Seventh-Day Adventist Community of Africa (Sedcom): A theological-ethical assessment

Abstract

The Natives Land Act of 1913 that endorsed and prevented black South Africans from owning land, whose section 2 also prohibited Black people from occupying white land, particularly for economic well-being and stability (Modise & Mtshiselwa, 2013), necessitated the establishment of the Seventh-day Adventist Community of Africa (Sedcom). Sedcom is a section 21 company which was organised on July 19th, 1921, one of whose functions was to acquire, hold, and secure title to landed property – including, but not limited to, land used by black South Africans for worship. The above-mentioned Non-Profit Company was compliant with the enactment that was passed by the state in 1913. Resultantly, the churches which were built by the financial efforts of the black Adventist communities were to be handed over to Sedcom i.e., registering the Title Deeds under Sedcom. Post the apartheid regime, following the democratic elections of 1994, when the state abolished the Natives Land Act of 1913 and introduced the Land Restitution Act; Sedcom remained an entity through whom its Adventist members, Black people in particular, were to procure land and the registration of the Title Deed was to be in the entity’s name.