About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

South African Council Of Churches (SACC)

Formed in 1968, the SACC aimed to foster black leadership in the mainstream Christian churches (notably the Methodist and Anglican churches) in order to promote the liberation struggle on religious and moral grounds. It became a strong factor in the revival of mass action against apartheid, particularly in the 1980s, and from 1985 was a strong supporter of the campaign for sanctions against South Africa. The pro-sanctions appeals of prominent SACC figures such as Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, and Dr Allan Boesak, made a marked impression abroad. Boesak enjoyed great esteem at the time as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and was a particularly assertive member of the UDF.* His influence in 1986 on the imposition of sanctions (which he favoured over disinvestment) against the apartheid government, was a particularly telling one.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.