By Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, President, South African Council of Churches
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Bishop Sipuka delivered these comments in the concluding session of the 2025 G20 Interfaith Forum in South Africa. Watch his comments here.
Grace and peace to you all, beloved servants of humanity.
As we prepare to leave this sacred gathering, I am reminded of the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” These four days in Cape Town have shown us that we—Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, traditional African spiritualists, and all faith traditions represented here—have chosen to go far together.
The Ubuntu Revelation
We came to Cape Town under the banner of “Ubuntu in Action: Focus on Vulnerable Communities.” Ubuntu has taught us that our humanity is interconnected—”I am because we are.” But this week, we have discovered something profound: Ubuntu is not just philosophy; it is prophecy. It calls us beyond mere acknowledgment of our connectedness to active responsibility for one another’s dignity.
When we heard from our Indonesian colleagues about education that cultivates cross-cultural religious literacy, when our Islamic brothers and sisters spoke of justice and peace, when our Christian communities shared about serving the marginalized, when our Jewish traditions reminded us of Jubilee justice, when our Hindu and Buddhist communities spoke of compassion in action—we were not hearing different messages. We were hearing the same divine call in different sacred languages.
The Mirror of Truth
But let me speak with the honesty that our faiths demand. This forum has held up a mirror to our souls, and what we see is both inspiring and convicting. We have confronted uncomfortable truths about ourselves as faith leaders.
Too often, we who claim to serve the God of the poor are viewed with suspicion by those very poor. Why? Because our proximity to power has sometimes made us complicit in systems that perpetuate injustice. It’s easy for religious leaders to be co-opted by those in power for the benefits offered, and in exchange lose our prophetic stance to stand and be the voice of the voiceless. This sometimes results in religious leaders living in mansions while their congregants queue for food parcels, it leads into our institutions accumulating wealth while children in our communities go hungry, it leads into us religious leaders blessing policies that oppress rather than liberate—where we become part of the problem we claim to solve. It leads into some of living a very luxurious life at the expense of those poor they claim to love and serve.
Let us ask ourselves: How can we speak against the corruption in governments and corporations while ignoring the corruption in our own hearts and institutions? If we demand transparency from others, should we not model it ourselves? If we call for justice in society, should we not practice it in our faith communities first?
The Five Pillars of Our Commitment
Over these days, we have examined five critical areas where our faiths must move from rhetoric to reality:
- Food Security and Human Dignity My wish is that we could commit ourselves not merely to feeding the hungry, but to transforming the systems that create hunger. The World Council of Churches, Caritas organizations, World Vision, Islamic Relief, LDS Charities, and countless others are already demonstrating what interfaith cooperation can achieve.
As we conclude this conference and go back to our bases, let us commit to establishing food security projects in every faith community represented here, not as charity that creates dependency, but as empowerment that restores dignity. Let us commit to reviving traditional farming wisdom, establishing community gardens, and building agricultural value chains that honour both creation and Creator.
- Regarding Economic Justice and Debt Cancellation, My wish is that we could commit to becoming accountability partners in the Jubilee call for debt cancellation. Let us commit to not simply advocating for debt relief, but let us also commit to guaranteeing its integrity and its good use for the benefit of the vulnerable. Through our community networks, let us aspire to establish transparent tracking systems to ensure that cancelled debt reaches the poor, not the corrupt.
The Jewish notion of Jubilee restoration, our Christian communities’ moral authority, our Islamic communities’ principles of economic justice that prohibit exploitation—together, I hope we can build an “Accountability Covenant” that ensures justice reaches those who need it most.
- From the powerful keynote address on Education, presented here, we heard how Education is the greatest equaliser—with transformative potential to level the playing field and create opportunities for all, perfectly embodying the themes of solidarity, equality, and sustainability that have guided this G20 Interfaith Forum. Quality education and religious education can serve as means to cultivate cross-cultural religious literacy and eliminate attitudes and behaviours which include hostility towards people of other faiths. As we part, my wish is that we could commit to transforming our educational approaches.
Let us commit to establishing interfaith educational partnerships that teach not just literacy and numeracy, but social, emotional, and spiritual intelligence. Through cross-cultural religious literacy, may we be able to help end the devastating wars fought in the name of religion that humiliate, brutalise and kill children and the elderly alike. May our madrasas, our church schools, our temple institutions, our community centres become laboratories of Ubuntu—places where children learn that difference is not division, but a tapestry of diversity created by the pleasure and joy of divine design.
- About Migration and Human Dignity I want to note that fear of migrants and refugees affects politics in many settings and calls for religious advocacy for compassion and care. My hope is that as we part, we could commit to being practical sanctuaries of hope for migrants and refugees. May our mosques, churches, temples, and synagogues open not just our doors, but our communities to those fleeing violence and seeking opportunity.
- Regarding Climate Justice and Creation Care, I invite us to commit to the treatment of creation with care as a sacred duty. The world’s future requires a vision of development that can be sustained in the long run. My wish is that our faith communities could become models of sustainable living, champions of renewable energy, and prophetic voices for environmental justice.
The Pastoral Commitment: Having the Smell of the Sheep
Pope Francis, of happy memories, called religious leaders to have “the smell of the sheep” they claim to pastor, not to smell differently from the people they claim to care for—to live so close to those we serve that their struggles become our struggles, their hopes become our hopes. This is not just a Christian calling; it is the essence of all authentic spirituality.
My wish is that we could commit to pastoral proximity over political comfort. Let us commit to spending more time in informal settlements than in government offices, more time with the unemployed than with the employed elite, more time listening to the cries of the poor than to the promises of politicians.
When we speak, may we speak not as outsiders looking in, but as insiders looking up—from the perspective of those whose dignity is daily denied, whose hopes are daily deferred, whose humanity is daily diminished.
Beyond Calling to Commitment
Let me be clear about what distinguishes this moment from countless other gatherings. We have not gathered here to issue another statement “calling on governments, “calling on business and corporations,” and “calling on business” to act. The poor are tired of our calls. The poor are hungry for our commitment.
My hope is that we, as interfaith leaders, could commit ourselves to action.
My wish is that every faith community represented here could take the initiative—not waiting for perfect conditions, not depending on external funding, but beginning where we are, with what we have, for whom we serve.
Rather than setting rigid timelines that may become empty promises, let each of us return home and begin. Some may act immediately, others may need time for consultation and planning. What matters is not the speed of our response, but the sincerity of our commitment.
Instead of a universal deadline, let us each ask: What is the first step my community can take? When can we begin? How will we measure our faithfulness, not just our success?
The Prophetic Challenge
To my fellow Christians: Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.” The world is watching our fruits, not just listening to our words.
To our Muslim brothers and sisters: The Quran reminds us that faith without righteous action is incomplete. Our actions must reflect our submission to Allah’s justice.
To our Jewish friends: The tradition of Tikkun Olam—repairing the world—and the ancient notion of Jubilee restoration call us to righteous action that restores justice.
To our Hindu and Buddhist colleagues: The principle of dharma calls us to righteous action that upholds cosmic order.
To our traditional African spiritualists: Our ancestors judge us not by what we promise, but by what we preserve for future generations.
To all of us: The vulnerable communities we claim to serve are not objects of our charity—they are the measure of our authenticity.
The Ubuntu Covenant
As we leave Cape Town, my hope is that we could leave not as individual faith traditions returning to separate spheres, but as an Ubuntu coalition aspiring to shared action. Let us say we will sign—with our lives, not just our signatures—a covenant that calls us to:
- Transparency in our own institutions before demanding it from others
- Service to the marginalized as the measure of our spiritual maturity
- Accountability to each other as guardians of this sacred trust
- Prophetic courage to speak truth to all powers, including religious power
- Practical action that transforms systems, not just symptoms
The Final Word
The children of the global south, the poor of this world, the marginalised of every nation, are not waiting for our next conference. They are waiting for our conversion. From talkers to doers. From advocates to agents. From religious leaders to radical servants.
Ubuntu teaches us that we are because others are. Today, we commit to ensuring that others can be because we have been. Not because we spoke beautifully about their plight, but because we acted boldly for their liberation.
When the history of this moment is written, may it record not what the G20 Interfaith Forum called for, but what it committed to. Not the eloquence of our speeches, but the faithfulness of our service.
The God of all faiths, known by many names but recognised by one love, has called us not to be successful, but to be faithful. Not to be applauded, but to be authentic. Not to be comfortable, but to be converted.
May we leave Cape Town not as we came—as separate traditions with good intentions—but as we must go: as one interfaith family with sacred commitments, carrying the smell of the sheep, bearing the burden of the broken, embodying the hope of the hopeless.
The world is waiting. The poor are watching. God is calling.
Ubuntu. Let us act because we are, and others shall be not because we have called but because we have acted.
Amen. Insha’Allah. Shalom. Om. Asante sana.
God bless our sacred work together.
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Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka, born on April 27, 1960, in Idutywa, Eastern Cape, South Africa, is the bishop of the Mthatha Diocese and a prominent leader in the Southern African Catholic Church. Ordained a priest in 1988 for the diocese of Queenstown, he pursued advanced studies including a licentiate in dogmatic theology in Rome, and served as rector of St John Vianney Seminary before his episcopal appointment in 2008. Bishop Sipuka has held significant leadership roles, including president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) and, since 2024, as the first Catholic president of the Southern African Council of Churches (SACC), advocating ecumenical dialogue, social justice, and church synodality. He is recognized for his commitment to pastoral care, social issues, and interreligious dialogue on a regional and international scale. His work extends to addressing challenges such as priest shortages, political stability, and social governance in South Africa and the broader Southern African region.