A senior KwaZulu-Natal priest has been appointed the executive head of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town announced that the Ven. Canon Dr. Makhosazana Nzimande will become the church’s next Provincial Executive Officer (PEO) with effect from March 1, 2021.
The church is a province of the world-wide Anglican Communion. The church province in Southern Africa comprises dioceses in Angola, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, St Helena and South Africa.
Dr. Nzimande will replace the Ven. Horace Arenz, who is retiring. She is currently Rector of All Saints, Ladysmith, and Archdeacon of Uthukela in the Anglican Diocese of Natal.
She holds a number of leadership positions internationally and locally, among them Vice-Moderator of the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission, a member of the church’s Provincial Liturgical Committee and the Advisory Board for Theological Education, and, in the Diocese of Natal, as an archdeacon and a member of the Diocesan Chapter and Board of Trustees.
She has previously served as lecturer and head of department of the University of Zululand’s Department of Theology and Studies, as director of the Diocese of Natal’s Institute for Leadership Development and as a field organiser for the Diakonia Council of Churches.
Her PhD in Biblical Interpretation (Old and New Testaments) was earned at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University in the United States. She has Bachelor’s and Honours degrees from the University of Natal (formerly Durban-Westville) and undertook Anglican studies at Westcott House, Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
