Cablegate: Congratulatory Message From Anglican Archbishop Of

R 071524Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6381
INFO AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN

UNCLAS PRETORIA 002474

FOR S/ES-CR (NATALIE CHAGNON), S/ES-O, AND AF/S

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPDC PREL OVIP SF
SUBJECT: CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE FROM ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF
CAPE TOWN, THABO MAKGOBA

REF: STATE 118192

As requested in reftel, Post passes the following letter of
congratulation to President-elect Barack Obama from the
Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Cecil Makgoba. A
scanned copy of the original letter will be forwarded via
email; no original has been provided.

Begin text:

Dear President-Elect Obama

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I offer
my warmest congratulations on your election as President of
the United States of America, and assure you of our prayers
as you take up office.

As South, and Southern, Africans, we are more than conscious
of what it means to strive to overcome historic divisions
based on no more than the colour of one's skin - a matter
over which one has no choice. Yet our contemporary world is
still plagued by far too many unjust divisions, not least of
poverty, that are too often encountered as accidents of
birth, yet still perpetrated and maintained by the continuing
choices of those with power and influence.

Therefore, as we rejoice with you, we also offer you the
challenge to build the 'bonds of affection' across division,
to which you referred in your acceptance speech, not only
within America, but across the world, and in ways that bear
tangible fruit. There is no doubt that God has given you
gifts of inspirational leadership, so we ask you to dare to
use them to lead the world into a new economic era of justice
for all, especially those in greatest need, those with least
power and influence; and to call the whole world into
covenanting together, for the well-being of the environment,
the integrity of creation, and the flourishing of every human
being.

On a personal note, I assure you of my particular prayers for
you, your wife and your children, being myself also a 47-year
old married father of two, who earlier this year became the
youngest occupant of the official residence of generations of
Archbishops of Cape Town, under the shadow of such
illustrious predecessors as Desmond Tutu - and so I too know
a little, albeit on a far smaller scale, of what it is to
find oneself called to fill shoes that at first seem very
large indeed, and what this can mean for family life. May
you, and your family, know God's protection, his love and his
care, as you make this transition. May he direct you, and
equip you for all that lies ahead. And may he bless you, and
make you a blessing not only to your nation, but to our world.

Yours in the service of Christ

Thabo

End text.

BOST

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