Paleng ya rona batho ba batsho, tumelo ya boKreste e fihlile lefatsheng la rona la Afrika Borwa
mmoho le dikgoka tsa ditjhaba tsa boPhirima. BoKreste bo fihlile ka nako ya dintwa tseo
mohopolo wa tsona e neng e le ho hapa lefatshe la, batho ba batsho. Ka mantswe amang, rona
batho ba batsho, re ile ra qetella re le setjhaba se ileng sa hlolwa, mme lefatshe la rona la nkuwa
ka dikgoka. Ka hare ho dikgoka tsena, ho ne ho dutse tumelo ya boKreste. Makgowa a ile are:
‘A re kwaleng mahlo re rapeleng, rona ra kwala mahlo, mme ha re qeta hore Amen, re bula
mahlo, ra fumana lefatshe le nkuwe matsohong a rona ho setse Bibele.’ Re ile ra sala le Bibele
eo ka yona re lekileng dilemong tse fitileng ho lwana ntwa ya topollo, kapa tokoloho hofihlela
selemong sa 1994. Le ha re ile ra fumana tokoloho ka selemo seo, hare so ka re lokoloha ho
tsa moruo. E kaba sena se bolela eng mabapi le tumelo ya rona ya boKreste? Segolweng sena
re leka ho araba potso ena. Tumelo ke eng ho batho ba sa lokolohang moruong wa naha ya
bona? Re lekola pale ya boKreste, tumelo ya batho le maemo a kereke ntlheng ya ho tadimana
le tokoloho ka tumelo.
In our history from a black perspective, Christianity arrived through
violent conquest from the west. Evidentially, this faith coincided with wars of dispossession
and the ultimate defeat of black Africans. It is difficult to separate the violent defeat of black
Africans from the arrival of Christian faith. This well-known statement within the circles of
black Theology of liberation: When the white man arrived in our land he said, ‘let us pray
and after prayer, when we opened our eyes, our land was taken and only the Bible was left
in our hands,’ captures the black sentiment of this history. Ironically, it was this Bible that
black Africans used to wage their struggle for liberation up to the demise of apartheid in 1994.
Nonetheless, political liberation is not enough as the struggle for economic liberation continue
in South Africa post 1994. In the light of this history, what then is the role of faith for a people
politically liberated without economic liberation? This article examines this history from the
perspective of black faith and its role for liberation.
