Christian Leaders in Justice, Safety & Security

The African President of the World Jurist Association in Washington DC, Judge Deon van Zyl, was the speaker for the morning session. Not surprisingly, law was the order of the day. He said “Justice is not about righting a wrong, but about achieving peace and harmony.” Christians in the judiciary system must realise that they need to provide a service and in so doing, apply Godly principles. Mr van Zyl agrees that the Goliaths we at SACLA II face can only be destroyed when attacked with Godly principles.

The latter part of the afternoon session was dominated by the topic of crime and George Fivaz headed the panel discussion. Among the many things that the delegates agreed on was that South Africa is a country in transition, and transition is inevitably disruptive and difficult. This was not to make any excuses for our alarming crime rate. The way the government is tackling the crime problem at the moment does not seem to be working; ”We need to govern the country as God would have us do it". Track session ends today and Mr Gert Joubert, the leader of the track, has left it to the delegates to come up with an action plan for a way forward.

Neville Grimmet

Craig Dreyer, 22, a law student, is among the minority of young people attending the Justice and Security track. "It has been awesome how, in these two days, my mindset has been changed. I have learnt how to incorporate God into the government!" said an excited Craig. The church should be infiltrated into all sectors of society and for Craig it has been a shift from short-sightedness to maturity.

Economic Justice was the order of the day for session two; Kevin Wakeford, MD of Growth Africa, was the speaker. The issue of economic justice as it relates to poverty and job creation, was discussed. Wakeford made it very clear to the delegates that, “although apartheid is an era we would like to divorce our thinking from, we cannot. The reason why our economy is the way it is, is because it has been impacted by apartheid. Therefore separating our thinking from that will be disastrous," Wakeford insists. As it stands, South Africa has a 40% unemployment rate and the second highest GEO co-efficient gap in the world. Wakeford stated that the only way he sees there being economic justice, is when Christians and the Church start to change issues facing our country.

Neville Grimmet

Track leader Gert Joubert opened his session this morning by laying down the aims he wishes to achieve. Mr. Jourbert made it very clear to the delegates that they are not here to Chritianize the nation but rather to further the Kingdom of God. Although there are 7 giants which Sacla face, the Justice track have pointed out four which they will be focussing on namely, Deteriorating Family Values, Deteriorating Christian Morality, Corruption and Crime.

The speaker for the afternoon was Landa Cope from Switzerland who is renound for her teachings for her teachings on Discipling a Nation. Ms. Cope spoke furvently on applying biblical principles to rule a nation. SACLA 1 changed the era of apartheid because people's mind sets and attitudes were changed. "The mindset that creates a problem cant change it", said Ms. Cope. So in order for us to tackle the giants we need to change our thinking. Within the theme for the day, Repentance, she made it very clear that repentance is not " I am sorry Lord" but realizing that you understand the sin you commited.

The scrptural principles for the basic framework of Goverment are clearly laid out in Deutoronomy 1vs12-13. God has delegated his people over the goverment therefor according to Landa the goverment should not be answerable to the church but to the people.

Neville Grimmet