Njongonkulu Ndungane

Political life and imprisonment

In March 1960 he was involved in anti-Pass Law demonstrations while a student at the University of Cape Town and was later arrested for his anti-apartheid activities. From August 1963 he served a three-year sentence on Robben Island as a political prisoner. On his release he was served with a two-year banning order.

Church ministry

Ndungane decided to seek ordination during his imprisonment on Robben Island. In 1971 the Most Reverend Robert Selby Taylor, Archbishop of Cape Town, sent him to St Peter’s College, Alice, Eastern Cape. He was ordained a deacon in December 1973 and a priest in July 1974. He served his first curacy in Athlone, Cape Town in the Diocese of Cape Town. In 1975 he left South Africa for King's College London, where he earned his Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees while he was a curate in London.

After his time in London he had a short time as an assistant chaplain at St George’s Church in Paris. He returned to South Africa in 1980 and was appointed the rector of St Nicholas' Matroosfontein. Phillip Russell, archbishop of Cape Town, appointed him as his representative in the Diocese of Johannesburg

In 1984 he was mandated by Archbishop Russell to take responsibility for reopening St Bede’s Theological College, Umtata, which had been closed. In 1985 he was appointed principal of St Bede’s.

In 1991 he was elected Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman. In September 1996 he was elected archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

In 2006, he founded African Monitor, a pan-African non-profit organization that monitors both the fulfillment of the promises of both aid-giving and aid-receiving countries.

Awards

• Order of the Baobab in Silver (2008)
• Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) Rhodes University
• Freedom of the City of Cape Town (2016)