In a long-overdue admission of institutional failure, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (Acsa) has publicly apologized for its inadequate response to the presence of British child abuser John Smyth, who moved to South Africa in 2001 despite his well-documented history of sexual and physical abuse in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.
Smyth, a senior barrister and influential Christian leader, died in Cape Town in 2018 at the age of 77. His name has been tied to a horrific legacy of over 100 documented cases of child abuse spanning multiple countries. Many of his victims were young boys he groomed at Christian youth camps in the 1970s and 1980s. However, due to institutional silence and systemic failures, Smyth was able to continue his association with churches in South Africa without facing public scrutiny.
The latest independent investigation, commissioned by Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, has revealed that while no direct evidence of similar abuses by Smyth in South Africa has been found, there was a “very high risk” that such offenses could have occurred.
Church Failures and Cover-ups Across Three Countries
Smyth first came under scrutiny in the UK in 1982, when a private report documented severe beatings and abuse of boys at religious camps he ran. Rather than facing criminal prosecution, he was allowed to quietly relocate to Zimbabwe in 1984, where he allegedly continued his abusive activities. A subsequent investigation in Zimbabwe led to his departure in 2001, but again, instead of facing justice, he moved to South Africa, where he embedded himself in local Anglican communities.
A comprehensive independent review in the UK released last year found that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and other senior church figures failed to report Smyth’s crimes when they became aware of them in 2013. The damning report led to Welby’s resignation in 2024, amid growing criticism of the Church of England’s failure to act decisively.
Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s Delayed Response
The Acsa investigation has found that while the Church was not aware of Smyth’s abuses prior to 2013, its subsequent response between 2013 and 2018 fell woefully short.
Smyth had joined an Anglican community in Durban, where he occasionally preached and ran confirmation classes for young children—putting him in direct contact with minors despite his deeply troubling past. When concerns about his history were raised, he and his wife, Anne Smyth, abruptly left the congregation in 2003 or 2004 and moved to Cape Town, where they continued to be involved in church activities.
It was not until August 2013—more than a decade after Smyth arrived in South Africa—that Acsa first received formal warnings about his predatory history. These warnings came from the Diocese of Ely in the UK and were addressed to Bishop Garth Counsell. By late 2013, Smyth and his wife left the Anglican Church and joined another religious organization, Church-on-Main, only to return to Anglican services just before his death in 2018.
Institutional Failures and Lack of Accountability
One of the most shocking revelations from the report is that Bishop Peter Lee—who arrived in South Africa in 1976—had already heard “informal” accounts of Smyth’s abuse but failed to escalate the information. The report criticizes both Lee and Counsell for failing to inform Church-on-Main’s leadership about the alarming allegations against Smyth.
While no direct allegations of abuse in South Africa have surfaced, the report strongly asserts that “young members of Acsa were exposed to the real risk” of abuse similar to the documented cases in the UK and Zimbabwe.
Archbishop Makgoba’s Apology and Next Steps
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba publicly acknowledged the Church’s failure to protect not only its congregants but also the wider community from the dangers posed by Smyth.
Recognizing the urgent need for reform, Makgoba has outlined several key measures that he plans to present to Acsa’s leadership in the coming weeks. These reforms will focus on:
- Strengthening child protection policies to prevent future abuses.
- Enhancing internal communication to ensure that reports of abuse are acted upon immediately.
- Cooperating fully with law enforcement authorities to hold perpetrators accountable.
- Offering support to potential victims who may have suffered abuse under Smyth’s influence in South Africa.
Global Reaction and Social Media Response
The public apology from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has ignited a firestorm of debate across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.
Many users have expressed outrage over the Church’s inaction and institutional cover-ups, while others have called for criminal investigations into senior clergy members who failed to report Smyth to authorities. Some commentators argue that the Church’s reputation is irreversibly damaged, while survivors of clergy abuse worldwide have taken to social media to share their own traumatic experiences, demanding justice and systemic change.
