Thabo Cecil Makgoba (born 15 December 1960) is
the South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.
He believes that ‘We must each ask, "Who is my
neighbour?" and then treat every individual and our
whole global community in ways that uphold the
sanctity of life, the dignity of humanity in all our
differences, and the integrity of creation. These are our
touchstones as we follow God’s call for social justice
and now.
Makgoba is open to discussions on the orthodox Anglican stance on
homosexuality. The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, after a Synod held in
Cape Town, on 20–22 August 2009, passed a resolution calling the Anglican
Church in Southern Africa bishops to give pastoral guidelines for
homosexual couples living in "covenanted partnerships". At the same time, it
was approved an amendment for the resolution which provided that the
guidelines "due regard of the mind of the Anglican Communion." Makgoba
stated that the resolution was "an important first step to saying: 'Lord, how
do we do ministry in this context?' I'm a developmental person. I don't
believe in big bangs. If you throw a little pebble into water, it sends out
concentric circles and hopefully that way change comes from that."
In 2016 Makgoba stated he was "pained" after a church synod rejected a
proposal to allow bishops to licence gay and lesbian clergy who are in same
sex civil marriages to minister in parishes and rejected a motion to provide
for prayers of blessing to be offered for those in same sex civil marriages.
After the synod, which covered churches from Angola, Lesotho,
Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, St Helena and Swaziland, Makgoba
advised "our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers: I was deeply pained by
the outcome of the debate".
He graduated from Orlando High, Soweto took a BSc at Wits before going to
St Paul’s College to study for the Anglican ministry.
His subsequent academic achievements are too numerous to mention but
include, a Masters in Educational Psychology, a PHD from the University of
Cape Town his thesis was on Workplace Spirituality). He was an Ernest
Oppenheimer scholar and is an Adjunct Professor at GSB(UCT) Allan Gray
School for Values.
He was made Bishop of Queenstown on 25 May 2002 and became Bishop
of Grahamstown in 2004. Prior to that Makgoba's ministry had been spent in
the Diocese of Johannesburg. After that he was put in charge of St Alban's
Church and later of Christ the King, Sophiatown. He became Archdeacon of
Sophiatown in 1999. He became Archbishop of Cape Town on 31 December
2007, the youngest person ever to be elected to this position
He is married to Lungelwa Manona.
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