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Info Bill: What is the ANC doing? BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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The dome of St Peter’s basilica is seen at sunset as a couple kiss near Villa Borghese in Rome. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)
SA men take lead in worldwide Knights BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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HE International Alliance of Catholic Knights (IACK) has appointed a South African as its president, while a local bishop will serve as its international chaplain. Vincente Barra, formerly of St Dominic’s parish in Boksburg and now a member of Cape Town’s Good Shepherd parish in Bothasig, was appointed during the alliance’s annual conference in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1979, the IACK represents 13 member orders of Catholic Knights operating in 22 countries internationally, including South Africa’s Knights of da Gama. “I consider it an honour to have the opportunity to serve my Brother Knights internationally, having recently served on a national basis as the immediate past Supreme Knight here in South Africa,” said Mr Barra. He added that he felt humbled by the appointment. Elected by its member orders, the president of the alliance holds office for a twoyear period. “The president is the chief governing officer of the alliance and takes the chair at all its meetings. He promotes the growth and welfare of the Alliance and in consultation with its member orders speaks on behalf of the Alliance on matters of faith and morals,” explained Mr Barra. Mr Barra, a member of the Knights of da Gama for 22 years, is the third IACK president elected from South Africa. Previous South Africans included past Supreme Knight Frank Wightman as well as an IACK founder member and past Supreme Knight Alan Diesel. Mr Barra has held the positions of Grand Knight, Regional Grand Knight and Supreme Knight and is currently the Supreme Councillor. Also serving on the governing body will be Bishop Barry Wood, auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Durban, who “kindly offered to assist me in serving the Alliance in his capacity as the International Chaplain”, the new president said.
John Starmans of the Knights of the Southern Cross, Australia, installs his successor as the new president of the International Alliance of Catholic Knights, South African Vic Barra in Dublin cathedral. In his new capacity, Mr Barra said he is keen to encourage Christian formation in an effort to facilitate the evangelising and teaching mission of the Church, he hopes to encourage young people to build a more vibrant Church and to promote vocations. He added communication between the member orders was at times problematic. “The IACK secretary-general, past Supreme Knight Niall Kennedy from the Knights of Columbanus in Ireland and I are working on a strategy to address this aspect.” The IACK meeting also established the necessity to give attention to the dignity of every person. “We affirm that the Christian faithful must be ever mindful of our role in welcoming the stranger among us. Promoting blessed hope for the future, the faithful are called to provide an effective framework to aid in accepting, embracing, and welcoming migrant peoples,” said a post-conference statement, which Mr Barra said would give him direction for the next two years.
HE move by the African National Congress (ANC) to withdraw the proposed Protection of State Information (or Secrecy) Bill is an act to subvert parliament—but it’s not all bad news from the ruling party, according to a Catholic parliamentary commentator. Mike Pothier of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, an associated body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said President Jacob Zuma’s recent cabinet reshuffle was encouraging, but pointed out “that this relatively bold action [was] too long overdue”. The ANC announced in October that it would be conducting a “country-wide public engagement process” on the controversial Secrecy Bill. Hearings will be organised by the party’s provincial structures to ensure that “as many people as possible, regardless of their political allegiance, get an opportunity to have a say on the draft legislation before it is passed into law”, the ANC said in a public statement. “At first sight this appears to be a commendable effort aimed at public participation,” said Mr Pothier. “The Bill is to be ‘taken to the people’ out in the provinces, thus affording an opportunity for comment to people who cannot get to Cape Town to make submissions to Parliament itself.” However, he said it is dubious that it is the ANC that will organise the hearings, and not Parliament through the ad-hoc committee which has been dealing with the Bill for well over a year. The proposed bill first came before Parliament in 2008. A number of organisations made very critical submissions and it was almost widely suspected of being unconstitutional in various respects. It was soon withdrawn by the minister at the time. “The Bill reappeared midway through 2010, having been reworked to a degree, but it was still way too far-reaching in its effect, and too draconian in the penalties it proposed. Once again, scores of submissions were made to the ad-hoc committee, virtually all of them arguing that its key provisions were unconstitutional. Nobody, outside of those who had drafted it and the State Law Advisor (who seemed later to waver in his opinion), could be found to defend its constitutionality,” explained Mr Pothier. What followed, he said, was an excellent example of how a participatory parliamentary process ought to work.
“Opposition and ANC members of the committee grappled with the Bill’s weak points; the ANC representatives agreed to compromise in certain areas; the opposition won significant concessions; and a muchimproved Bill began to take shape. Parallel to this, and adding hugely to the impetus, civil society mobilised in a way not seen for many years, not only making formal submissions, but raising petitions, demonstrating, marching and generally pressurising the politicians,” Mr Pothier said. However, that’s where the positive action ended. Instead of participating in one of the many options available through the centralised parliamentary process, there now is the prospect of a number of provincial hearings taking place in the absence of the opposition MPs. “These people will be unable to attend the various workshops around the country. They have been excluded,” Mr Pothier said. “[Their] hard work and persistent arguments contributed overwhelmingly to the improvement of the Bill. The message that this sends is that the constitutionally-ordained parliamentary process of public participation is not good enough; and that, when it suits it to do so, the majority party will simply set up its own, parallel process.” Mr Pothier said there is only one way to interpret the ANC’s decision: “It is an attempt to garner support for the Bill from loyal party structures; to create the impression that there is a ‘silent majority’ out there whose voices were not heard during the days and weeks of public hearings conducted by the ad-hoc committee; and to pretend that the massive civil society campaign against the Bill did not really represent public opinion”. Mr Pothier was positive, however, about the late-October cabinet reshuffle “Firing Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Sicelo Shiceka was obviously the right thing to do; likewise suspending the police commissioner, Bheki Cele,” said Mr Pothier. However, he added, “there was no objective reason to wait so long after the Public Protector's reports”. Mr Pothier said these actions “certainly give a wake-up call to all other ministers and senior officials”. Mr Pothier said while civil society’s calls on poor ministerial action, the unearthing of corrupt actions and unconstitutional bills had been loud and clear, it is necessary to continue in order to keep the country’s democratic systems in place.
Copper thieves went for church bell
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N South Africa, the theft of copper cables is endemic, but thieves in San Francisco, California, went for the big prize: a church bell. A 2 400kg church bell owned by the archdiocese of San Francisco since 1889 was stolen from the grounds of St Mary’s cathedral, and found three days later—across the street from a scrap metal yard, the Catholic San Francisco newspaper reported. After much news coverage in the city, an informant notified police that the bell was resting on beams in a field, covered with canvas tarp. The bell had been taken from a concrete
slab in a garden in front of the cathedral since 1970. Police inspector Brian Danker said a hydraulic lift could have moved the bell. He said the bell might have been “very close to being broken down for its metal value”. The estimated replacement value of the bell is R600 000. The current scrap value of copper is between R7 to R9 per kg. The genuine bell-metal component of the bell is 80% copper and 20% tin. The bell’s recovery “is wonderful news, a mini-miracle of sorts, for the parishioners of the cathedral and all Catholics in the archdiocese of San Francisco,” said George Wesolek, director of communications.