misappropriating money donated to his charity, the Foundation for Peace and Justice. 

The allegations forced him to withdraw his nomination as ambassador to the United Nations and he was convicted of theft and fraud in 1999.

He served one year of a three-year sentence before being released in 2001. He was pardoned by former President Thabo Mbeki in 2005.