John Osmers

John Robert Osmers CNZM (born 1934) is a New Zealand-born anti-apartheid activist and former Anglican Bishop of Eastern Zambia.

Osmers was raised in a vicarage in New Zealand, after completing his schooling he travelled and studied, while in England he decided to become an Anglican priest. He attended a seminary in England and was ordained in 1961.

Trevor Huddleston encouraged him to join the Diocese of Lesotho in Southern Africa, Osmers was involved for 14 years with the Student Christian Movement. Working in Lesotho he became committed to the struggle to free South Africa from Apartheid. In 1979 Osmers and Michael Lapsley wrote to Bill Burnett, archbishop of Cape Town complaining about statements Burnett had made about the World Council of Churches financing of liberation movements in Southern Africa. The South African authorities attempted to kill Osmers and activist lawyer Phyllis Naidoo with a parcel bomb in 1979. His left hand was blown off in the blast. Osmers was expelled from Lesotho and sought refuge in Lusaka, Zambia. While in Lusaka he adopted a role as a chaplain to the ANC.

Osmers transferred to Molepolole, Botswana and worked in this semi-rural area for a number of years. He was elected the first bishop of the new diocese of Eastern Zambia in 1995, and retired in 2003. Subsequently, he directed Zambia’s Anglican seminary in Kitwe, retiring in 2011. After that he was assistant bishop of Lusaka.