Tutu’s tax proposal

Did you know that the Bible says more about economic justice than it does about prayer? Come to think about it, so does Jesus. Prayer is central to the Christian life, but nowhere does Jesus say that we will not enter the kingdom of God if we don’t pray. He does say that it is almost impossible for rich people to do so. In saying this, Jesus was simply repeating one of the basic themes of the Old Testament prophets. It is there that we learn that money is the root of all evil, and it is Jesus who says that we cannot serve God and money. All of which is a necessary prologue for us to reflect on the controversy that erupted in the media these past two weeks in response to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s speech at the launch of The Humanist Imperative in South Africa, the book I recently edited.

The Arch, as our dearly loved Volmoed Patron is known, has often made the headlines. And, sure enough he did so again when The Argus blazoned across its front page: “Tutu: Tax wealthy whites!” The moment I saw the headline on the posters I knew that it had to do with the Arch’s speech at the book launch in Stellenbosch the evening before. But I was taken by surprise when right next to the large headline was an equally large photo of Tutu and me. If you can’t make the headlines on your own, invite the Archbishop to help you do so! One either becomes immediately famous or infamous by association. Whether anyone has bought the book because of what subsequently happened, or even remembers that Tutu made the statement at its launch, it must be said that the book has in fact got considerable publicity as a result. But more importantly it has sparked off an important and at times heated public debate, which is exactly what the book was intended to do. In fact I could tell my granddaughter Kate when I saw her in Pietermaritzburg that “Grandpa has created a national crisis!” Well, not exactly grandpa, and maybe not a major crisis, but she got my drift.

I have heard several radio discussions on what Tutu said and also seen much in the newspapers about it, ranging from the reaction of angry whites using ill-informed arguments and giving us their gut-feelings, to more reasoned discussions about the issues Tutu has raised. The point is very simple: have the majority of us whites in South Africa ever really come to terms with the fact that apartheid made us all privileged to the disadvantage of the majority of South Africans? The white response to the TRC, for example, was generally silent but often “well, we did not really support apartheid, and have nothing to apologize for! It was the Nationalists, the Afrikaners, the rest of them – but not us!” But there was little acknowledgement that we were all beneficiaries, including those who opposed apartheid. By virtue of our skin colour we all benefitted in many ways from apartheid. So Tutu was calling on us all to acknowledge that fact in a concrete way – this was, after all, a recommendation of the TRC in 1996 which was never put into effect. Incidentally, Tutu not only addressed whites in his speech. He criticized the black leadership in the country as well, something conveniently ignored by angry white respondents. And who can deny that our current government is guilty of corruption and much else. But that does not excuse those of us who are white from listening to and taking seriously what Tutu said. Fortunately there are perceptive whites who understand what the Archbishop has said, and have entered into the discussion with knowledge, insight and moral commitment.

For what Tutu said is exactly the kind of thing one would expect from a Christian prophet who is sensitive to what is going on in South Africa at the moment. Apartheid is not dead. Those of us who were the economic beneficiaries of apartheid remain its beneficiaries in many ways despite affirmative action and the like and even though there is a growing black middle class and wealthy population. For too long we felt entitled to the best schools, best medical care, best housing, best everything else in comparison to some of the worst education, health service, shacks, and everything else that has been the outcome not just of more recent government failures to deliver, that is certainly true, but of centuries of colonial rule, land dispossession and racial discrimination. I know that today we would all agree that transformation is necessary, but we do find it difficult to move beyond the mindset of the past.

Prophets like those in the Old Testament and Jesus himself do not make detailed political or economic proposals, and neither does Tutu, about how to deal with the issues. So we miss the point if we simply respond to his challenge by saying it won’t work, or it is inappropriate, or why not tax wealthy blacks as well, or who is going to manage such a tax, and my goodness, we are so heavily taxed as it is. Tutu has, in fact, already clarified his comments to include all wealthy people irrespective of race and as a result some very interesting positive proposals are beginning to emerge. The truth is, the huge difference between the wealthy and the poor in South Africa cannot be sustained and will only foster unrest, more strikes and the like. If we do not learn to share far more than we do, we will in the end all be the losers. That is the lesson of history. It is also the teaching of Jesus who said: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” [Luke 18:18-30]. No wonder his hearers cried out in alarm “Then who can be saved?” So in responding to Tutu let us remember again what Jesus teaches us about economic justice, and only then pray – not just for the poor, but that our society will become less divided by wealth and poverty.

(John W. de Gruchy is Emeritus Professor of Christian Studies, University of Cape Town and Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch. This is a weekly meditation given at the Eucharist service at Volmoed Christian Community Centre, Hermanus.)