The  has been bishop of the Central Diocese of the ELCSA since 2000.  He is married and has four children.  In 2001, he obtained a Doctor of Theology degree through the University of South Africa.  Before becoming bishop, Phaswana was a Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics at the University of Natal Pietermaritzburg.
 
Bishop Ndanganeni Phaswana, Bishop of the Central Diocese of Johannesburg, Evangelical Church of Southern Africa since 1999, has a long history of involvement in social justice and community activism. As a result, in 1982 he served six months in solitary confinement as a political prisoner under the Apartheid government. He was tortured and bears permanent physical scars from the torture. His most recent publication is "Being the Church Beyond the South-North-Divide: Identities, Othernesses and Embodied Hermeneutics in Partnership Discourses South Africa." From St. Olaf College website

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa has a membership of 700,000 with 460 active pastors, 26 evangelists and 24 deaconesses. Seven bishops lead the church’s seven dioceses in South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland. Pastoral training is conducted at the Lutheran Theological Institute located next to the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg.

Despite the policies of the apartheid government aimed at dividing the people of the country the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa was constituted in 1975 by the merger of four autonomous regional churches.

The ELCSA is involved in mission, education and development activities through its seven dioceses in cooperation with the Lutheran World Federation and other partners. ELCSA congregations in both rural and urban areas have strong organizations known as leagues for youth, women and men’s ministries. The church is also involved in various community outreach programs including soup kitchens and home-based care groups for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. ELCSA is a member of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA). ELCSA is involved in ongoing unity discussions with two predominantly white Lutheran churches.