South Africa
From Missiopedia
- Return to Countries
- Back to Southern Africa
|
Official name: |
DEMOGRAPHY
ECONOMY |
LIFE & LIBERTY |
Contents |
[edit] Geography
[edit] Location
[edit] Climate
[edit] Natural Resources
[edit] Demographics
[edit] Peoples
- Cape Malay, about 250 000 persons, they are descendants from Indonesia, who were brought to South Africa about 200 years ago. From their home land they brought their religion and culture.
[edit] Provinces
[edit] Life
- HIV/AIDS, the primary cause of death, affects over 20% of adults and 1/3rd of all teachers.
[edit] Violence
- The wave of xenophobic violence that has convulsed South Africa reached Cape Town 23 May 2008 with mobs looting shops and immigrants forced to flee a squatter camp which came under attack on the outskirts of the city. With violence now reaching the city central to South Africa's valuable tourism industry the government sought to deflect mounting criticism of its handling of the crisis by blaming right-wingers linked to the former apartheid government for fanning xenophobic violence.
- The violence in Cape Town was not on the scale of the rampages in Johannesburg with gangs accused of using the crisis as cover for opportunistic looting. Billy Jones, Cape Town police spokesman, said about 400 people had sought shelter on a racetrack after 12 people were injured in overnight attacks on an informal settlement in Cape Town. "The area is quiet now but we are maintaining a visible presence," he said, adding that many of the displaced had been moved to various community centres and town halls. Somali-owned shops were also looted in Knysna, a resort town on the south coast.
- At least 42 people have been killed and more than 25,000 foreigners displaced since attacks began in Johannesburg earlier this month by South Africans who blame them for crime and unemployment. The violence which has included shootings, lynchings and people doused with petrol and burnt alive has badly tarnished the rainbow nation image the country has treasured since the end of apartheid.
- Predicting an "exodus", Mozambique's Foreign Minister, Oldemiro Baloi, said the state of emergency had been declared on Thursday as thousands of Mozambicans flooded across the border. Mr Baloi said about 10,000 people had returned on their own while 620 people arrived on Thursday in buses arranged by the consulate in Johannesburg. With the emergency declaration, the Mozambican government can release money and aid to help those returning. They are being transported from the capital to their home towns and given clothes, food, blankets and basic domestic implements so they can start again.
- South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, has mobilised the South African National Defence Force for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994. Soldiers were used in a dawn swoop on three central Johannesburg worker hostels whose residents allegedly were involved in inciting violence. A total of 28 people were arrested.
- The crisis has confronted many of South Africa's estimated five million immigrants with some appalling dilemmas. About three million Zimbabweans, fleeing the collapse of their own country's economy, are generally better educated than many poor South Africans, who accuse migrants from neighbouring countries of stealing scarce jobs. Few of the Zimbabweans could expect to find any work were they to return to their own country – currently beset by a violent political campaign by its own government. And millions of Zimbabweans who have remained north of the Limpopo river rely on their relatives in South Africa to send them the money needed to survive.
- Johannesburg - Another 14 people were arrested on the East Rand early on Friday morning for their involvement in the xenophobic violence which has hit Gauteng, said police. The men, aged from 20 to 45, would appear in court next week on charges including public violence and murder. The arrests bring to 531 the number of people taken into custody since the start of the attacks.
- On Monday, 19 May 2008, four Gauteng community leaders were arrested for inciting the community to violence. The four leaders are accused of holding community meetings at which the attacks were planned and the community incited. The breakthrough came when a mob tried to burn the shack of a community leader who opposed the attacks. He spilled the beans when the mob tried to lay a charge against him for pointing a firearm at them.
[edit] Racism
Zec 7:9-10 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." (ESV)
(Call issued by: Jericho Walls, Transformation Africa and the Jesus Project. Similar calls are issued by the AFM and other groups)
- This call for prayer is to ask all denominations and Christian organisations to pray on Sunday, 25 May 2008 and in the weeks to follow for the ethnic violence in the nation.
- God's word clearly command that we should love and care for foreigners the way we love and care for ourselves and our local neighbours, even if we perceive them to be enemies (see attached information concerning Biblical values concerning treatment of foreigners). It is also true that any issue concerning violence has two sides, therefore, let us pray and seek God without any prejudice and preconceived ideas in our own hearts.
Prayer for South Africa
1. Examine your own heart before God. If you harbour any ethnic or racial hatred, bitterness or resentment, confess it before the Lord. Ask Him to fill your heart with the love of the Father, who is the Father of all nations. Matt 5:44,45
2. Pray for those who are seeking asylum in South Africa because of war, famine or oppression that they experience in their own countries. Pray that they will find a safe haven in South Africa, that the people of South Africa will welcome them with a compassionate and hospitable spirit. Lev 19:33-34; Lev 23:22; Eze 47:21-22
3. Ask the Lord to reveal any injustice, violence and crime committed by foreigners, so that they can be brought to justice. Ps 94:3-9
4. Pray that the Lord will be gracious and forgive the bloodshed of ethnic violence that raged in South Africa, and silence the voices of the blood that cry for revenge. Gen 4:10,11
5. Pray that the Lord will provide in the needs of both local South Africans and foreigners who are living in South Africa, without having to compete for jobs. Ask for God to turn this tide and that they might even begin to find common grounds for business and in so doing create job opportunities for both South Africans and those abroad. Phil 4:11-19
6. Pray that the Lord will replace the bitterness, hatred and resentment in the hearts of South African and foreigners alike, with his love, compassion, acceptance and hospitality. Eph 4:24-32
7. Pray that the Church take up her role as watchmen on the wall on these issues and day and night prayer for a breakthrough. That she will take a firm stand for justice and for all, both citizens of South Africa and foreigners. Matt 5:25-46
8. Pray that the Church will realise her responsibility to be a safe refuge for anyone in need, whether a fellow South African or a foreigner. Ps 118:8. Pray for open hearts towards those who are poor, hungry, homeless and jobless. If you notice any such people in your neighbourhood, will you not encourage your church to reach out to them and serve them with food, clothes or even a place to stay. Is 58:7
9. Pray for the circumstances that drove the foreigners out of their nations to come for refuge in South Africa will change so they will be able to return home to their own countries with hope in their hearts and the testimony of Jesus Christ in their hearts. Also pray for those awaiting their return, to have opportunities to hear and accept the gospel. 2 Tim 4:2
10. Pray for our Government to not only take a stand against all kinds of violence, but also take practical action to do so. Ask the Lord to pour out His Spirit of loving-kindness and gentleness in the hearts of people in all spheres of life to become the political, social, racial, economical and judicial solution to the problem of ethnic violence. Gal.5:23
11. Pray that God will pour out the grace of His salvation on South Africa and other nations in Africa, to find and implement godly solutions for the continuing problem of poverty, disease, weak economic conditions, racial violence and hatred. Ask for all - as they are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, to also be reconciled with one another. Matt 5:22- 24
12. Pray that the citizens of South Africa will receive a baptism of the love of God, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, to rise up in this hour of need, and to be a place of refuge, both spiritually and physically, for those in need. Ask that those who enter South Africa to find solution for their physical needs, will also have encounters with the Saviour, Jesus Christ. Eph 3:17- 21
BIBLICAL VALUES CONCERNING TREATMENT OF FOREIGNERS
1. We should treat foreigners with love, grace and justice.
Exo 22:21 "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (ESV)
2. We must treat a foreigner similar to a native of the land.
Lev 19:33-34 "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (ESV)
3. We must share the produce of our land with foreigners and allow them to live amongst us.
Lev 23:22 "When you reap the harvest of your land, don't reap the corners of your field or gather the gleanings. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners. I am GOD, your God." (ESV)
Eze 47:21-22 "So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native- born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. (ESV)
4. Foreigners must be judged with the same rules as local citizens.
Num 15:15-16 The community has the same rules for you and the foreigner living among you. This is the regular rule for future generations. You and the foreigner are the same before GOD. The same laws and regulations apply to both you and the foreigner who lives with you." (ESV)
5. Foreigners have the right to justice.
Deu 1:16 At the same time I gave orders to your judges: "Listen carefully to complaints and accusations between your fellow Israelites. Judge fairly between each person and his fellow or foreigner. (ESV)
6. Financial support must be given to foreigners.
Deu 26:12-13 "When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. (ESV)
7. Those who oppress foreigners or treat them harshly can come under a curse.
Deu 27:19 "'Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' (ESV)
Mal 3:5 "Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)
8. One reason why Israel went into exile is because they mistreated foreigners amongst them.
Eze 22:6-7,22 "Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. (ESV)
9. God's favour will be on those who treat foreigners with kindness.
Jer 7:5-7 "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. (ESV)
10. Jesus Himself will pronounce either blessing or curse depending on our attitude towards foreigners.
Mat 25:34-46 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (ESV)
GOD IS THE ONE WHO SEES!
Psa 94:3-9 O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive." Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?
[edit] Economy
[edit] Government
[edit] Religion
[edit] Islam
[edit] Buddhism
[edit] Christianity
- Biblical Christianity continues to thrive despite the post-Christian moral slide ... prayer networks, evangelism, missions, social concern.
[edit] History
[edit] Churches
[edit] Church and State Relations
[edit] Mission, Evangelization, and church planting
- The present xenophobia (violence against foreigners in May 2008) is affecting our ministry terribly adversely. Here are some examples:
- a) Out of fear one of our converts does not want to go to College.
- b) At the workshops for ladies - for almost all of them this is their only income - many are afraid to leave their houses.
- c) A rumour has been spreading among foreigners that they should not travel by train because they will be thrown out.
- d) A phone call from a Somalian friend this morning came in that they have left Masiphumelele where they have their shop and home bcause of serious threads.
- So far, we are still secure in God’s hand, but to be honest, we also a bit worry, when I have to get the train or other public transport to Campus or to visit our contacts. The victim by now are mainly our brothers/sisters from other countries in the African continent. But to day news on 23 May 2008, it had been included to some Asians who are having business here in CT.
[edit] Broadcasting
[edit] Councils and Networks
[edit] Future Trends
[edit] For More Reading
