CCFM talks to FOR SA’s Michael Swain about the South Africa National Christian Forum’s legal challenge to Lockdown level 3’s total ban of faith-based gatherings.
Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Company Secretary
Philip serves as a Directing Elder and the Operations Director of the Joshua Generation Church (JoshGen), as well as the Four12 global apostolic partnership of churches.
As COO of FOR SA, Philip is responsible for financial administration, human resources, corporate governance and compliance. He is a duly qualified Company Chartered Secretary and member of Chartered Secretaries South Africa (CSSA), through where he also obtained his Corporate Governance qualification.
Philip lives in Cape Town with his wife Marli, and their daughters Eden and Maia.
Legal Counsel
Nadene is a founder member of Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) and Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. In this capacity, she serves as the full-time Legal Counsel of FOR SA and has represented religious freedom rights in multiple court cases, including before the Constitutional Court. Nadene is also a popular speaker, and has spoken on religious freedom issues on various international and local platforms.
Having obtained a BA LLB degree from Stellenbosch University, Nadene was awarded a scholarship to study an LLM degree in International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex, United Kingdom which she obtained cum laude. During her studies, she also held an internship at the United Nations Secretariat in New York.
Executive Director
Michael was raised in England, graduating from the University of Bristol with an Honours degree in Law before immigrating to South Africa in 1983. He has been a successful businessman, having founded and run companies in diverse areas, including software development, events management, as well as marketing and communications. He also spent over 30 years in Christian ministry in South Africa, Europe and the USA.
Michael is an accomplished public speaker and serves as the primary (media) spokesperson of FOR SA.
Michael and his wife, Lynn, live in Cape Town.
Attorney/Legal Advisor/Parliamentary Liaison
Daniela is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa. She obtained a BCom LLB degree from Rhodes University. She worked for Médecins sans Frontières before completing her articles of clerkship at G van Zyl Attorneys, where she specialised in litigation.
Daniela serves within FOR SA in multiple roles, including assisting FOR SA’s Legal Counsel with legal research and drafting, as well as monitoring potential erosions to religious freedom rights, authoring multiple articles, speaking on radio and acting as FOR SA’s parliamentary liaison officer.
FOR SA currently has a support base of religious leaders and individuals representing +/- 6 million people across a broad spectrum of churches, organisations, denominations and faith groups in South Africa.
FOR SA is not registered as a law firm and therefore cannot (and does not) give legal advice for which we can attract any legal liability; neither can we charge legal fees for our services.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FOR SA
Andrew is the Founder of the Joshua Generation Church movement, with multiple congregations in and around South Africa. He is also the leader of an international apostolic movement of churches, known as Four-12 (see www.four12global.com for more information).
Andrew founded FOR SA in 2014 in response to a legal action, initiated by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which ordered a Joshua Generation church to remove certain Scriptures from their teaching materials and to send their pastoral team for “sensitisation training”.
Andrew currently lives in Cape Town with his wife Emma and daughter Enyah.
Barry is an ordained Christian minister with over 40 years’ experience in full-time Christian ministry. For many years, he has played an ecumenical role and is well-known and respected for his work in communities across Cape Town. He has been successful in bringing unity and commonality of purpose across denomination lines and is passionate about changing our communities, especially as it relates to family issues where the transformation that can take place will benefit the home, community and ultimately our nation.
In addition to his role in FOR SA, Barry serves on the boards of several non-profit organisations, including Threecord Family Development Services, Transformation Africa (Western Cape) and Consultation of Christian Churches (CCC). He is also the Chairman of Jericho Walls (an international prayer movement) and SAFFI (South African Family & Faith Institute).
Legal Secretary/Administrative Assistant
As FOR SA’s Legal Secretary/Administrative Assistant, Anuschka gives overall administrative and office management support to the FOR SA team.
Anuschka is married to Carel and lives in Cape Town with their family.
NOTE: Please consider making a financial donation to FOR SA now. We are entirely dependent on voluntary contributions to continue to protect and promote your rights to religious freedom!
Michael is a well-known and widely respected Christian leader, author and statesman, both internationally and in South Africa. He is recognised and deeply respected for his reconciliation efforts and behind-the-scenes facilitation of initiatives, particularly on Church and political levels.
Michael was one of the leaders of the historic National Conference of Church Leaders at Rustenburg in 1990 and chaired a Consultation on Human Rights and Religious Freedom in Pietermaritzburg in 1993. In 2009, he spearheaded the National Initiative for the Reformation of South Africa and in the same year received a Peacemaker Award from Christians for Peace in Africa.
As the Founder of African Enterprise (AE), he has led numerous missions to cities throughout Africa, as well as in other parts of the world. Michael was named the Honorary Chairman of the global Lausanne Movement for world evangelism in 2012.
Michael and his wife, Carol, live in Hilton near Pietermaritzburg. They have two daughters and a son.