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Mvumelwano Mvume Dandala (born 26 October 1951 as Mvumelwano Umdandalaza [1] ) is a former presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and a former head of the All Africa Conference of Churches. He was the presidential candidate of the COPE in the 2009 South African general elections. [2]
Mvume was born on 26 October 1951, the son of the Reverend Killion Dandala, a Methodist minister in the small village of Dandalaville (named after his great-grandfather), in Mount Ayliff in South Africa's Eastern Cape, the last born of four children.
He was a pupil at Ndamase High School, near Umtata before attending the Federal Theological Seminary in Alice where he became the local chairman of the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) where he was involved in the exploration of black and liberation theology and in developing programmes to assist communities with basic amenities such as dams, schools and clinics.
He has an MA in Theology from the University of Cambridge. He became a minister of the Methodist Church of southern Africa (MCSA) in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal in 1978, a post he held until 1982.
From 1983 to 1985 he was Superintendent Minister of the North Circuit of the Methodist Church in Port Elizabeth, at the time the largest Circuit of the MCSA. In Port Elizabeth he participated in reconciliation ministries among warring political factions. In July 1985 when South Africa declared a state of emergency he was detained without trial.
From 1986 to 1991 he was General Mission Secretary of the MCSA. At the Missions department, Mvume was instrumental in launching the Malihambe Missions, what was at the time a dangerous policy of sending black and white ministers to work in pairs.
He was superintendent minister of the Central Methodist Mission from 1992 to 1996, during which he convened the Institute for Evangelism both for the Southern African Methodist Churches and later a Pan African Institute for Evangelism for the Methodist churches in Africa held in Nairobi 1994. This culminated in the founding of the Pan African Methodist Leader’s Consultation, which is held bi-annually.
At the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, Mvume’s mediation and conflict resolution skills were in great demand during the preparation for the political transition in the late 'nineties. He found himself having to be at the forefront of helping to reduce violence in order to create an atmosphere where elections could happen peacefully. This led – in the years directly after the elections – to his playing a critical role in the disarmament of the African National Congress's (ANC) Self Defence Units and the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) Self Protection Units in the Eastern Areas of Johannesburg.
In 1996 Dandala was appointed the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa – the highest office in the church. He was subsequently appointed for two further terms.
In 1998 he was appointed President of the South African Council of Churches and again the following year for a second term in office.
In 2003 the University of Transkei granted him an honorary doctorate in philosophy.
In 2003 he became general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC). His term ended in December 2008.
In May, 2004, he led an AACC delegation to Sudan. His subsequent reportback urged Sudan government to help end hostilities and human rights violations in Darfur, urged the world to keep the whole Sudan in focus beyond Darfur, and said there were strong grounds for investigating and monitoring reports of crime against humanity in Sudan. [3] 1999 to 2009 he was Prior of the Order of St John in South Africa.
He was granted an honorary doctorate in theology from Cameroon's Protestant University in 2005.
Dandala married Phumzile Dandala on 15 December 1973. His son is former Isidingo star Hlomla Dandala who was one of the first celebrities to come out in support of Cope. He also has a daughter, Gqibelo, a banker. His lawyer niece Thobeka was a founding member of the Cope’s leadership institute. [4]
On 20 February 2009, he was announced as Cope's presidential candidate. [4] [5] In June 2010 he resigned from COPE after much in fighting among senior party leaders Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa.
Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota is a South African anti-Apartheid revolutionary for the African National Congress (ANC) who served jail time with Nelson Mandela from 1985 and who left the ANC to form the Congress of the People (Cope) splinter party in 2008. He has served as its President since 16 December 2008.
Mbhazima Samuel (Sam) Shilowa, correct Tsonga spelling "Xilowa" is a South African politician. A former Premier of Gauteng province while a member of the African National Congress, Shilowa left the party to help form the opposition Congress of the People, with whom he was briefly the Deputy President. In the 2009 general election, Shilowa was elected to parliament with COPE.
The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is a large Wesleyan Methodist denomination, with local churches across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, and a more limited presence in Mozambique. It is a member church of the World Methodist Council.
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is an interdenominational forum in South Africa. It was a prominent anti-apartheid organisation during the years of apartheid in South Africa. Its leaders have included Desmond Tutu, Beyers Naudé and Frank Chikane. It is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa.
Desmond Tutu is a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first Black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from Black theology with African theology.
All Africa Conference of Churches is an ecumenical fellowship that represents more than 200 million African Christians in 210 national churches and regional Christian councils in 43 African Countries. AACC's head office is in Nairobi, Kenya, and there is a regional office in Lomé, Togo. AACC also has an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which serves as its Liaison Office to the African Union. Its current General Secretary is the Rev. Dr. Fidon Mwombeki, Minister of the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. The Desmond Tutu Conference Centre in Nairobi is an affiliate of the AACC.
Nomaka Epainette Mbeki, commonly known as "MaMbeki", a stalwart community activist and promoter of women's development, mother of former President of South Africa, Dr. Thabo Mbeki. and widow of political activist and Rivonia trialist Govan Mbeki. She lived in Ngcingwane, a rural hamlet near Dutywa, one of South Africa's poorest municipalities. She was known for her auspicious relatives and, more importantly to her, her endeavours to improve the residents' quality of life. Gillian Rennie, in an award-winning profile, quoted a co-worker as saying, "She is not like other retired people, getting a pension and saying, 'Let me play golf and fish a bit.' The old lady is a humble person."
The Congress of the People (COPE) is a South African political party formed in 2008 by former members of the African National Congress (ANC). The party was founded by former ANC members Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George to contest the 2009 general election. The party was announced following a national convention held in Sandton on 1 November 2008, and was founded at a congress held in Bloemfontein on 16 December 2008. The name echoes the 1955 Congress of the People at which the Freedom Charter was adopted by the ANC and other parties, a name strongly contested by the ANC in a legal move dismissed by the Pretoria High Court.
Lulama Smuts Ngonyama is a South African diplomat who previously served as South Africa’s Ambassador to Spain and currently to Japan, and a former head of communications for the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. He was born in Uitenhage, attended school in Fort Beaufort and graduated from the University of Fort Hare.
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Seth Mokitimi (1904–1971) was a significant leader in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) during the 20th century. He fostered the development of education, especially theological education, and promoted the use of education as a tool in the struggle for liberation from apartheid in South Africa. Seth Mokitimi was also influential in the youthful development of several important South African leaders, among them Nelson Mandela. In 1963 the MCSA annual Conference elected Rev. Seth Mokitimi as their first black president, in which position he served one term during 1964 and 1965.
At the MCSA Conference of 2007, 36 years after his death, a proposal that the new Methodist Seminary to be built at Pietermaritzburg be named after Seth Mokitimi was approved with "overwhelming enthusiasm".
Paul Verryn is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Known for his anti-apartheid activism, he was Bishop of the church's Central District between 1997 and 2009. During that period, he was a prominent and controversial figure for his activism against xenophobia, and clashed with the South African government over his decision to accommodate hundreds of refugees at his Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg city centre.
James Mata Dwane, priest and founder of the Order of Ethiopia.
Purity Nomthandazo Malinga is a South African Methodist bishop and the 100th Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA). Malinga was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1988, the fourth woman to be ordained in her denomination. In 1999, she became the first woman to be elected as a bishop in the MCSA, and served nine years as the bishop for the Natal Coastal region. She later became director of the MCSA's Education for Ministry and Mission Unit, which holds responsibility for overseeing theological education within the denomination. She is the first woman to become presiding bishop for the MCSA; she was elected to that position in 2019, succeeding Bishop Ziphorzihle Siwa. The MCSA is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in Southern Africa and includes churches in Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa.
Nikiwe Julia Num, also known as Nikiwe Mangqo, is a South African politician who has served as Mayor of the North West's Dr Kenneth Kaundra District Municipality since 2021. She formerly served in the North West Provincial Legislature, representing the African National Congress (ANC) from 2004 to 2008 and then the Congress of the People (Cope) from 2009 to 2014. She has since rejoined the ANC, which nominated her to her current office during the 2021 local elections.
Jonathan Mlungisi Hlongwane is a South African politician who served as president of the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) from 1995 to 2008. He also represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly in 1999 and as Executive Mayor of Gauteng's Sedibeng District Municipality from 2005 to 2008.
Lyndall Fanisa Shope-Mafole is a South African politician and former civil servant who was the general secretary of the Congress of the People (COPE) from 2014 to 2019. She led COPE's caucus in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 2009 until 2014, when she failed to gain re-election.
Lorraine Mmakgosi "Lolo" Mashiane is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2014. She represented the African National Congress (ANC) during her first term but defected to the Congress of the People (COPE) for her second. However, ahead of the 2014 general election, Mashiane was among several COPE members who openly denounced the party, ending her parliamentary career.
Onkgopotse JJ Tabane is a South African communications strategist, political commentator, businessman, and television presenter. A former government spokesman, he is currently the host of eNCA's Power to Truth and an adjunct professor at the University of South Africa and University of Botswana. He was briefly a spokesman for the Congress of the People from 2008 until 2010, when he resigned and resumed his membership of the African National Congress.
Lucky Sifiso Gabela is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal. He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2006 before defecting to the Congress of the People (COPE) ahead of the 2009 general election. Although he represented COPE in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 2009 to 2014, he returned to the ANC in 2014.
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