John Smyth horror — Anglican Archbishop Makgoba appoints panel to probe handling of abuse reports

The Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, has brought in a three-person panel to review how the Anglican Church in South Africa handled allegations that former British lawyer John Smyth had abused children in the UK and Zimbabwe.
Smyth – who was allowed to attend services at the church in the last years of his life on condition that he not interact with young people – ran Christian summer camps in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s and was responsible for physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
After the first allegations in 1982, he moved to Zimbabwe in 1984, where he continued running similar camps, and was arrested in 1997 following the death of a 16-year-old boy at one of the camps. The case was dropped before trial, and Smyth later relocated to South Africa, where he died in Cape Town in 2018 at the age of 75.
Three-person panel
Last week, Daily Maverick reported that Makgoba announced an investigation into whether the church failed in its duties by allowing Smyth to attend services in Cape Town.
Makgoba said on Saturday the panel will consist of:
Dr Mamphela Ramphele, the South African civil society leader and businesswoman. She has held notable positions, including vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town and managing director at the World Bank;
Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC KC, a barrister who practises in South Africa and in Brick Court in London. He has offered expert testimony on many times regarding South African and Namibian commercial law, as well as contract, tort and admiralty law; and
Ian Farlam, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. He chaired the Marikana Commission of Inquiry into the tragic events of 2012 when 34 striking miners were killed by police at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana.
According to Makgoba, the panel’s review will cover the past actions of the church in South Africa, including its handling of a report on Smyth’s abuse in the UK in 1981 and 1982 and in Zimbabwe in the 1990s, received from the Diocese of Ely in 2013.
‘They will carry out a retrospective analysis of our handling of reports received by the church, including a letter from the Diocese of Ely in 2013, reporting a historical case of abuse in Britain in 1981-82, a suspected case in Zimbabwe in the 1990s, and alerting us that Smyth was living in Cape Town. They will make recommendations to me as to further action,’ Makgoba said.
Makgoba emphasised that no one in the Anglican Church in South Africa has reported any case of abuse.
‘In the past week, it has become clear that Smyth was a member of three Anglican congregations in South Africa, two in Durban in the early 2000s and one in Cape Town, first for a period until December 2013, and later for some months before his death in 2018. To date, we have not found any cases of abuse reported to the Anglican Church in South Africa. However, our Safe and Inclusive Church Commission has recirculated its contact details, and should any complaints be received in future, they will be handled by the Commission,’ he said.
The archbishop added: ‘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 evil beyond description. We must eradicate it, root and branch.’
Last Sunday, Makgoba revealed that in 2013, the Anglican Church had received a warning from a bishop in the Church of England regarding Smyth’s previous abuses before his arrival in South Africa. As a result, he was permitted to attend church services in Cape Town on condition that he refrained from interacting with young people.
‘There was no evidence that he had abused or tried to groom anyone. In 2020, I learned that during the last months of his life, when the diocese knew of his history, he had been allowed to attend services in the same parish on condition he was not to get involved in any ministry or contact any young person,’ Makgoba said.
‘My hope is that this panel will make recommendations which help us to achieve that. I am profoundly grateful to the members of the panel for agreeing to serve.’ DM