President Donald Trump’s promotion of a erroneous narrative of white farmers being “killed and slaughtered” in a genocide in South Africa is contributing to racial tensions there.
Russell Pollitt, S.J.
Russell Pollitt, S.J., is America’s Johannesburg correspondent.
A priest from the Region of South Africa, he is currently director of the Jesuit Institute South Africa. He has written for a number of publications including the Southern African Catholic Weekly "The Southern Cross”; The Southern African Quarterly Magazine “Trefoil”; The Southern African Journal “Grace & Truth” and is the religious correspondent for South Africa’s biggest online news site "Daily Maverick." He is the author of Now is the Favourable Time. Daily Reflections for Lent and has made contributions to other books including Why Do You Weep? Finding Consolation and Peace in Times of Grief.
Father Pollitt is frequently asked for commentary on church and aocial issues in South Africa. He has been interviewed on a number of networks including the SABC, eNCA, Talk702, 567 CapeTalk, BBC and the Catholic Station Radio Veritas. Prior to being director of the Jesuit Institute he served as pastor of the downtown Jesuit church in Johannesburg. He serves on the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference Advisory Committee for Social Communications. Time and training permitting he is also a keen runner and has completed a number of marathons and half-marathons.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
The deadly impact of the end of U.S.A.I.D. and Pepfar in southern Africa
Improvements in health care in Eswatini have relied for years on Pepper and the generosity of the American people. During the height of the H.I.V./AIDS pandemic, Eswatini’s population plummeted, and life expectancy dropped from 61 in 1988 to 44 by 2003.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Trump claims white Afrikaners are victims of persecution. Christian leaders in South Africa say no.
President Donald Trump said that he would hold South Africa accountable for rights violations against white Afrikaners, a group of people he described as “innocent disfavored minority farmers.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Congolese bishop condemns ‘dire humanitarian situation’ after deadly attack in Goma
Approximately six million people have died in the conflict in the eastern D.R.C. since 1996. For decades, numerous armed groups have competed for power and control of this vast nation’s potential fortune.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Destitute South Africans and migrants risk their lives in illegal mines—and are exploited by criminal gangs
In the small town of Stilfontein, some 90 miles from the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, hundreds, possibly thousands, of illegal miners have been underground in an abandoned mine shaft for more than a month.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Mozambique struggles to manage post-election unrest and a deadly insurgency
After another disputed election, street protests wrack Mozambique. while a northern province, Cabo Delgado, endures a deadly Islamist insurrection.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
South African women feel left off the agenda at the synod—and they’re frustrated with Pope Francis.
One South African theologian described “a deep sense of disillusionment that the church, on the one hand, is saying we need to be a synodal listening church, and has yet again taken the diaconate for women off the table.”
Posted inDispatches, Faith
South African bishop on ordination: No to women, yes to married men.
“If women are doing practically everything that a deacon is doing … [why] do we want to draw women into clericalism when we are having so many problems with it?”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Upcoming South Africa elections could be most important since the end of apartheid
Polls abound, and the political ground keeps shifting, but one thing is sure: South Africa is likely to experience a significant political realignment on May 29.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Many African bishops have rejected same-sex blessings. South Africa is taking a different stand.
The spokesperson for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said that the conference “has taken a slightly different stand from the rest of Africa” on the Vatican declaration “Fiducia Supplicans.”