Abstract:
During the General
Church Assembly of 2010, the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA) confessed her
previous justification of apartheid as wrongdoing. It led to serious dissatisfaction in the more
conservative part of the Church, eventually ending in the painful church schism of 2011.
Afterwards, the leadership had to handle several related issues. And then, out of the blue, an
outstanding matter arose from the past’s nebulae – unfinished business between the Church
and prof. Cas Labuschagne. He was a dissident with prof. Albert Geyser who acted against
the church’s justification of apartheid during the sixties. After a fierce struggle and much
desperation, he left South Africa for the Netherlands in 1967. Almost 40 years later, in 2008,
correspondence occurred between the NRCA and Labuschagne to see if reconciliation was possible,
but without any positive results. Labuschagne distrusted the Church’s motives and argued that
only a public excuse would settle matters. Due to the run-up to the decision in 2010 and the
church schism in 2011, the case gathered some cyber dust. Professors A.G. van Aarde, J.
Buitendag and W.A. Dreyer played a prominent role in bringing the outstanding matter of Cas
Labuschagne to the attention of the author of this article. It led to a visit in 2017 and more
correspondence to clarify issues. Eventually, reconciliation had occurred only a few months
before he died in 2019.
CONTRIBUTION : This article contributes to revealing an untold story in which different leaders
of the NRCA played a prominent role. It is about a struggle for reconciliation, events behind
the scenes, and a story with a good end – events the church and the academic community
should know about.
Description:
DATA BESKIKBAARHEIDSVERKLARING : Datadeling is nie van toepassing nie, aangesien geen nuwe
data in die studie geskep of ontleed is nie.
This research is part of the project, ‘Contextualized Reformed Theology in South Africa’, directed by Dr Andre Ungerer of the Reformed Theological College, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.
Special Collection: Wim Dreyer Dedication, sub-edited by Jaco Beyers (University of Pretoria, South Africa).