The Swedish missionary Gunnar Helander 1915-2006 worked in Zululand and Johannesburg from 1938 to 1956. He authored 20 books, most of them dealing with the apartheid situation in South Africa. Already around 1950 he was the leading opinion maker in Sweden against the apartheid system. He worked diligently as a lobbyist for Albert Luthuli as a candidate for Alfred Nobel's Peace prize, which happened in 1961. The Scandinavian churches were particularly active in support for change in southern Africa. The periodization of the article is: before 1961, when Luthuli received the prize, 1961-1984, when Desmond Tutu was awarded and finally the period to 1991, when Nelson Mandela was given the award and apartheid had started to dismantle. The role of the churches was strong and its history needs to be written.