Judgments: Clearance for a Clergyman

It was nearly 2 a.m. when officials emerged from a closed-door meeting in a church near Cape Town, South Africa, last week and presented the good news to a waiting Allan Boesak: he had been cleared of adultery charges and fully reinstated as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church. The ecclesiastical council's judgment had been anxiously awaited both in South Africa, where Boesak is the most articulate foe of apartheid among the country's "colored" (mixed-race) population, and internationally. He is president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, with a constituency of 50 million Protestants.

Boesak, 38, married and the father of four children, was suspended five weeks ago from all church duties after admitting to a "special relationship" with divorced Churchworker Di Scott, 30. Boesak stated, however, that contrary to newspaper reports, he had not had an extramarital affair with Scott, which would be a violation of South Africa's Immorality Act because Scott is white. After the verdict, Boesak declared that the charges against him were a "desperate attempt by the government to get me out of circulation." Said he: "I have always known of my differences with people in the church, but I had no idea that there was so much hatred and jealousy."