"And Forgive us our Debts"
The Launch of Jubilee 2000,
South Africa


Prepared by Juan Graces
New South African Outlook, Vol. 1 no. 1 (January 1999)
Over 50 countries around the world have debts that they will never be able to pay back completely. Nor, ironically, are those countries which claim a Christian heritage and who have been blessed with prosperity, willing to forgive them. The debts of poor countries do, however, continue to be paid daily, claiming up to 93% of their income and using up resources badly needed for health, education and sanitation. For every $1 given in aid, $1.31 is squeezed out of Africa in debt repayments to the rich countries. The United Nations Development Programme in 1997 stated that 21 million children's lives could be saved if the money used for "debt service" was put into health and education. Globalization, if one means by that the direct impact upon all of us of developments elsewhere in the world is inexorable, speakers at the Davos World Economic Forum agreed. Jose Angel Gurria, a senior Mexican finance official, illustrated this phenomenon eloquently when he spoke about the sleepless nights he suffered over events in the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. "How," he pleaded, "do I explain to the man [sic] in the street that his life is being determined by decisions taken in the Duma? He wouldn't even know what that was."

Jubilee 2000 is an international movement in over 40 countries advocating a one-off cancellation of the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries by the year 2000, under a fair and transparent process. It is based on and inspired by the biblical tradition of the jubilee year, which called for the relief of debts and release of slaves every 50 years. It was against this background that Jesus, in the name of the liberating God, pronounced the coming of the year of Jubilee and called for the forgiveness of debts (Luke 4:18-19).

In a conference held in Rome in November 1998, national Jubilee 2000 campaigns from all continents and including international organizations agreed on three main strategies in order to achieve the campaign's goals:

  • targeting creditor and debtor governments and parliaments (particularly G8 countries), the United Nations, international financial institutions, and regional and commercial banks to build a political will and an economic commitment in support of the aims of the movement;
  • mobilization and empowerment of popular/civil society through education, access to information and decision-making processes, and action at local, national, regional and international levels; and
  • sharing of resources and experiences between national campaigns, both within and between the South and the North.

The movement was echoed on the African continent when the Jubilee 2000 Afrika campaign was launched in Accra, Ghana, 16th to 18th April, 1998. According to Kofi Mawuli Klu, one of the organisers, "it means that Afrika has now fully come with her own perspective into the fast expanding global movement for the cancellation of the Debt of impoverished countries of the World as one of the most meaningful Acts of Grace to celebrate the Dawn of the New Millennium." Since the Accra conference, a number of National Coalitions have been launched in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Zambia.

On 5 November, 1998, a conference was held in Cape Town in order to launch "Jubilee 2000 South Africa." Its first public action was to march in symbolic chains, suggesting that the chains of Apartheid's legacy shackle development today. Apartheid foreign debt is larger than previously thought and is well in excess of R100 billion ($18 bn). In addition, the destabilization of the southern African region as a result of Apartheid has caused physical destruction of some US$117 billion, and has cost over 2 million lives. South Africa, in fact, has a large public sector debt which is hampering efforts to address the problems left over by the apartheid system-in development, social change and economic performance. Of the R186bn budgeted for total government spending in 1997/98, some R40bn is to go to interest payments created by this debt. This is almost half of the amount designated for all social services (education, health, welfare, housing etc). Even half of the amount used on current interest payments (R20bn every year, R200bn in ten years) would have a dramatic impact on alleviating social misery.

The government's efforts to redress social inequalities face not a real resource constraint but a financial constraint left over from the period of transition. Solving this financial problem would open the door to delivering on social needs. With its advocacy of debt cancellation, Jubilee 2000 offers the opportunity for the new century to be celebrated in a meaningful way-by giving a new start to the world's poor, pronouncing with Jesus the year of Jubilee. It offers an opportunity inspired by the liberating God of the Bible, an opportunity that deserves the thoughtful and engaged support of Christians.

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