“A Prince among Men”

Re-examining the Relationship between the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), Hedrick Frensch Verwoerd, and the Apartheid State (1954–1966)

Abstract

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was constituted to help South Africa deal with the crime of apartheid. Faith communities were called to account for their actions or inactions because they, too, were actors during the apartheid era. The Church of England in South Africa (CESA) argued that it had been politically neutral. It defended its participation at Prime Minister Hedrick Verwoerd’s funeral as an act of Christian charity and not an indication of its support of the state. This article interrogates this assertion in light of primary written archival sources. It will be argued that the church was not politically neutral during the apartheid years but actively sided with the state and opposed the Church of the Province of South Africa’s (CPSA’s) prophetic stance towards the state. It assisted Verwoerd in political disputes with the Anglican Church and, after his death, mourned him as a friend, not just a statesman. It will be argued that contrary to its submissions and its classification in the TRC Report, the Church of England in South Africa was a supporter of apartheid.