PACSA 30^th Anniversary Collective Journeying for Justice: Stories of an Ongoing Faith Based Struggle 2009.

(Publisher: Cluster Publications and Jive Media, Pietermaritzburg. ISBN 978-1875053-810. 144 pages. Bibliography and Index. Price R180.00)

This is a very pretty book! It has the look and feel of a coffee-table publication with excellent photographs and good lay-out that is neither too busy nor ever boring. The book is both a record of and reflection on the 30 years of work of PACSA (the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness)..

The book is divided into four sections (and a short introduction). The four sections deal chronologically with PACSA’s responses to the injustices of South African society from 1979-2009. The early years were, of course, dedicated to responses to apartheid and apartheid policies such as forced removals. Latterly the work has focused mainly on reconstruction of society and gender, HIV/AIDS and poverty.

Appropriately, for the story of a “faith based struggle” story, the Holland and Henriot pastoral circle of “See-Judge-Act-Reflect” informs the method of the book. (page 6). So each section sets out the context, describes the response in the light off the commitment to justice, and concludes with a reflection on the response and considers how the work may be taken further. In considering the responses in each section, there is a useful blend of stories of both individuals and organizations (not just PACSA).

PACSA’s story is told mainly through quotations from newsletters, factsheets and reports supplemented by short essays which sometimes set a context and sometimes draw together the threads in a reflection. On one level this makes the book very easy to read. There are short information bites which, in a series of ‘flashes’, give insight into the context, without the need for lengthy essays. The disadvantage of this chosen method is twofold: This reader was sometimes left wishing for a more sustained development of a story or more theological reflection on a situation. Furthermore, sometimes there is a sense of repetitiveness about the presentation of material because the text is not written as a continuous narrative. Tighter editing might have helped here. For example in section2 (which deals with 1984-194) the focus is on responses to the States of Emergency, the Edendale War and the work of peacemakers. However, tucked into the last two pages of this section are quotations pertaining to gender justice. As gender issues are covered quite extensively in the next section, this duplication is distracting. However, in the overall context of the book, these are minor quibbles.

Subtle details, such as the darker blue borders to the chapters which deal with the period up to 1994, and a light blue border for the period after 1994, speak of a close and thoughtful attention to detail. The photographs are excellent and well chosen and offer an interesting essay in themselves. The map, bibliography and index make the book a useful resource as well as “merely” an interesting history of PACSA and its involvement in the struggle for justice in Kwa Zulu Natal. I highly recommend this book both as a valuable way of keeping the memory of PACSA alive, but also as a tool for further reflection on the injustices which beset our South African society.

Janet Trisk.