In a statement about Safeguarding in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), the Archbishop of Southern Africa, The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba has called the church to “redouble our efforts to eradicate all forms of abuse in the church and to campaign more vigorously for its abolition in wider society.”

His statement on February 4 was made in response to the report of a Panel of Inquiry which investigated the contact of the British serial abuser John Smyth with the ACSA between 2001 and 2018. “The Farlam-Ramphele Panel of Inquiry report” on Smyth abuse was published on February 3, 2025.

Archbishop Thabo appointed the Inquiry Panel on November 22, 2024, following the Makin Review of 2024, which reported on Smyth perpetrating abuse of young men in the UK and Zimbabwe. As Smyth had also spent time in South Africa, the inquiry panel was set up to explore what the Diocese of Cape Town had done to respond to warnings about his conduct and the potential risk he posed.

In his statement, the Archbishop said: “I asked the panellists a very specific question: to examine our failure to respond adequately to a letter of warning received from the Church of England in 2013, and to make recommendations on our safeguarding process.”

The Inquiry Panel said although no cases of abuse in South Africa had been reported to it, “the risk of a repetition of abuse by Smyth in his time in South Africa (2001-2018) was at all times clearly high.” The report refers to several areas for improvement in ACSA’s safeguarding processes.

A seven-page summary highlighting the panel’s major findings can be found on the website for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and the full text of the report is available under Provincial Notices on the Home page.

In responding to the report, The Archbishop of Southern Africa has emphasised the need to effectively progress Safe Church processes and campaign about issues of abuse and gender-based violence in society as a whole.

The statement refers to research by the Human Sciences Research Council that reveals that one in every three South African women report experiencing physical or sexual violence during their lifetime.

The archbishop’s statement outlined proposals for action that relate to safeguarding in the Anglican Church of South Africa and Anglican Schools.

Read more

Read the Statement by the Most Revd Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Southern Africa here.

Read a news item about the Inquiry Panel’s report on the ACSA website here.

Read a summary of the Inquiry Panel report visit the ACSA site here.

Read the full Inquiry Panel report here.