The use and abuse of religious authority in the South African Parliament

Jan Botha

Department of Religion

University of Stellenbosch

Paper read at the Second African Symposium on Rhetoric and Communication

under the auspices of the Association for Rhetoric and Communication in Southern Africa

Symposium theme: "The Rhetorics of Diversity"

Stellenbosch , July 10-12, 1996

1. Introduction
2. Being a country of many diversities, the religious diversity of the South African population is one of its significant characteristics (cf. Chidester). Almost the whole spectrum of world religions as well as various indigenous religions have their adherents in this country.

   To give you a broad indication of the religious diversity in South Africa, I cite some of the figures from the fairly unreliable census of 1980. I emphasize that this figures are unreliable - as are the figures of the 1986 and 1990 censi. I will not dwell on the reasons for this unreliability. However, since these are the only figures that are available, I give them to you in any case.

   The overall statistics

   Christian 77%

   Hindu 1,7%

   Islam 1,1%

   Jewish 0,4%

   Other religions 1.3%

   None, not sure, refuse to indicate 18%

   The breakdown of adherents to the various Christian denominations:

   Anglican 6,9%

   Apostolic Faith 1,1%

   Congregationalist 1,6%

   Dutch Reformed 12,5%

   Independent 19,9%

   Lutheran 3,6%

   Methodist 10,1%

   Others (Christian) 8,4%

   Presbyterian 2,2%

   Reformed (GKSA) 0,5%

   Reformed (NHK) 0,8%

   Roman Catholic 9,2%

   NON-CHRISTIAN 23,2%

   Religion has always played an important role in South Africa. This has been both a blessing and a curse. Many examples of the good influence of religion can be cited. In times of suffering (for example during the Boer War of 1899-1902 or during the apartheid struggle) religion has helped the suffering and oppressed people to cope. Many of the poorest and most disadvantaged people of this country still find their strength to cope with their daily plight in their religion, their religious activities and their religious communities of support.

   However, many examples of the bad and destructive influence of religion can also be cited. The most obvious example is the role of religion in the justification of the policy of apartheid. A whole theology of apartheid based on a particular interpretation of the Bible was developed and it (cf Kinghorn 1986)

   Depending on one’s perspective and own interests, the role of religion in many other cases is ambiguous. For example, a major part of the Xhosa population starved to death due to a religious prophesy of Nongwasi in the previous century. She told her people that they should kill all their cattle and destroy all their food and then wait for the day when all white people would be driven into the sea. Some people judge the event as a prime example of the potentially destructive force of religion. Others explain it as the manipulation of a religious phenomenon by the ruling white colonialists.

   Another example of divergent opinions about the influence of religion is the role it played in the struggle against apartheid. Some people judge the role of religious leaders (such as Desmond Tutu and Beyers Naudé) and religious organizations (such as the South African Council of Churches, the Institute for Contextual Theology, the Programme to Combat Racism of the World Council of Churches) to be among the most important factors contributing to the liberation of the country. Others point out that some of the most serious incidents of anti-apartheid violence were justified with appeals to religious authority (***). On the other hand, the role of religion in the justification of the violence of the apartheid state is also well documented. (On religion and violence in SA, cf Chidester Shots in the streets).

   At our previous Rhetoric Conference in July 1994, Prof Alby Sachs (now a judge of the Constitutional Court) said that with the election of April 1994, South Africa has entered a situation of normality - he called it the "banality of normality." The intensity and abnormality of the situation of struggle is gone. A normal and democratic dispensation has been established. It is so normal that it is banal.

   This normality, obviously, did not end the influence of religion in this country. Given the significant numbers of adherents of various religions in this country, it is to be expected that it continues to play a role. In this paper I want to focus on one specific context where the new dispensation has been the most visible directly after the election, the South African Parliament. I want to share with you some of the appeals made to religious authority in speeches in the South African Parliament during the most recent Session (February to June 1996). What I did was to run a search on the computer in the Parliamentary library on keywords such as "God" or "gods", "Bible", "church", "Christian", "Muslim", "Hindu", Jewish", "African Traditional Religion and "religion/religious."

   Before I get to that, let us look briefly at some of the remarks of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969) about appeals to authority in argumentation. This will provide tools for an analysis of the rhetorical function of the appeals to religious authority made by parliamentarians.

3. Argument from Authority
4. In their exposition of the "new rhetoric" Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1996) distinguish five major techniques of argumentation, namely

   (i) quasi-logical arguments,

   (ii) arguments based on the structure of reality,

   (iii) the relations establishing the structure of reality,

   (iv) the dissociation of concepts, and

   (v) the interaction of arguments.

   They (1969:305-310) consider arguments from authority as one of the techniques of argumentation that can be classified as "arguments based on the structure of reality". Arguments based on the structure of reality make use of this structure to establish a solidarity between accepted judgments and others which one wishes to promote. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca do not assume any ontological position for these structures. They are not claiming to present "an objective description of reality". What they want to do, is to indicate the manner in which opinions concerning reality are presented in argumentation. These opinions can be treated as facts, truths or presumptions (1969:262). Two major categories of arguments based on the structure of reality are distinguished, namely

   (i) arguments which apply to relations of succession which unite a phenomenon to its consequences or causes and

   (ii) arguments which apply to the relations of co-existence which unite a person to his or her actions or which unite a group to the individuals who form it.

   Arguments from authority apply to relations of co-existence.

   1. Definition

Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969:305) define arguments from authority as those arguments "which uses the acts or opinions of a person or a group of persons as a means of proof in support of a thesis."

The authorities invoked vary considerably.

• Sometimes the authority will be "unanimous opinion" or "general opinion".
• Sometimes it will be certain categories of humans, such as "scientists" or "philosophers" or "the fathers of the church" or "the prophets".
• At other times the authority can be impersonal, such as "physics" or "doctrine" or "religion" or "the Bible".
• At yet other times, the authorities can be designated by name. (For example: "Albert Einstein said…")

1. 1. A negative evaluation of arguments from authority
   2. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca begin their discussion of arguments from authority by pointing out three negative evaluations of this manner of argumentation:
      0. An example of weak argumentation
      1. The first remark of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969:305) about arguments from authority is to refer to the Rhetorica ad Herennium which picks this out as an example of weak argumentation.

         (It reminds me of the story of the minister’s wife who wanted to publish some of his sermons after he died. On the written manuscripts of these sermons she every now and then found the following remark scribbled in the margin: "Arguments weak, shout like hell!" Her husband thought that raising the noise is enhancing the persuasiveness of what he had to say. As will become clear later in this paper, many of our MP’s also seem to think that an appeal to religious authority "raises the noise" and thus enhances the persuasiveness of their argument).

      2. The method of reasoning most heavily attached
      3. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca’s (1969:306) second remark about arguments from authority is that it is the method of reasoning most heavily attacked by philosophers and rhetores. The reason for this attack is that arguments from authority was most widely used in circles hostile to free, scientific research. It was most often used in an abusive, peremptory way, that is, it was considered to be compelling, as if the authorities invoked were infallible.
      4. Fraudulent

      Thirdly, certain philosophers accused arguments from authority of being fraudulent. So for example, Pareto thought this manner of argument should be considered as "an instrument for logicalizing nonlogical actions and the sentiments in which they originate". The argument from authority is in this view a pseudo-argument, "intended to camouflage the irrationality of our beliefs and win for them the consent of everybody or of the majority of the population by appeal to the authority of an eminent person" (quoted by Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca 1969:306).

   3. A more positive evaluation of arguments from authority
   4. 0. It is extremely important
      1. Granting this negative judgment of arguments from authority, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca themselves nevertheless consider it of extreme importance. They grant that the argument from authority has been attacked in the name of truth and that, "insofar as any proposition is considered to be true or false, the argument from authority no longer holds a legitimate place in our intellectual arsenal." BUT, says Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, it is a "sad illusion" to think that jurists (or rhetores) are concerned only with truth and not also with justice and social peace" (1969:306). Especially in the context of legal arguments, appeals to legal tradition are very important. Thus, recourse to argument from authority is inescapable if the existence of such a tradition is to be attested.
      2. Attacks on argument from authority or on the person chosen as authority?

      Adding to their remark on the extreme importance of argument from authority, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca observe that often argument from authority seems to be under attack when the real challenge is to the person chosen as authority. They refer to Pascal who derided argument from authority when the authority is that of "men of influence" but he himself had no hesitation to invoke the authority of Augustine. Similarly, Calvin rejected the authority of the Catholic Church but admitted the authority of the prophets.

      Recognizing the importance and legitimacy of argument from authority and ascribing attacks on it to differing opinions about the authorities themselves immediately then raise the problems of conflicting authorities and even more fundamental, the problem who decides who is authoritative or not. Therefore, whenever somebody invokes an authority, that person commits him- or herself because "there is no argument from authority without some repercussion on its user" (Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca 1969:307). The use of such an argument and the authority chosen thus often tell us more about the speaker than about the authority invoked.

   5. The role of argument from authority
   6. More often than not, an argument from authority will not constitute the only proof but it is used to round off well-developed argumentation. Argument from authority fits in among other techniques and strategies of argumentation.

      Sometimes a speaker resorts to argument from authority to rule out debate, when agreement on the question involved is in danger of being debated. This is especially true when religious authority is invoked.

   7. The bases for authority

Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969:308-309) identifies various grounds for a person’s authority:

• Sometimes the authority of a "wise" or "learned" person is guaranteed by the large number of people who, by implication, endorse such a designation. Often, before someone is involved as an authority, his or her standing will be attested by the speaker to indicate that the authority is a competent witness. Or the greater the authority, the more unquestionable does his or her pronouncement become.
• The extreme case is the divine authority which overcomes, for the speaker, all the obstacles that reason might raise. Argument from religious authority has an absolute and peremptory character.
• Another basis for authority, especially in cases where there is a conflict between authorities, is the competence of the authority and whether that competence is recognized by the audience in a particular field.

Against this theoretical background we can now turn to survey some of the arguments of religious authority used in parliamentary speeches during the most recent session of parliament.

1. Examples of appeals to religious authority in the south african parliament
2. In this section I will quote extensively from various speeches made in Parliament and in the final section. It is more descriptive than analytic. I limit my survey to speeches made in the National Assembly and will not consider the speeches made in the Senate. I present this survey more or less in chronological order. In 38 speeches in parliament references were made to God or gods, to the church, to Christianity or to the Bible. Some of these references were in lighter vein and some were briefly as a manner of speaking (e.g. "God forbid that I do that). In what follows I will not discuss all 38 references but only some of those in which arguments of religious authority are most explicit.
3. Responding to the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Mr J.A. Jordaan (NP) said:
4. I would like to hear from the honorable minister what the criteria are in designating dams, i.e. whether they are designed capacity-wise for one flood in 20 years, one in 50 years or one in 100 years. I do believe that we in South Africa, which is a water-poor country, have to utilize our resources. As they say in the Bible, if one looks at the story of Joseph and his dreams… In the seven fat years we have to plan for the seven lean years. With water there is also a seven-year cycle. I am convinced that in the case of South Africa we will also have to look at planning in the long term. (NA Interpellations)

   The allusion to the Biblical story of the dreams of the Pharaoh (about 7 fat years and 7 lean years) serves as authority for the appeal for long term planning.

5. It is difficult to distinguish the parliamentary speeches of an ANC MP who was previously Dean of the Lutheran Church in the Northern Province, Dr. T.S. Farisani, (ANC) from actual sermons. I quote extensively from his speech of 14 February 1996:

For this ANC MP it is bad "broeder" theology when somebody objects that his identification of Mr Mandela with Christ is blasphemy. He has no hesitation to talk lyrically about "the place called earth, the place called South Africa, on this planet" where President Mandela "carried the cross" and "carried a crown of thorns". Mandela is not only identified with Christ, for Farisani it is also God who brought Mandela and his collective leadership to the ANC. Since the ANC Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry is carrying out a task of Christian value "God is giving him so much rain so that he can provide our people with water". After talking about the provision of food for the hungry, the provision of jobs, the provision of shelter for the homeless, clothes for the naked, caring for children and safety and security for all and claiming that the ANC does all these things for the people of South Africa, Farisani concludes that "that is why the world is proud of our Christian values and our leadership". Toward the end of his speech he said: "These values, practiced on this imperfect earth, create liberation, which translates into an unfolding process of liberation in its material and spiritual dimensions. When these values are persued and realized, we experience an answer to our prayer, namely: "Let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". He concludes this sermon, I mean, speech, with a swipe at the "high priests of apartheid Christian values" by reminding them that all Christian denominations and all world religions have rejected the attempts to justify the policy of apartheid on Christian religion.

I will not analyze this speech in any detail here but only make a few general observations.

• The vocabulary, manner of speech and contents is that of a religious sermon.
• By identifying President Mandela with Christ, the leader of the ANC and by implication the ANC itself, become the final and absolute authority.
• The acts of the ANC, or rather the supposed acts of the ANC, are identified as acts of God. The ANC is doing the will of God on earth.
• It will be interesting to compare the claims in this speech with various speeches made by NP members of Parliament during the 50’s and 60’s when they also proclaimed in Parliament and to all who cared to listen, that they are doing the will of God.

1. In the debate on the portfolio of the State President, dr B.L. Geldenhuys (NP), had the following to say:
2. The NP aligns itself completely with the broad content of the president’s speech and is convinced that the implementation of the guidelines can indeed turn SA into a winning nation. Unfortunately the NP’s experience to date has been that the ANC says one thing but does another. The NP likes what we hear from the ANC but we do not like what we see on the ground. Now this reminds me of Jacob when he wanted to steal the blessing of his brother Esau. With a view to imitating his brother, who was a hairy person, he covered his hands with goatskins, and when he approached his father Isaac, his father spoke to him and touched him, and Isaac said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ [At this point other MP’s interjected, pointing out the erroneous pronunciation of "Esau". To that, Dr Geldenhuys responded, saying] Well, how does one pronounce it? Help me. I am glad to see that there are some members of the ANC who also read their Bible. [Laughter]. The NP likes the voice of Jacob. We like the statements made by the president, but we do not like the hands of Esau. We do not like the acts of the National Executive of the ANC. (JS 14-02-1995).

   He then goes on to talk about a free society, freedom of speech, minority rights, reconciliation, foreign investment, foreign policy, human rights abuses in Nigeria. In each instance he characterizes the ANC’s actions on these issues as "the hands of Esau" while their words are the "voice of Jacob".

3. Speaking in support of the Agricultural Research Amendment Bill and responding inter alia to dr Geldenhuys’ "Jacob-Esau-speech, Mrs B.M. Ntuli of the ANC had the following to say in Zulu (the translation is as follows):
4. It is surprising to hear distortions from these people who claim to read and understand the Bible thoroughly. I heard Mr Boy Geldenhuys saying that there is a hand of Esau and a voice of Jacob. He is a good reader of the Bible but does not seem to understand it. I want to teach Mr Geldenhuys that the Bible says a person who can do something good but fails to do it commits a sin. The Bible also asks how one can say to one’s brother that he must get something to warm himself if one does not give him something to warm himself with. How can one say to one’s brother he must go and fill his stomach with food if one does not offer him any food? [Interjections] I am posing a challenge to Mr Geldenhuys that if he wants us to debate about the Bible, he must come to us, the people who really read the Bible. He must call on us if he wants such a debate. The Bible clearly states that in the past the slaves were released after 50 years. At their release they were given something to start their lives with. What I realize is that the readers of the Bible like hiding some of the things so that they can be the only beneficiaries from those things. (NA 22-02-1996)

   It is interesting to note that the Bible as authority is not debated but what is debated is the competence of the experts reading the Bible. The expertise of Dr Geldenhuys, a former minister of religion with a Ph.D. in Theology, is challenged by Mrs. Ntuli. She claims that "the people who really read the Bible" are the ANC - or the people of the ANC constituency. Lurking behind this interchange is the issue that come up again and again when references are made to the Bible in Parliament: since the NP based their policy of apartheid on the Bible the ANC never tires of pointing out that the NP MP’s did not understand the Bible and thus still do not understand it "correctly". Part of the moral high ground that the ANC is claiming is that they are the people who really read the Bible and thus understand it "correctly".

5. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has only two members in parliament, Mr L.M. Green and Rev K.R. Meshoe. since the platform of this fundamentalist Christian party is that the country should be governed on the Bible, it is not surprising that appeals to the bible can be found in almost all their speeches in parliament. when the NP’s Mr. Roelf Meyer resigned as cabinet minister to become full-time secretary-general of the NP. Mr L.M. Green (Acdp) had the following to say:
6. We also wish to congratulate Mr Meyer on his new appointment. We wish to say that we thank God for appointing men of honour whom we look up to for the example which they have set up to this moment. (NA 28-02-1996)

   As far as I know it was the leader of the NP. Mr FW de Klerk, who appointed Mr Meyer. However, Mr Green thought it fit to thank God for appointing Mr Meyer. In his mind there does not seem to be a distinction between the acts of God and the acts of Mr De Klerk.

7. One of the more prominent ANC members, Mr C.G. Niehaus, has never actually practiced as a minister of religion (since he was in prison for his opposition to apartheid). He nevertheless completed almost all of his theological education. on March 5 he spoke twice in the debate on the Correctional Services Amendment Bill. two remarks in these speeches are relevant for our purposes:
8. Today my speech of a year and a half ago… places me in the dock. That is true for most of the members of this House who spoke during that debate. The biblical saying "he that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone" is indeed appropriate. Let us say it straight to each other: We have failed our children… Some time ago one of the members of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services said to me, with tears in her eyes when leaving a prison section for children: "There, but for the grace of God, are my children." (NA 5-3-1996).

   In his second speech that day, he identified the person who said that is Ms Sybil Seaton (an IFP member) and he quoted her words again.

9. Mr A.T Meyer (NP) read a motion after the death of mr G.B. Myburgh and said:
10. The NP would like to pay tribute to his memory and pray for strength for his wife Annatjie and their daughters Madelein and Annchen. May they experience God’s greatest comfort and know that he will provide for them (NA 12-3-1996)
11. In a heated party-political interchange on the Local Government Transition Act Amendment Bill, Mr M.J. Khasu (ANC) had the following to say to the NP:
12. We will not annihilate the NP. We will patiently educate them. After all, we know that they are very slow learners. It took them more than 40 years to make the simple statement that apartheid is an abomination to God. (NA 14-3-1996)
13. Speaking on the Gender Equity Bill, Mr L.M. Green (ACDP) based his party’s opposition to the bill on the Bible:
14. The ACDP views women as extremely important partners in the role of building a new nation. The Lord created us male and female, each having unique and complimentary characteristics that allow them to function as a team… The position this Bill takes, we believe, is totally hostile towards male participation in issues relating to women.

    When the Bible states that a women is a helpmate to a man, it refers to a special relationship that is established between male and female. It refers to weaknesses and strengths measuring up to one another, in order to achieve a special occurrence whereby male and female natures are advanced for the fulfillment of their distinct but integral created beings. In other words, we are created for one another to serve one another. In this regard, service, in essence, means the recognition of two independent selves mutually associated to each other.

    Mr Speaker, we are of the opinion that the current Bill reeks too much of the creation of a gender police force. This commission will have search and seizure powers, as well as the authority to enter and search any premises, public or private, including our homes.

    We are particularly concerned about powers given to the commission in clause 11… to evaluate any system of personal and family law, custom or any other law. There are biblical laws for men and women that have stood the test of time and cannot be changed by man-made laws. (NA28-03-1996)

    The next speaker, Ms D.P. Jana (ANC) responded to this by saying "Mr Green’s positions are so outrageous that I find it difficult to respond to him. My advice to him is not to reread the Bill but to be re-educated."

    From a rhetorical perspective Mr Green’s remarks are quite interesting. He appeals to the Bible, to unchangeable "biblical laws that have withstood the test of time" and to traditional systems of personal or family law. As Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca have explained, appeals to (legal) tradition form an indispensable part of arguments from authority. They consider the legal tradition as a positive force that will help jurists to argue and to work for social justice. Mr Green is appealing to tradition - biblical tradition - but then in order to substantiate his party’s opposition to the proposed Gender Equality Bill. What is at issue here is thus the authority of the patriarchal biblical tradition versus the authority of various human rights declarations on women’s rights.

15. Also speaking on the Agricultural Research Amendment Bill, Mr I.D. van Zyl (NP) talked about his joy in finding the concept "plant improvement" in the Bill:
16. Plant improvement is a very important responsibility of mankind, and I believe it arose when the world and mankind were first created. We can read the Bible where God clearly issues the instruction to man. He said that man must till the soil, dwell upon it and conserve it. I quote from Genesis 1 verse 29: "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all earth, and every tree, which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." We are therefore dealing here with an instruction of God, and if we want sufficient food, we will of necessity have to promote plant improvement. This will be essential to feed a growing population. However, our responsibility also lies deeper, namely to ensure that the irresponsible growth of our population will not possibly the reason why even plant improvement will not be enough to feed anyone. (NA 26-03-1996)

    Mr van Zyl thus finds direct Biblical authority for his enthusiasm to justify the scientific process of plant improvement: "We are therefore dealing here with an instruction of God…" It is an example of the absolute and peremptory nature of argument of authority that Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca have pointed out. Mr van Zyl, however, does not seem to notice that his reference to "the deeper responsibility" to slow down the growth of our population is in direct conflict with another "instruction of God" in the verse directly preceding the one that he has quoted from the Bible, namely that God instructed humans to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28)! What I found strange in this survey of the speeches of the MP’s is that they regularly challenged one another on the competence and expertise of others to interpret the Bible but they never challenge the authority of the Bible itself. The fundamentalist and proof-texting manner of dealing with the Bible - as is clear in Mr Van Zyl’s remarks - seems to be the dominant manner of dealing with references to the Bible.

17. On March 26 1996 dr T.S. Farisani (ANC) entertained parliament again with a sermon. Talking in the debate on the Gender Equity Bill on 26 march 1996, he said:
18. …this Bill has great historical significance for South Africa, and it places us in the club of civilized nations. I must confess there was a time when I was a co-opressor of women, but now I am a liberated man. [Interjections.] I am even liberated from the false religion that masquerades as religion and yet it is chauvinism. [Interjections.]

    I am grateful to God that the first two women to be ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa were ordained in my circuit because I pushed for it after I repented of my male chauvinism. [Applause.]

    We received from the communities of South Africa the call to empower women through this Commission on Gender Equality. In good Latin we say, "vox populi vox deo" [sic!]- "when the people speak, God is speaking. - and this time God has spoken for the women. This Bill is a confession of the sin of sexism which claims superiority by physical power, emotional power, economic power, educational, cultural, political and even religious power. We confess that we have wronged our women and today we want to change for the better.

    We are converting to the God of equality and abandoning the god of sexism, the kind of god we call the god of culture. Today we are adopting the God who transforms culture, and even who transforms archaic and fundamentalist religion.

    I regard this Bill as the great commission. God is saying, "Let the women go free," and this Parliament is announcing for the whole world to hear the good news that we now recognize that we should have recognized millions of years ago, that our women are as equal to any men as equal can be.

    To borrow the wisdom of Chief Albert Luthuli, he said: "Let my people go," and today we rephrase that and say, "Let the women go." This is a call for women to have the right to be women. In other words, even where our Scriptures use sexist language, we are learning to read those Scriptures from below, from the perspective of oppressed peoples. Whether we follow the Koran, Hindu religion, or Christianity, it is high time we accepted the God of change rather that the god who is always static. In this, in fact, we are resurrecting the truth that has been suppressed over the years and rediscovering the role and contribution which the world of manhood has denied for years.

    Let us call this day the day of liberation and the day of salvation, because men are renouncing their male domination for universal justice that embraces women. In other words, we want to dissociate ourselves from those men in some parts of our country that believe their manhood is asserted by their cultural accouterments or cultural weapons. We are saying that the determination of humanity is neither male nor female gender, but the basic fact that we are all human.

    In other words, women are regaining their identity, their dignity and their humanity now and the new slogan is: Equality for women now, not tomorrow or next year!

    Let me congratulate Parliament, especially those members who support the Bill. This has helped us. It is like another Codesa. It is like another World trade Centre. We must thank the women for not adopting the armed struggle, and we must thank the men for being bold enough to allow themselves to change before women adopt other methods which we would regret. [Laughter.]

    Let me conclude by saying that I have heard some religious talk, some cultural talk, some talk that sounds like the preamble to the old apartheid constitution. Let us say that we are praying for these people. We thirst that they should change, because in the new South Africa it is almost like being in heaven. There is no gender here - no women, no men, no masters, no slaves. We are becoming a new nation, born again - a nation of equal men and women. The world applauds us.

19. Ms L.M. Xingwana (ANC) begins her speech on the Budget debate with a remark addressed to the members of the opposition parties:
20. I would like to address the members on my left and remind them that in the Bible we read that Christ never condemned or castigated prostitutes. He actually rehabilitated and reformed them and send them out to preach the good news to the people of God.

    She then talked about the Gender Equality Bill and had the following to say:

    …those of us who worked in the churches for many years know that the root of women’s oppression is entrenched in some of the Christian teachings we receive from some of our leaders. It is for this reason that some of us have deliberately dedicated ourselves to liberating the Bible from oppressive teachings and doctrines that have been promulgated by some of our church leaders. This is why women have dared to challenge all the oppressive structures and continued to do so when men feared to speak.

    In the 1980’s we were working with Sister Bernard Ncube, Thabi Shange and the honourable Phumzile Ngcuka, trying to set up the Catholic Women’s Desk in the SA Catholic Bishops’ Conference. We were about to launch the Catholic Women’s Desk when suddenly funding was no longer provided by our bishops, who told us they had asked us to build a small garage for a small car but that we had built a hotel and that they could no longer support the Women’s Desk. We informed the bishops that we had actually intended to build a hotel because women deserved a hotel, and the Catholic Women’s Desk was, in fact, closed down.

    After the Nairobi Women;s Conference in 1985, women in the churches recommended that desks be set up in their churches to empower and develop women, and to take up the challenges of the World Council of Churches Decade in Solidarity with Women from 1988-1998. Very few church leaders responded to this call.

    Very little has been done in the churches to address the issues of gender imbalance. My honourable chairperson, Father Smangaliso Mkatswa, asked me, and I quote: "Why do you women need a women’s desk in the Catholic Church? I am also going to set up a men’s desk in the SACBC." [Laughter.] I responded by saying the SACBC is a men’s desk already.

    In the church when we pray, we appeal to the God of Abraham, of Isaac, the God of fathers and sons, but every day the church is full of women and children. The fathers are very few. [Laughter]. (NA 28-03-1996).

    After this Ms Xingwana devoted the rest of her speech to the composition and the projects of the Commission of Gender Equality. Only at the very end of her speech did she return to the Budget debate by warning that without the full and meaningful participation of women in all the proposed development programmes "there will be no RDP and no growth or economic development…"

    In the context of the debate on the Budget, thus, Ms Xingwana devoted almost her whole speech to the plight of women in the Catholic Church. The fact that Father Mkatswa is himself a MP and chairman of one of the parliamentary commissions adds to the impression that this speech was almost an in-house Catholic Church debate. All this, however, happened in the debate on the Budget!

    It is interesting that she blames the oppression of women in the church on "some of the Christian teachings of some of our leaders" but not on the Bible itself. She referred to the work of various women "to liberate the Bible". One such a liberatory message that she finds in the Bible is in the way Jesus handled prostitutes: "…[He] never condemned or castigated prostitutes. He actually rehabilitated and reformed them and send them out to preach the good news to the people of God."

21. Another ANC MP, Ms T.R. Modise, also found in the debate on the budget the opportunity to talk about the Commission on Gender Equality and specifically to take issue with Rev Meshoe (the leader of the ACDP) on matters of biblical interpretation.
22. I hope that Rev Meshoe does read his Bible. If he does read his Bible, he will recall that the first two humans, made in the image of God in the garden of Eden, were Eve and Adam. He will also recall that Eve ate the fruit of knowledge before offering it to Adam. [laughter.]

    He will also recall that the Bible defines prophets as leaders of their communities, as voices of God. Today we would call them commissars. Miriam was such a prophet. The Bible tells us about brave women who fought and conquered, women like the great victor, heroine and conqueror Deborah. The Bible further tells us about a great guerrilla called Delilah. Delilah was not a prostitute, nor was she a traitor as we are made to believe. She did what most women in liberation struggles do today. She slept with the enemy, so that she could fight for the survival of her people. [laughter.] (NA 28-03-1996)

    What is interesting about this remarks is that Ms Modise reads the Bible "against the grain. " In the book of Judges Delilah is presented as a traitor and as part of the enemy of the Israelites, the people of God. Ms Modise, however, challenges this perspective and claim Delilah to be a great guerrilla and liberator. This interpretation thus turns the authority of the Bible on its head. This is one of the well established strategies of feminist biblical critics (cf. Bellis 1994:17-20; Schüssler Fiorenza But she said (p145-156).

23. Mr C.M. George (NP) began his speech on the Gender Equity Bill with a story in lighter vein about the creation of men and women. Since it is not a serious appeal to religious authority, I do not consider it here.
24. Mr L. Louw (FF) made a passionate appeal for the protection of the Afrikaner culture and religion. After h gave his definition of an Afrikaner and after a quote from an Afrikaans poem of Lina Spies (a well-known Afrikaans poet) he exclaimed:
25. By the gracious will of God I am an Afrikaner. No other national bond can replace what I am as a result of descent. It is in the Afrikaner environment that I can be my natural self with my language, in joy and sorrow, and in everything I do. It has nothing to do with the convenient accusations of racism and the forming of laagers. The Xhosas, Zulus and others are entitled to nothing less, and I do not begrudge them that.

    He continues his speech with a plea for a cultural calendar for Afrikaner people which would commemorate 27 February as Freedom Day (linked to the Battle against the British at Majuba), 6 April as Founder’s Day, 31 may as Bittereinder Day, 14 August as Language Day, 19 October as Kruger Day and

    16 December is the Day of the Covenant. This day is the closest to the heart of the people, it is firmly rooted in faith in God, and gives the Afrikaner people their own stamp. This is also one of the reasons why the FF will not attend the proceedings tomorrow [on May 16], Ascension Day. This is not a boycott action, but is deeply rooted in our Christian faith. (NA May 15 1996)

26. Dr Ben Ngubane (IFP), the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
27. many people overlook the fact that innovation is not a fancy abstract idea, but a practical, natural human function which thrives on our God-given human curiosity
28. Prince N.E. Zulu (IFP)
29. The issue of the legality of children born out of wed-lock…
30. Mr T.C. Ntsizi (NP)
31. Referring appreciatively to the translation of the New Testament in 1986 in Ndebele.
32. Mr W.A. Botha (FF)
33. Madam Speaker, it is a fact that in South Africa we are in the position that our population consists of different peoples, each with its own language, culture, and in many cases, its own religious beliefs.

    The FF recognizes this reality. As a matter of fact, that is precisely why we are striving for the achievement of a volkstaat for the Afrikaner in which we can express our own language and culture and in which we can praise and serve our God, the Triune God. At the same time we do not begrudge anyone and we recognize the right of every other people to express its language and culture and to exercise its religion according to its customs.

    Marriages in my church, in most other Christian churches, were recognized legally… (NA15-5-1996)

34. Mr NJ Gogotya (NP)
35.  
36. Mr J.H. Momberg (ANC)
37. The only way Whites, and especially the Afrikaners, can be released from their moral indebtedness is to be forgiven by the Blacks.

    I want to plead today with my church, the DRC. [Interjections.} Did the honourable members hear their remarks? They have the sole right to the church. I want to plead with the DRC to have a day of prayed in which the Afrikaner people, including myself, can go to church and say for the people of this country: Before God and the people we are sorry for what we did to you. Then we can clear the books.

38. Mr T.M. Mbeki (ANC) Executive Deputy President
39. The speech of Mr Mbeki on May 17, 1996 is in many respects a rhetorical masterpiece. In a calm and reasoned manner, using a high language register, he reported on his portfolio. He dealt with a wide range of issues (the teething problems of the change to democracy, the RDP, the need for a new patriotism, crime, the subversion of public and private morality, corruption, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the need to "reconcile ourselves to a past we cannot forget but which we must accept as both given and forgiven"; the need for a Growth and Development Strategy, the Masakhane campaign, the local government elections in the Western Cape and in Kwazulu-Natal and various recent successes of cabinet ministers and civil servants). In conclusion he said:

    I mention these national successes also to make a plea to those who have the means to inform the masses of the people about what is happening, that they too have the possibility to play their part in our continuing transition from abnormality to normality, by at least not blacking or censoring out of sight and hearing these events and processes, which are the motive force of the new society that is being born. The rest of us have to do what we have to do. All else that must be judged, we must surrender to the gods in the exercise of their infinite wisdom (NA 17-5-1996)

    The appeal at the very end of the speech is in accordance with Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca’s observation that an argument from authority often does not constitute the only proof but is used to round off well-developed argumentation. Mbeki uses this reference to the gods as one technique among various other techniques in his argumentation.

40. Ms P Govender (ANC)
41. She quotes President Mandela when he said: "It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is in us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone.
42. Mr R.F. (Pik) Botha
43. In an emotional farewell speech to Parliament on 31 May after he has announced his resignation he said:

    Apartheid was a betrayal of the values that formed the Afrikaner. It was a betrayal of his Christian principles, his sense of justice, his passion for freedom, his hospitality and his humble lifestyle. In purging himself of apartheid, he delivered himself from evil

    Perhaps God planned the sunsets and the flowers so that the animals which achieved self-consciousness could enjoy them. Perhaps God was lonely.

44. Mr M.M.S. Mdladlana (ANC)
45. In lighter vein: a drunkard who went to a church service
46. Mr L.M. Green (ACDP)
47. Complaining that

    …the Bible Society of South Africa is no longer benefiting from the granting of tax incentives and therefore fewer Bibles can now be distributed at schools. We as the ACDP would rather support the distribution of Bibles at schools, not of condoms.

48. Pastor Z.K. Mangaliso (NP)
49. At the end of his speech in the debate on the Portfolio of the Minister of Health:

    … there is a saying in the Bible: "Where there is no vision, the nation perishes." Therefore, let us pay attention to the future of our humanity and that of our people. Let us love them and do all the things necessary for the protection of their health. That will enable them to carry on with their work and their health will improve. (NA 4-6-1996)

50. Mr K Asmal (ANC) Minister of Water Affairs and Foresty
51. Defending the Minister of Health’s conduct in the Sarrafina II issue, he said:

    I am not here to defend the indefensible…Like the teflon-coated frying pans, nothing sticks to the NP. We in South Africa do not take our morality from them. [Interjections.] God forbid that we should! [Interjections.]… On behalf of our Government, let me announce quite clearly that we have total confidence in the Minister of Health…

52. Mr L.M. Green (ACDP)
53. Only when Almighty God is recognized as the author, originator and final authority of these rights, can we begin to approximate true respect for human and peoples’ rights on this continent, in South Africa and beyond.
54. Mrs H.J. Mashamba (ANC)
55. When she referred to the labour relations of the apartheid era as poor and characterized by a lack of any professional ethos and work ethic, Mr M.G. Masher (NP) interjected "I know my God!". To that interjection, Mrs Mashamba responded as follows:

    The honourable member should not tell me about his God, because he is misinterpreting things.

56. Mr L.M. Green (ACDP)
57. Commenting on Africa Refugee Day, he quotes 6 passages from the Old Testament to substantiate what he wanted to say about "what the Bible have to say regarding our attitude and treatment of refugees and aliens. (Ex 22:1, Lev 19:33-34, Num 15:15, Lev 24:22; Deut 1:16-17; Deut 27:19.)
58. Ms T.R. Modise (ANC) in a heated interchange with Mr F.W. de Klerk after the NP’s resignation from the GNU
59. A day after they left the GNU they started talking about the rand and put up slogans that read: "Vote NP and save the rand…" I think that is despicable. They cannot engineer the fall of the rand and sit here and say "God help ons" when in fact they know it is low to do so. (NA 14 June 1996)
60. Mr F.W. de Klerk (NP)
61. Without the slightest arrogance I want to say today to President Mandela - who according to newspaper reports recently said that I should come and plead with him on my knees - that he will find me next to him whenever he acts in the interests of SA. He will find me squarely in front of him whenever I think he is acting contrary to the interests of SA. But he will never find me on my knees in front of him. What SA needs is that he, president Mandela, and I and everybody with us should regularly go on our knees to God Almighty.
62. Mr L.M. Green (ACDP)

Speaking on the Bill on Gambling said:

in conclusion

I conclude with a few very brief and general observations:

1. Seven political parties are represented in the South African Parliament, namely the ANC, NP, IFP, DP, FF, PAC and ACDP. The only two parties whose representatives never made any appeals to religious authority during the last session of parliament were the DP and the PAC.
1. The most elaborate and most passionate appeals to religious authorities were made by members of the ruling ANC. There is a marked tendency to claim divine and biblical authority and justification for the acts of the ANC. More than one ANC speaker also claimed to be the authentic or at least the better interpreters of the Bible than their NP opponents.
1. Appeals to religious authority are not only made in debates on moral issues. It seems that on almost any issue, some MP’s find it appropriate to appeal to religious authority (eg water affairs, sport, agriculture, gender equality and so on)
1. There are quite a number of religious experts in Parliament. At least seven MP’s prefer to go by the title "Reverend", one uses the title "Father", one uses the title "Sister" and one uses the title "Pastor". At least 10 other MP in addition to these 10 "en-titled" clergy are people with religious training or had been in religious ministry before they became MP’s. They are the people who are mostly making use of arguments of religious authority. However, such arguments are by no means limited to them.
1. No references were made to any religious authority other than Christianity - except for Mr Mbeki’s remark about the "gods in their infinite wisdom". No references were made to the Qur’an or any other religious book. Religious diversity seems not to have reached the South African Parliament yet.
1. I have already remarked on the phenomenon that various interchanges in parliament raged about the competency of the experts making references to the Bible. However, except for Ms Modise’s very interesting interpretation of Delilah (which is in fact a reading against the grain of the text), the authority of the Bible itself was never questioned or criticized.
1. The numerous references to the Bible and their fundamentalist and literalist interpretations by the ACDP-members must, no doubt, be a tremendous irritation to other MP’s. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why MP’s are paid such huge salaries!
1. Finally, I shall resist the temptation to comment from the perspective of a Biblical scholar on the validity of many of the interpretations of the Bible by our MP’s. I will therefore not fulfill the expectation created in the title of the paper to talk about the "use and abuse" of religious authority in the South African Parliament.