Our prayers for 2008

by Editor · January 2, 2008

As 2007 dawned, we prayed in an editorial that the African National Congress might resolve the question of presidential succession by consensual means, setting aside personal ambition and peripheral matters of ideology in favour of what is best for South Africa.

As events throughout the year revealed, the fissures within the ANC-led tripartite have instead deepened, perhaps irrevocably so.

The internal politics of the ANC have a profound effect on all of South Africa. We may be grateful that the robust campaigning for the party�s presidency did not find expression in bursts of violence. Our prayer must be that under Jacob Zuma�s leadership, those who were on the losing side in Polokwane will not experience such marginalisation as to exacerbate a potentially violent internal conflict.

Mr Zuma�s intrinsic graciousness and magnanimity surely will help in reconciling bitterly divided factions. These qualities, however, will need to be assumed also by those of his supporters whose ill-concealed hubris at Polokwane lacked wisdom or grace.

Further trouble may be ahead should the National Prosecution Authority charge Mr Zuma with corruption. Should this happen, the ANC must have immediate recourse to an alternative plan relating specifically to the succession of Thabo Mbeki to the South African presidency to defuse an atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety.

We must pray that Mr Zuma and, perhaps more crucially, his supporters would respect the legal process and acquiesce in the deployment of an alternative candidate for the presidency in the 2009 elections.

South Africa is facing too great challenges to expend energy on political discord. We pray that in 2008 the government and civil society will find a common purpose in fruitfully addressing the scourges of poverty, HIV/Aids and crime.

Glancing across the Limpopo, the bishops of Zimbabwe have called for a free, fair and peaceful election in March. Even if the conditions in Zimbabwe, with its history of political violence and intimidation, preclude the notion of an election there being in any way fair, we join the bishops in their prayers for a peaceful campaign.

Mr Mugabe will probably win the election with greater legitimacy than in the past, because the opposition has imploded. His re-election must not, however, signal the perpetuation of the status quo, but represent the dawn of a new era in Zimbabwe. So our prayer in 2008 must be that our neighbours will recover peace and prosperity, and that in the meantime South Africa will embrace Zimbabwean refugees in a spirit of support and solidarity.

The troublespots in the world remain plenty. A flashpoint of particular concern is Pakistan, where the dictatorship of Pervez Musharaff will almost certainly come to an end. We must pray for a tranquil resolution to the political crisis in Pakistan, the failure of which could have appalling consequences for an entire region, and indeed globally.

Pope Benedict faces an intense year, with three momentous foreign journeys in his diary. In New York, he will address the United Nations and an American public preparing to elect a new president in November; at World Youth Day in Sydney he will seek to build on the rapport he established with the youth in Cologne in 2005; and at Lourdes he will bring into focus the Church�s special devotion to Our Lady. These high-profile journeys will have pronounced political, evangelical and devotional dimensions respectively.

We pray that the Holy Father will maintain his good health so that he will deliver the Church�s Good News to these diverse audiences, persuasively and durably.

And finally we pray that those who are enduring suffering will find the fortitude to conquer their anguish and grow from it, with God on their side. May all our 2008 be filled with blessings and graces.