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WHERE IS CHURCH, AS GOVT STRUGGLES WITH SOCIAL ISSUES?

01/07/2024 08:04:00 Emmanuel Ndlangamandla

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Eswatini continues to face challenges that continue to overwhelm government, which has a primary responsibility to address them. The country ranks 138 out of 189 in the 2019 human development index. The country has the 10th highest income inequality in the world at 49 per cent, in which 26 per cent of children under 5 are malnourished.

According to the Eswatini Voluntary National Review 2019 Report, government confirms that poverty reduced from 63 per cent in 2010 to 58.9 per cent in 2017. Also to note is that poverty is more pronounced in rural areas at 70 per cent than urban at 19.6 per cent. Regions that are severely affected by high levels of poverty are Shiselweni – 71.5 per cent and Lubombo region – 67.3 per cent.

Compared

There is a much higher proportion of multidimensional poor children in the rural areas (65.3 per cent) compared to the urban areas (22.8 per cent). Gender inequality is evident in various dimensions, including in the higher unemployment levels of young women (50 per cent) compared to that of young men (44 per cent) and in the starkly higher prevalence of HIV in female youths 20 to 24 years of age (20.9 per cent) compared to males of the same age group (4.2 per cent). (UNICEF Country Programme 2021-2025). According to World Bank various deprivations experienced by poor people in their daily lives – such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, disempowerment, poor quality of work, the threat of violence and living in areas that are environmentally hazardous, among others. Other problems the nation is grappling includes the endemic corruption, drug shortage disaster, food insecurity, gender-based violence, family structure disintegration to mention a few.

Jesus call for social justice and peace?

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus read a portion of scripture which said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, He has appointed me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord”.

Fulfilled

Jesus fulfilled Prophet Isiah call for justice, righteousness and hope to the oppressed, which is central to social justice (Isiah 42:42, 1,4, 6-7). Isaiah also refers to Jesus as a Prince of peace, which is also a call for church to be champion peace. This he demonstrated during his arrest when Peter resorted to use his sword, Jesus restored the ear because he was against violence means to solve problems. Jesus also demands of the Church as a collective, as well as individual Christians to be the salt of the world.

Does our church have a role in social justice?
The church as an institution is formal organisation that sets out to accomplish a specific purpose. It is an agent. It can do things; it can say things; it has its own voice. As an institution, it has its own purposes and plans, its own structure and officers and its own mission. It has its own proper sphere. It is indeed shocking that when some of the clergyman do things that are not in line with church traditions, like what has dominated media when one of the prominent church leaders unveiled another wife and congregants seen applauding instead of being surprised. The church bodies including the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Conference of Churches and the League of Churches were all silent. Why is church silent during evictions?

Body

One can also conceive of the church as an organism. This is to consider the church as the body of believers, an aggregate of individual believers. Each Christian has a purpose and a call in God’s plan. Each has a vocation, a calling. The Catholic and the Nazarene Church from precolonial times, were not just concerned about the propagation of the gospel of Christ, but sought to partner with government in addressing developmental challenges. They establish schools and health facilities to help emaSwati address health problems. When HIV/AIDS strike the country, the church also sprang into action, establishing institution such as Church Forum, to mobilise the Church and Christian community to be part of the national solution.

In I Samuel 13:3, Prophet Samuel said “Testify against me and in front of the anointed King. Whose ox have I taken? whose donkey have I taken? whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? The people said he had not done any. This is the essence of Christian Life. In Mathew 25: 35 Jesus said “For I was hungry you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, I was in prison and you came to visit me”. Prayer alone is not enough, church must act!