The anti-apartheid activist
who fell in love with ‘Laudato Sì’
 |
| South African anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg (ANSA) |
World leaders are paying tribute to the life and legacy of
Denis Goldberg, one of South Africa’s most revered anti-apartheid activists who
died last week in Cape Town. Because of Covid-19 restrictions an online
memorial will be held for him on Friday 8 May.
By Linda Bordoni
Following 87-year-old Denis Goldberg’s death on
29 April, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the country’s flags
to fly at half-mast to observe four days of national mourning.
Ramaphosa, himself one of Goldberg’s companions during the
long fight for democracy in South Africa, pointed out that his “revolutionary
contribution reinforced the non-racial character of the Struggle and of the
country’s democratic dispensation.”
Many others, including Anglican Archbishop Emeritus and
Nobel Peace prize winner, Desmond Tutu, have raised their voices to honour a
man whose great sense of justice drove him to fight injustice in his country at
great personal cost.
History books, media footage and articles tell of how, in
the early 1950’s, Goldberg joined the underground African National Congress’
struggle for equality and of how this led to his arrest and conviction at the
famed Rivonia Treason Trial, along with Nelson Mandela and ten others.
They also tell how Denis Goldberg spent 22 years in jail,
and how, after his release in 1985, he continued to campaign against the
apartheid system from London until the system was fully abolished with the 1994
election in South Africa.
I spoke to South Africa’s Ambassador to the Holy
See, George Johannes, who spent years in exile in London with Goldberg
during some of the darkest times of South Africa’s history.
Ambassador Johannes told me that although Denis Goldberg was
of the Jewish faith, he always held the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
in high esteem, quoting from it on many occasions and upholding its values as
his own.
He was a man who was prepared to sacrifice all in his battle
to affirm human dignity and the need for the common good. His concern for
social justice, explained the Ambassador, was at the root of his determination
to fight oppression and exploitation.
Johannes said that Goldberg did not shy away from comparing
South Africa’s “Freedom Charter” to the Social Doctrine of the Church, a
document he would refer to for its unequalled treasure of wisdom about building
a just society.
One trait of Goldberg’s that the Ambassador remembers well,
was his capacity to empathize, to be moved to compassion. He told me that
Goldberg would suffer and cry when told of the cruel things being done to his
companions who were still in jail, or were being apprehended by security forces
back home.
Those London years came to an end for both men and their
ways parted, but Ambassador Johannes said they always kept in touch and
Goldberg was thrilled for Johannes’ appointment at the Holy See.
During one of their exchanges, a conversation took place
about Pope Francis’ Encyclical ‘Laudato Sì’ when it was first released: “It was
clear that Goldberg was extremely interested,” Johannes added, “So I sent him a
copy.”
“He fell in love with it!” he said, “When he called to thank
me for the gift, he told me it contained his philosophy!”
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