What is Dr Allan Boesak's contribution to the history of South Africa?

What is Dr Allan Boesak's contribution to the history of South Africa?

Dr Allan Boesak is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric, politician and anti-apartheid activist. In 1985, along with Winnie Mandela and Beyers Naudé, he won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, given to an individual or group whose courageous activism is at the heart of the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights movement.

Dr Allan Boesak’s net worth
Dr Allan Aubrey Boesak at an Interfaith Prayer Service For Peace at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Brenton Geach
Source: UGC

Boesak was sentenced to prison for fraud in 1999 but was subsequently granted an official pardon and reinstated as a cleric in late 2004. He is best known for championing same-sex marriages in South Africa.

Dr Allan Boesak's profile summary and bio

Full name Allan Aubrey Boesak
Famous asDr Allan Boesak
GenderMale
Date of birth23 February 1946
Age77 years old (2023)
Zodiac signPisces
Birthplace Kakamas, Northern Cape, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
EthnicityBlack
ReligionChristianity
Alma materBellville Theological Seminary
Hair colourBlack
Eye colourDark brown
SexualityStraight
Marital statusMarried
SpouseElna Botha
Children6
Siblings7
ProfessionPolitician, cleric and anti-apartheid activist
Net worthR7 million

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How old is Dr Allan Boesak?

How old is Dr Allan Boesak?
Boesak is not active on social media. Photo: @rajeshjantilal on Instagram (modified by author)
Source: UGC

Dr Allan Boesak (aged 77 as of 2023) was born on 23 February 1946 in Kakamas, Northern Cape, South Africa. Boesak’s father, a schoolteacher, died when he was six.

At 14, he became a sexton in the separate Coloured sector of the local Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sending-Kerk.

Regarding his education, Dr Allan attended Bellville Theological Seminary. In the early 1970s, he studied at theological institutions in Kampen, Holland and New York, earning a PhD in 1975.

Is Dr Allan Boesak married?

In 1991, Boesak exchanged nuptials with journalist and television personality Elna Botha in the St-Stephens Church in Cape Town. The duo has enjoyed marital bliss for over three decades. However, Allan was previously married to Dorothy Rose Martin from 1969 to 1991.

The theologian is blessed with six kids: four daughters, Andrea, Sarah-Len, Belen and Pulani, and two sons, Lieneker and Allan Jr.

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Professional career

Dr Allan gained notoriety during the 1980s as an opponent and critic of the National Party’s policies and played a major anti-apartheid activist role as a patron of the United Democratic Front. In 1991, he was elected chairman of the Western Cape region of the African National Congress (ANC).

In 1986, Boesak invoked the anti-apartheid Belhar Confession, which criticised all forms of discrimination, to say that the church should allow same-sex marriages and appoint gay clergy. In December 2008, he left ANC and joined the Congress of the People Party.

Dr Allan Boesak’s profiles
Dr Allan Boesak's zodiac sign is Pisces. Photo: Anna Zieminski via Getty Images, @ourfiresidestories on Instagram (modified by author)
Source: UGC

The same month, Allan called out Thabo Mbeki for failing as the Southern African Development Community’s official mediator to heed the churches’ call for peace-keeping force.

In June 2013, the Christian Theological Seminary and Butler University in Indiana appointed him the Desmond Tutu Professor for Peace, Global Justice and Studies. As an author, Boesak has written several books and publications. They include:

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  • Dare We Speak Of Hope?: Searching for a Language of Life in Faith and Politics
  • The Tenderness of Conscience: African
  • Call for an End to Unjust Rule
  • Kairos, Crisis and Global Apartheid
  • Children of the Waters of Meribah
  • Comfort and Protest: Reflections
  • Radical Reconciliation: Beyond Political Pietism and Christian Quietism
  • If This Is Treason, I Am Guilty
  • Finger of God
  • Farewell to Innocence: A Socio-Ethical Study on Black Theology and Black Power
  • Running with horses
  • Call for an End to Unjust Rule
  • Selfless Revolutionaries

How much is Dr Allan Boesak’s net worth?

Various sources pen Boesak’s net worth at R7 million in 2023. He has amassed this wealth from his career as a Dutch Reformed Church cleric, politician, author and anti-apartheid activist.

Dr Allan Boesak’s profiles

Dorothy Rose Martin
Boesak is best known for championing same-sex marriages in South Africa. Photo: @house_theology_and_religion, @son_koerant on Instagram (modified by author)
Source: UGC

The Northern Cape native is not active on social media. He does not have Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

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Dr Allan Boesak is widely recognised for staging a war against apartheid. On several occasions, he has called out politicians and the church in a bid to bring change to South African society.

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Ruth Gitonga avatar

Ruth Gitonga (Lifestyle writer) Ruth Gitonga has a background experience in Mass Communication for over six years. She graduated from the University of Nairobi with a degree in Mass Communication in December 2014. In 2023, Ruth finished the AFP course on Digital Investigation Techniques. She has worked for Briefly.co.za for five years now. She specializes in topics like lifestyle, entertainment, travel, technology, and sports. Email: gitongaruth14@gmail.com.