Theophilus Naledi is a retired

Bishop of Botswana The Diocese of Botswana is one of 15 dioceses of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, a Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion. It is a member of the Botswana Council of Churches. List of B ...

in the

Church of the Province of Central Africa The Church of the Province of Central Africa is part of the Anglican Communion, and includes 15 dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Primate of the Church is the Archbishop of Central Africa. Albert Chama is the current archbish ...

, who was born at Bothithong near

Vryburg Vryburg () is a large agricultural town with a population of 48,400 situated in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality of the North West Province (South Africa), North West Province of South Africa. It is the seat and the industrial ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1936.

Early career

Naledi had his primary education at Bothithong, going to nearby

Taung Taung is a small town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. The name means ''place of the lion'' and was named after Tau, the King of the Barolong. ''Tau'' is the Tswana word for lion. Education High,Secondary and Middle Schools ...

for his secondary schooling. From there he went up to St Bede's Theological College at

Mthatha Mthatha , formerly Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known as the K. D. Matanzi ...

where he studied for three years prior to ordination. Naledi was ordained as a deacon at St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, in the

Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and encompasses the area around Kimberley and Kuruman and overlaps the Northern Cape Province and North West Province of South Africa. It is presided ov ...

in 1959, and as a priest the following year. He served the diocese for 10 years.

Botswana

At the end of 1970 Naledi was invited to be a parish priest in

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

. “Back then, we used the Trinity building and we belonged to the Matabeleland Diocese under Bishop

Kenneth Skelton Kenneth John Fraser Skelton CBE (16 May 1918-30 July 2003) was the 2nd Bishop of Matabeleland in what was then known as Rhodesia and subsequently the 96th Bishop of Lichfield. He was born on 16 May 1918 and educated at Dulwich College and Cor ...

,” Naledi recalled. Anglicans in Botswana felt at the time that being part of the Diocese of Matebeleland meant that their church remained “foreign in its own country” (previously it had been part of the

). In 1972 the Diocese of Botswana was inaugurated with C. Shannon Mallory, an American, as its first Bishop. Malory served for six years and during his tenure Gaborone’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross was built. Theophilus Naledi was serving at

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is an ...

(where he was appointed Archdeacon in 1976) in the south of Botswana at the time that Mallory was succeeded by Khotso Makhulu in 1978. At this time Naledi furthered his studies, firstly enrolling with

UNISA The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

for the degree of Bachelor of Theology. He was appointed principal of the Botswana Theological Training Programme which was founded by a number of churches including the Anglican and Lutheran Churches, the

United Congregational Church of Southern Africa The United Congregational Church in Southern Africa began with the work of the London Missionary Society, who sent missionaries like Dr. Theodorus van der Kemp to the Cape colony in 1799. He was established the first Congregational church in Cape T ...

and the Church of God in Christ. Naledi served as principal for three years before going, in 1983, to King's College and being awarded, in 1985, a Master of Theology degree by the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Naledi was ordained to the episcopate and was consecrated as Bishop of Matabeleland in September 1987. He was translated to the Diocese of Botswana as Bishop of Botswana in December 2000. Naledi was succeeded in 2009 by

Trevor Mwamba Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba (born 1958), known as Trevor Mwamba, is an Anglican bishop. He was consecrated Bishop of Botswana on 6 February 2005. He tendered his resignation as Bishop of Botswana on 30 September 2012 – the day on which Botswa ...

Commemoration

In September 2009 the Anglican Cathedral in Gaborone hosted the 21st anniversary of the consecration of retired bishop Theo Naledi. Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of the Botswana, officiated while the sermon was preached by

Raphael Hess Raphael Hess is an Anglican bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioce ...

, Bishop of Saldanha Bay, South Africa.Gasebalwe Seretse 2009. Retired Bishop Celebrates 21st Anniversary of Consecration. ''Mmegi'', 8 September 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naledi, Theophilus 1936 births Anglican bishops of Botswana Living people Alumni of King's College London