Thursdays in Black thriving in South Africa

Thursdays in Black thriving in South Africa

GDF

Tue, 08/18/2026 - 11:10

Jenny Sprong is a South African Methodist minister and former social justice coordinator at Diakonia Council of Churches in Durban. She played a central role in keeping the Thursdays in Black campaign alive in South Africa during its “ silent years.”

In conversation with World Council of Churches (WCC) publications coordinator Lyn van Rooyen, Sprong reflects on a period when the Thursdays in Black campaign seemed to disappear—and why it is thriving in South Africa today.

Image

Jenny Sprong

Van Rooyen: The WCC launched Thursdays in Black during the Decade of Solidarity with Women, but it petered out. I heard about it from you and others, and in 2013 I was in Geneva for a meeting of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance HIV Task Group. I carried a bag of Thursdays in Black badges with me. We were sitting at round tables in the big hall and I walked around and placed badges on every table. Fulata Moyo was at one of the tables. She picked one up and said, “ But this was our campaign – what are you doing with it?” And they took it back to Busan for the WCC…