Recently there have been some events in the Pagan community in South Africa which appear to have some unsettling effects also on other alternative subcultures and communities as well. Just two days ago, Lady Morgause Fonteleve, the Convenor of the SAPC, announced the possible impending disbanding of the South African Pagan Council. Below is the public statement from the SAVA on the issue:
To clarify SAVA’s position regarding current events in the Pagan community:
We have noted with interest the current events unfolding within the SA Pagan community, and decided that a clarifying statement is required on these matters.
The SAVA is not a religious organization, although many of our members and also participants in the VC are Pagans by religious affiliation, so we understand that this must be a distressing time for those among us who are of Pagan faith.
These events are, however, an internal matter within the SA Pagan community and are not specifically the business of the SAVA as a body representing the interests of the SA Vampyre community, although they definitely do have an effect on the relations between the SAVA and these bodies and also in relation to the Pagan community.
Therefore we appeal to all our members and participants in the SA Vampyre Community to remain calm and to not be drawn into any needless conflict over the issue.
The Pagan community of South Africa, consisting of our neighbors and friends, is a conglomerate of diverse groups and individuals drawn together by their common beliefs and identification as Pagans. Very few of these are formal and registered groups which work to represent the interests of the Pagan religions and associated community both internally and to the outside world, these being the SA Pagan Council and the SA Pagan Rights Alliance.
There has been talk of the formation of various new “Councils” within the Pagan community, ostensibly to rival the influence of the SAPC and SAPRA within the Pagan community in this country.
We view the formation of such “ad-hoc” councils within the Pagan community, and potentially malicious statements against Damon Leff and the SAPRA and SAPC as a hysteria-driven reaction by some within that community, possibly in the haste to recruit support, who have not yet understood the true purpose of the dissolution of the SA Pagan Council.
According to the understanding we have been given, the SAPC is disbanding (but only technically, due to the way in which it is currently registered with regard to the country’s taxation laws, and in keeping with provisions built in to the body’s constitution) but it will be immediately reforming. Its “disbanding” is therefore only a technicality and does not mean that it will no longer fulfill the role it has until now, or cease to be a representative or convening body within the Pagan community. Therefore, the status quo within the Pagan community in terms of representation and leadership is fully and realistically expected to continue unchanged.
The SA Pagan Rights Alliance and its Director, Damon Leff, have together as an entity worked for almost 2 decades as human rights advocates to advance and protect the interests of Pagan (and general) religious freedoms in South Africa. The combined record of their efforts, together with the contributions of other SAPRA members are quantifiable and measurable and are visible in digital and print format in publications of all kinds in South Africa and around the world.
Both the SAPRA and the SAPC have always demonstrated a keen sense of justice and fair-play towards the SAVA and the SA Vampyre community, and have argued that participants in the Vampyre subculture who are also participants in the Pagan community should not be treated with hostility or suspicion, and neither of these entities have argued that Pagans who identify as Vampyres should not be welcomed into Pagan groups etc. In fact, SAPRA and Damon Leff have since before the regrettable Pagan Vampyre Dispute and Conflict of August-September 2011, maintained very cordial and supportive relations with the SAVA and worked to bring about understanding, tolerance and friendship between our communities.
Currently the SAVA and SAPRA are joint partners in a project which addresses the matter of propaganda present in media and in law enforcement manuals which aggravates misconceptions of occult and Pagan religions to name but a few, up to and including a lack of understanding about the Vampyre community – and furthermore, threatens the general Constitutional right to freedom of religion in South Africa.
Channels of communication and formal ties of friendship and co-operation between our community via the SAVA and the Pagan community via SAPC and SAPRA, remain open.
Octarine Valur,
Regent of the SAVA
SA Vampyre News 
May 9th, 2013 at 10:37 am
top of the morning to all, i would to respond if i may. within this article it is very gently put across of someone doing something basically, that someone everyone is me. just to make my point known, i have stood up for the pagan community at large, the ones who’s voices are silenced when they voice an opinion. i believe that every pagan has a voice and should be heard in pagan matters of concern, the council i started is not intended to be in any way a competition to anyone or any other organization, it is merely a platform where the community can freely voice their opinions and fears without rebuke. any and all are welcome on this page and the page although i am one of three admins belongs to the pagan community. i too approach it from a individual approach and not as a group, no group involvement as it is a page for the community. secondly i am by no means seeking anything whatsoever out of this, i have been around my friends since the pagan movement started to gain recognition in fact i have been around long before the movement started in the 90’s. i clearly state here that what i have done is in support of the pagan community and for no other reason, i intend to at a later stage hand over the page in totality to an independent solitary and step out.
i seek nothing from this, folks i have been around for many many years prior to the pagans gaining their “freedom” in this country, so believe me when i say i have been around the block and to seek recognition is an ego driven concept and i do not subscribe to it, there are enough already as it is. with this i also would like to extend an invitation to any of the vampire community to join this page and make an informed decision, the vampire community and as pagans have every right to voice their concerns and opinions freely on this page without rebuke, as individuals. there may have been a lot of talk, with this i merely present the other side of the story in order to share the reality of a situation. why should the community be left in the cold in matters concerning their own well-being, all paths, each individual has a right to be heard.
may the blessings you seek be bestowed upon each and everyone in abundance.
May 9th, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Thank you for your comment, Marius, and we acknowledge receipt of it. This is a Pagan affair, and not a Vampyre affair. Our statement is our statement, as above.
May 9th, 2013 at 12:43 pm
and that i shall honor, a mere response to your article.