Archbishop of Cape Town
Archbishop-elect Sithembele Anton Sipuka was born on 27 April 1960, in Idutywa, Eastern Cape Province, in the diocese of Queenstown. After work experience, he entered the Saint John Vianney Major Seminary. He was ordained a priest on 17 December 1988, and incardinated in the diocese of Queenstown. After ordination, he first held the role of parish vicar of Qoqodala and of Lady Frere, and then of parish priest in Cofimvaba (1989-1991). He studied for a licentiate in systematic theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University of Rome (1992-1994), and went on to teach philosophy of religion and liturgy and Saint Peter’s Major Seminary of Philosophy in Pretora, and at the same time, fundamental and Eucharistic theology at the Saint John Vianney Major Seminary of Theology (1994-1995). He served as vice rector and subsequently acting rector of Saint Peter’s Seminary (1996-1999), and rector of the Saint John Vianney Major Seminary (2000-2008). On 8 February 2008 he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Mthatha, receiving episcopal ordination on the following 3 May. From 2019 to 2024 he held the office of president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) for two terms. From 2019 to 2022 he was vice president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). Long committed to ecumenical dialogue, he is a member of the South African Council of Churches, of which he was subsequently elected President. On 4 July 2025, the Holy Father appointed him as a member of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.