Cedric Mayson

Cedric Radcliffe Mayson (16 July 1927 – 23 May 2015) was a British-born South African Methodist minister, theologian, author and anti-apartheid activist. After moving to South Africa in 1953, he served Methodist congregations in Natal, the Transkei and the Transvaal for approximately twenty years. His experience in both black and white congregations contributed to his rejection of apartheid and increasing involvement in Christian opposition to the South African government.

Mayson joined the staff of the Christian Institute of Southern Africa in the 1970s and became editor of its journal, Pro Veritate. Under his editorship the journal adopted an increasingly explicit opposition to racism, state repression and the theological defence of apartheid. When the government outlawed the Christian Institute in October 1977, Mayson was placed under a five-year banning order along with Beyers Naudé, Theo Kotze, Brian Brown and other Institute figures.

Mayson subsequently became involved in clandestine support for the African National Congress (ANC). He used light aircraft to help activists leave South Africa for Botswana and participated in an unsuccessful plan to fly Steve Biko to Gaborone for discussions with ANC leaders. He was arrested in November 1981, detained for fifteen months and charged with high treason and offences under security legislation. After a judge excluded a confession obtained during his detention and granted him bail, Mayson left South Africa through Lesotho in 1983 and entered exile in Britain.

In exile he worked through the ANC's religious structures and helped develop relationships between the liberation movement and Christian churches in Britain and Europe. After receiving indemnity in 1991, he returned to South Africa and worked with the South African Council of Churches and the ANC's Commission for Religious Affairs. His books included A Certain Sound: The Struggle for Liberation in South Africa and Why Africa Matters.

Early life and education

Cedric Radcliffe Mayson was born in the East End of London on 16 July 1927.

In 1953 Mayson moved to South Africa as a Methodist minister and later became a South African citizen.

Christian Institute and Pro Veritate

Mayson joined the staff of the Christian Institute in 1973 and began working for it full-time after leaving parish ministry in 1974.

Detention and banning

Mayson was briefly detained by the security police in December 1976 while on his honeymoon with his second wife, Penelope, who was also known as Thandi.

On 19 October 1977 the government outlawed the Christian Institute and Pro Veritate during the suppression commonly known as Black Wednesday. Numerous Black Consciousness organisations were banned on the same day. Mayson and other senior Christian Institute figures received personal banning orders restricting their movements, public activities, association with other people and ability to be quoted or published.

The banning of the Institute ended Mayson's formal role as editor, but it did not end his opposition to apartheid.

Clandestine anti-apartheid activity

Mayson was an experienced private pilot. He had learned to fly light aircraft through members of his congregations and subsequently used borrowed aircraft to assist political activists seeking to leave South Africa.

He was held at The Fort in Johannesburg for approximately fifteen months before his trial began. The state charged him principally with high treason, together with alternative offences under the Terrorism Act and other security legislation. The allegations included assisting people to leave South Africa to undertake ANC activities, participating in discussions about internal ANC structures, considering possible sabotage targets and distributing a recorded speech by Oliver Tambo.

His 1984 book, A Certain Sound, brought together theological reflection and an account of the South African struggle. It examined the movement from racial reform to structural liberation, the relationship between reconciliation and resistance, Christian responses to state violence and the role of black political consciousness.

Mayson argued that reconciliation could not mean preserving oppressive relationships or demanding political passivity from those subjected to injustice. Christian reconciliation required the transformation of the economic and political structures that produced domination.

Return to South Africa

Mayson received indemnity in 1991 and returned to South Africa by 1992.

He later co-edited a collection on secular spirituality and published Why Africa Matters in 2010. The latter considered African history, liberation, ecological responsibility, political life and spirituality and argued against representations of Africa principally as a continent of crisis and deficiency.

Personal life and death

Mayson was married twice. His second wife, Penelope Mayson, was also known as Thandi and shared aspects of his political activity and detention experience. He had eight children; one son, Jeremy, died before him.

Mayson died in Nelspruit on 23 May 2015 following an illness. He was 87. He was survived by Penelope and seven children.

The ANC described him after his death as a minister whose life had been dedicated to his faith and to the struggle of the South African people.

Legacy

Mayson occupied an unusual position within the history of Christian opposition to apartheid. He combined parish ministry, theological journalism and ecumenical activism with clandestine operational support for the liberation movement.

As editor of Pro Veritate, he helped transform the Christian Institute's journal into an increasingly direct challenge to apartheid, state repression and churches that sought neutrality in the face of racial injustice. His participation in underground ANC activity also demonstrated the movement of some white Christian activists beyond public protest towards direct cooperation with the banned liberation movements.

His planned role in transporting Steve Biko to meet ANC leaders has subsequently been interpreted as an indication of the tentative efforts being made during the 1970s to establish contact between the ANC and the Black Consciousness Movement.

Mayson's oral testimony and papers form part of the archival record of political detention and Christian resistance to apartheid. His published work continued to address the relationship among religion, liberation, African identity and political accountability after the establishment of democratic government.

Selected publications

(1984). A Certain Sound: The Struggle for Liberation in South Africa. London: Epworth Press. . (1985). A Certain Sound: The Struggle for Liberation in South Africa. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. . (2004). “A New Re-Formation: Religion, the State and Gender.” Agenda. 18 (61): 53–59. . (2006). With C. W. du Toit, ed. Secular Spirituality as a Contextual Critique of Religion. Pretoria: Research Institute for Theology and Religion, University of South Africa. (2010). Why Africa Matters. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. .