THE Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s review into reports of abuse by former camp master, John Smyth, has been thrown into more turmoil.
Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, a respected SA lawyer, withdrew himself at the weekend after allegations surfaced that he committed similar acts with a teenage boy, who is now a lecturer at Wits University.
The news went viral on Twitter, after Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, released a statement that he accepted Gauntlett’s offer to step down from the panel set up to examine the activities of the alleged serial abuser, Smyth, in South Africa.
The panel was made up of civil society leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Gauntlett, and Judge Ian Farlam, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Makgoba says: “On 22 November 2024, I appointed a high-level inquiry into the implications for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa of a Church of England review of serial violent abuse by Mr John Smyth in the UK and Zimbabwe in the 1980s and 1990s.
“On the evening of Thursday, 16 January 2025, I received a letter concerning a quite separate allegation of abuse, in which the complainant said that if Advocate Gauntlett did not step down from the panel by 31 January 2025, he [the complainant] would make the allegation public.
“Without further communication, the complainant later that evening published details of his allegations on social media.
“On the morning of Friday 17 January, Advocate Gauntlett proposed that in the circumstances created by the letter, 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.
“I accepted his offer, subject to consultation with other members of the panel.”
The scandal was blown open last year following the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, after the Makin review revealed an entrenched cover-up of abuse by Smyth, who had lived in Cape Town and worshipped at St Martin’s in Bergvliet.
At least 85 boys were believed to have been Smyth’s victims in various countries.
