Geordin Hill-Lewis is the Mayor of Cape Town. His politics and his economics are documented in detail. His faith is not — until now, no interview with him has touched on what he believes. Jason Scott sat down with the mayor at his Civic Centre office to discuss the city’s relationship with the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town, the role of religion in civic life, and his own faith.
Before we begin, what denomination are you?
I would broadly call myself evangelical, but my church is quite ecumenical, so it’s quite non-denominational.
I noticed your Twitter bio has one of the Reformation Solas in it — Soli Deo Gloria (“Glory to God alone”)
Yes. That’s a phrase that my father used to love growing up, and it used to be above our front door at my dad’s house. So it’s always stuck with me. He tried to live by that, and so do I.
In Cape Town, the Cathedral and the Archdiocese’s Chancery sit just across from Parliament. Does that closeness mean anything to you?
Well, I can’t say I’ve given that much thought. My only interaction with it was when I first started out in Parliament, I used to park in Hope Street [by St Mary’s Cathedral and the Chancery], and so I used to walk past it often. And then I married an Italian wife, and her family are Roman Catholic. And so we attended some classes at St Mary’s many years ago, because we became godparents to one of the young children in her family. So that has been my kind of interaction, I suppose — I used to walk past it every day and sometimes pop in, and then I attended some godparents’ classes there many years ago.
You attended Archbishop Sipuka’s installation back in March. What has your relationship with him been like so far?
I only just recently got to know him. I attended his installation and had lunch with him thereafter, and then we met once more after that, for just an informal discussion. He seems like a really wonderful man, with a very interesting history in the ministry in the Eastern Cape. I’m sure that he’s going to make a wonderful Archbishop, and I look forward to working with him and his office.
Has his office ever reached out to you, or vice versa?
Yes — and they sent me a beautiful book as well, with a note from the Archbishop. And he came here to my office for, as I said, a more informal meeting, where we just discussed how we can work more closely together — the Mayor’s office and the Archbishop’s office.
The Church runs schools, clinics, and social services in some of the city’s poorest areas. Does the City see the Church as a partner in that work?
Yes — the Church does wonderful work in the city. We’re so grateful for the relief efforts that the Church is involved in, in times of tragedy or strife in the city — flood or fire, whatever the case may be. And the old age homes. In fact, my wife comes from a Catholic family, and my wife’s grandfather was at Nazareth House, up there in Gardens. He lived there until he passed away, and we used to go and visit him there as well.
So, you know, I’m very grateful for all those kinds of social care projects and programmes that the Church runs around the city. And that’s not the only one — I know the Church has many of those social care institutions around the city.
Has there been a moment as mayor where your faith actually came into it?
So, I’m a believer in the separation between the state and the church. And that is as much for the state’s protection as it is for the church’s protection. As we read throughout history —throughout the Middle Ages and beyond — those periods where there has been a complete overlap between the church and the state, or those periods actually when the church becomes the state or vice versa, generally lead to various abuses of power. And so I think that over the centuries, society has developed this very healthy practice of keeping government functions quite separate from religious functions.
And so even though I am a Christian, and of course my faith and my values and my upbringing influence the way that I think about everything, I make sure that I always remember that I am the mayor of all Capetonians. It’s a very diverse city — lots of religions, lots of different backgrounds and belief systems. And I’m sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and that is my legal and constitutional duty. And so I try to maintain that. That’s why you don’t often hear me talking about my faith in public — because I do believe that that is more of a private matter. But hopefully, people can observe a certain value system, or a certain belief system, at work in the things that I do.
You studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at UCT. Is there a particular philosopher who resonates with you the most?
Well, obviously I’m a classical liberal. So Rawls, J.S. Mill, Adam Smith, Isaiah Berlin, Popper — those are the ones that I associate with most closely, from my economic and political perspective. But there are also some wonderful Christian philosophers — obviously, the most famous being St Thomas. But also, I have done quite a bit of reading in Jesuit philosophy and thought over the years, which has impressed me and which has influenced me.
Is there any book that you’ve been reading lately?
At the moment, I tend to read fiction just to relax. So I go through phases. Sometimes I go through a spurt where I will read a lot of nonfiction and biography — and it’s pretty serious and heavy reading. And then there are other times when I just feel like, you know, work is so busy and so hectic that I just want to read to relax. And then I read fiction. So at the moment I’ve been reading a lot of science fiction, a lot of fantasy novels, and some spy novels. I’m currently reading one called The Persian, which is the latest novel from an author that I like called David McCloskey, who’s a spy novelist. And I think for the next while I’ll probably be reading fiction — just as an escape for the mind and a way to relax at night.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how religious would you say you are?
Gosh, that’s a difficult one to answer. I mean — I try to always attend church when I can. I try to spend time in prayer and worship. And I try to talk to my daughter and my family about the faith and certain central beliefs. I try to get her to attend Sunday school — sometimes unsuccessfully. So I’m not sure where that puts me. I don’t know — it’s hard to say.
