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Brief History IMBISA grew out of the desire by the Bishops to discuss matters of common concern, particularly those arising from the apartheid situation in South Africa, and to
update each other with information concerning the developments in each other's country. After meeting informally during the Universal Bishops' Synod in Rome in 1974, a meeting of Bishops' delegates of the
Southern African Countries was held in Pretoria in April 1975. At an Assembly in Lesotho in 1978 a constitution was approved and in 1980 the Secretariat was established in Manzini, Swaziland.
From its early days IMBISA focused its attention on:
- the plight of Refugees in the Region due to the Apartheid regime in South Africa and Civil Wars and Guerrilla activities in other IMBISA countries and the needs of Pastoral Care for the Refugees;
- the importance of the means of Social Communications for the spreading of the Gospel. A Southern African Regional Secretariat for Communications (SARCOM) was set up. In fact the setting up of SARCOM
pre-dated the setting up of IMBISA;
- the integration of the Social Teaching of the Church into the Mission of the Church in Southern Africa and its application to the life situation of its people.
At the Plenary Assembly of 1984 at Chishawasha in Harare, Zimbabwe, the Bishops decided to change the structure of IMBISA providing for Plenary Assemblies, a Standing Committee and an Episcopal
Secretary as head of the Secretariat. The Secretariat was set up on a permanent basis in Harare. |
