01 Mar
General

IMBISA on synodal journey for 50 years

Founding meeting of IMBISA in 1975

IMBISA, the Inter-regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa is an association of the Bishops’ Conferences of Southern Africa. It has nine member countries that make up six conferences namely,

  1. CEAST – Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé & Principe
  2. LCBC – Lesotho Catholic Bishops’ Conference
  3. CEM – Episcopal Conference of Mozambique
  4. NCBC – Namibia Catholic Bishops’ Conference
  5. SACBC – Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa)
  6. ZCBC – Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference

IMBISA is an organ of liaison and pastoral cooperation between the bishops, whose main aim is its mandate of creating communion through sharing of best practices in each member country.

It grew out of the desire of the bishops to discuss matters of common concern and to update each other with regards to developments in each other’s country. After meeting informally during the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1974, a meeting of bishops’ delegates of Southern African countries was held in Pretoria in April 1975. This was the beginning of the process of the birth of IMBISA.

Initially, IMBISA was known as the Inter-Territorial Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa.

The IMBISA Constitution was approved at an assembly that was held in Lesotho in 1978 and in 1980 the first IMBISA Secretariat was established in Manzini, Swaziland. It later moved to Harare, Zimbabwe.

Happy 50th anniversary to the bishops of IMBISA and the people of their dioceses!

To celebrate the golden jubilee of IMBISA, we will publish snippets, long and short, from its 50-year journey, especially from the publications over the years.

 

Photo The founding members of IMBISA at St. John Vianney Seminary, 24 April 1975

  1. Fr. O. Connor Ferreira (Interpreter), Bishop U. Murphy (Botswana), Fr. A. Randolph, S.J. (Rhodesia), Bishop Eurico Nogueira (Sa da Bandeira), Fr. A. de Freitas (Interpreter), Mr. Th. Motau, Fr. A. Scholten, O.P. (Secretary)
  2. Bishop R. Koppmann, O.M.I. (Namibia), Bishop Zacaria Kamwenho (Luanda), Bishop P. Butelezi, O.M.I. (Johannesburg), Mr. C. Hartung (Namibia), Fr. A.M. Zwane (Swaziland), Bishop E. Schlotterback, O.S.F.S. (Namibia), Mr. Th. Maphai.
  3. Fr. A Barbosa, O.F.M. (Mozambique), Archbishop Alexander dos Santos, O.F.M. (Mozambique), Archbishop A. Morapeli, O.M.I. (Lesotho), Archbishop J. Fitzgerald, O.M.I. (South Africa), Archbishop F. Markall, S.J. (Rhodesia), Mgr. B. Setlalekgosi (Botswana), Fr. E. Kangotui (Namibia). Insert: Archbishop D.E. Hurley, O.M.I. (South Africa)

Archbishop Zacaria Kamwenho is the only surviving cleric and is enjoying retirement in Luanda, Angola.