Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said he has written to the Church-on-Main, where John Smyth attended, to apologise for not warning them about him as part of his effort to make amends. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Newspapers
Cape Town - The Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba has accepted the findings of the panel of inquiry which set out to determine the church’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse by serial abuser, John Smyth, and apologised to his wider congregation including the last church Smyth attended.
He also promised comprehensive reforms to protect congregants.
In a bid of repentance and restoration, Makgoba said he had written to the Church-on- Main where Smyth attended, to apologise because they had not been warned.
“Where we are found to be at fault and I regret and I apologize, that the Church-on-Main (an independent church where Smyth had moved to following his departure of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa [ACSA]) was not told about these allegations about Smyth and last night upon reading the report I wrote to the church-on-main, to give them the report and to and to apologize,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday.
In the 29-page report, the ACSA panel revealed the Bishop of Table Bay, the Right Reverend Garth Counsell, had received a letter from the Church of England diocese in 2013 and had warned the congregation about Smyth.
The report also stated that in 2017, a news channel in the UK had publicly exposed Smyth but that the Bishop Counsell did not recall receiving the letter and that it had been mislaid in the diocesan files and it determined that in January 2014, the rector of the church of which Smyth was a member, the Reverend Allan Smith, had written to Bishop Counsell, informing him that Smyth had left the church and moved to an independent Cape Town church, Church-on-Main.
The panel found that “Bishop Counsell and Reverend Smith erred in failing to inform the authorities about what they had learnt about Smyth via the letter”.
Makgoba said the church had to accept accountability and apologise.
“As the Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I have priestly, pastoral, spiritual and administrative responsibility for the institution and, most importantly, I am accountable to our church members and to society for ensuring that our churches and institutions are safe spaces in which to worship and Minister,” he said.
“The buck stops with me. That being the case, I accept the Panel’s findings unreservedly.
“I acknowledge that during Smyth’s time in Cape Town, God's people were exposed to the potential of his abuse and I and the Diocese apologise to our congregants and the wider community that we did not protect people from that risk.”
He said it was now the time to rebuild trust within the walls and organs of the church where the congregation felt safe and called for immediate action in which the clergy would receive training as Safe Church Officers. He also called for full reports to be written on cases of abuse and that protocols had to be followed when requiring new church members from other parishes.
“I have two years to serve before my retirement. I cannot bequeath the current state of safeguarding to my successor.
“One of my priorities before retirement has been to help to change our church by ensuring that people of all sexual orientations are equally welcomed and ministered to by the church.
“I now have another, to act on the recommendations of the Inquiry Panel, all of which I accept, and to ensure they are implemented,” he stated.
He added that no one was above the law. “And when it comes to abuse in the church, as I said in responding last November 17 to the Smyth case, ‘For someone in the church, which is meant to be a safe and nurturing space, to prey on God's children when they are at their most vulnerable is not only wrong, it is not only criminal, which it often is, it is evil beyond description’.”
He was accompanied by Bishop Margaret Vertue, who is retired, and shared her experiences dealing with abuse cases.
She said hope built bridges and that it was a time for restoration and resurrection.
The report comes weeks after respected lawyer Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett recused himself from the panel after allegations of abuse surfaced by a Wits University lecturer.
The General Council of the Bar of South Africa (GCB) said they were made aware of the allegations and called for it to be referred to Cape Bar and the Johannesburg Society of Advocate.
The panel included Dr Mamphela Ramphele, the South African civil society leader, and Judge Ian Farlam, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The Panel had set out to determine Smyth’s interactions with ACSA between 2001 and 2018. The scandal was blown open in November 2024, following the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby after the Makin review revealed an entrenched cover-up of abuse by Smyth, who had lived in Cape Town and worshipped at St Martin’s in Bergvliet.
At least 85 boys were believed to have been Smyth’s victims in various countries.
The Makin Review called for a full independent review of Smyth’s activities in Zimbabwe and South Africa.