S .G. Sekano Ntoane

S.G. Sekano Ntoane was born on 14 April 1904 in Hebron, Pretoria. He was the second of the six children of Levy Ntoane, a minister of the Berlin Lutheran Church near Pretoria, and his wife, Hanna. Ntoane received his primary education at Hebron near Pretoria and qualified as a teacher at Adam's College in Amanzimtoti and at the Stofberg Memorial School at Viljoensdrif in the former Orange Free State. For a number of years Ntoane taught at various schools in this province. While Ntoane was teaching, he was called to the ministry and returned to the Stofberg Memorial School in 1938 to train as a minister. In 1941 he entered the ministry and served at Klerksdorp from 1941 until 1950, when he moved to Johannesburg to serve as a hospital minister. Two years later he was transferred to Moroka in Soweto, and from 1969 to 1976 he was again called on to work as a hospital minister in Germiston.

In 1963, when representatives of the four black mission churches of the Dutch Reformed Church decided in Kroonstad to form a single synod, Ntoane and S.S. Tema suggested that the name of the new church should be the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA). At the second general synod of the DRCA in 1967 Ntoane was elected Assistant Chairperson for the second time. In 1964 the Transvaal Synod of the DRCA was split into a southern and a northern region. Ntoane was then elected Assistant Chairperson of the Southern Transvaal Synod. In the same year, after the resignation of the moderator, Ntoane acted as Chairperson of the Synodal Commission. At the Potchefstroom Synod in 1968 he was elected Moderator of the Southern Transvaal Synod and served the church in this capacity until 1972.

Ntoane did a great deal to further church singing. He organized many choir competitions for the DRCA and for years choirs competed for the S.G.S. Ntoane trophy. Besides being one of the pioneers in the DRCA, Ntoane maintained his interest in education and he served as Chairperson of the Moroka School Board for years. The Sekano Ntoane High School in Soweto is named after him. He also served on what was then the Education Advice Council and on the Council of the University of North. Ntoane will be remembered for his good human relations and his positive leadership when the DRCA was still trying to find its feet, and his role in lay-in the foundations of the DRCA Synod. Ntoane was married to Lydia Seduku. They had three sons and one daughter. He died in 1980 and was buried in Moroka, Soweto.