A SHORT HISTORY OF SACRED HEART CHURCH IN ACKERVILLE, WITBANK - EMALAHLENI
4. The Shrinking of the Driefontein Mission Land :1956 -1967
When Bishop Reiterer was consecrated as the new bishop of Witbank Diocese in 1956,all the dignataries of Witbank town were present, namely Mr Viljoen,the Mayor, Mr Hector,the town engineer, Mr Conway and Mr Theron,the Councillors. The mayor brought the good wishes of the citizens of Witbank, but four weeks later, the Town Council informed the new bishop that Driefontein Mission will be expropriated and that the Church will be payed R 14 000 compensation. He was so convinced that the Church would lose Driefontein Mission, that in September, during a Confirmation service that same year, Bishop Reiterer said that it would most likely be the last Confirmation service at the Mission. On the 15th of October 1960,the bishop received official notice of the expropriation. The bishop decided to challenge the Town Council and with the help of a Pretoria lawyer,Mr Jones, the Town Council agreed to modify their plan in 1961. But the bishop was still not happy with their decision. Unexpeceted help came from Mr Mosterd,MP for Witbank, who was shocked when the bishop informed him of the things that were happening. He said he would support the bishop in his fight with the Town Council. As a result the Mission was allowed to continue its work. This matter was only finalized six years later but the mission land had shrunk from a huge farm to the existing stand of today.
5. Towards a Self-Ministering Parish:1961 - 1975
In 1961 it was the first time that South African diocesan priests began to serve in Ackerville,the name given to a section of the township where Sacred Heart Church is situated today. The two priests, Fr Bourhill and Fr Lephaka, were helped by two South African sisters who belonged to the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - the diocesan cogregation of sisters founded by the late Bishop Reigler. The Daughters continued to serve in the parish until the late eighties such as Sr Concepta who eventually became the superior of the congregation, Sr Visitation and Sr
Angela, Sr Brigid, Sister Brenden, Sr John,Sr Augustine,Sr Bernadette,Sr Clare and Sr Michael.
In fact the number of Catholics was increasing rapidly with over 5000 by 1965. It was obvious that the parish would have to become more and more self - ministering in order to help with the growing needs. It was during this time that voluntary part-time catechists from the parish began to teach the children and catechumens. There were over 30 voluntary catechists helping in the 1960s. One of the most well known volunteers was Mrs Agnes Manzi who was baptized in 1924 and continued to help until the day the Lord called her to her eternal home in 1994. In 1968 Fr Nefzger, and later in 1970 , Fr Maier took charge of the parish with the assistance of Fr Mkhatshwa.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council,many new ideas and practices had to be introduced to the Catholic people. The pioneer missionaries had been brought up in a very different Catholic atmosphere which they had handed on to the people. Now new pastoral attitudes and practices would need to be explained to the people before inplementing them. The "UMKATHOLIKA" - the parish bulletin - became an important medium for this. It was launched in November 1972. The editing team was made up of: Fr Maier, the late Mr T. Mthembu, Mr.V. Mofokeng, and Ms T. Motla.
After the apartheid government proclaimed the Bantu Education Act of 1954, the Catholic Church did everything possible to try to keep the Catholic schools going. But gradually the burden became to heavy and many Catholic schools were taken over by the goverment. Maloma School was taken over in 1972. The Church received R 4000 compensation for the school buildings and R 500 for the house of the caretaker. The sisters stopped teaching at the school and focused all their energies on parish work such as teaching catechetics, visiting the Catholics,and helping the youth groups.
Sacred Heart History