A MEMBER of the panel of three appointed to inquire into the implications for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa of the Makin review of the John Smyth affair has stepped down, after an allegation of abuse (News, 22 November 2024).

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Thabo Makgoba, said that he had received a letter the previous Thursday stating that, if Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett KC did not step down by 31 January, he (the complainant) would make the allegation public. Later that evening, the complainant, Dr Hylton White, a senior lecturer in anthropology at Wits University, published details of the allegations on Facebook, in a post that has since been made private.

Dr Makgoba said in his statement that no complaint was known to have been made to Safe Church (ACSA’s specialist safeguarding body), or to the Church itself on the matter over the past 40 years.

The next day, Advocate Gauntlett had proposed that he step down from the panel, “conveying a concern that the work of the Smyth inquiry not be in any way delayed or obstructed by the issue”. Dr Makgoba had accepted this, “on the well-recognised principle in the law that even the appearance of a conflict of interest can be enough to trigger a recusal from a matter”. So had the other two members of the panel: Ian Farlam, a former Supreme Court of Appeal judge, and Dr Mamphela Ramphele, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.

These two remaining members had agreed that they would complete the inquiry, which is expected to be done shortly.