Sixteen church-goers have been arrested and priests have been turned out of their homes in Zimbabwe’s Diocese of Harare ”“ where the Anglican Church is facing persecution at the hands of an ex-communicated bishop.
The Rt Revd Chad Gandiya, Bishop of Harare, said the arrests were illegal and that those detained ”“ including a elderly woman ”“ were traumatised.
The diocese is now trying to arrange bail and has asked for prayers for those in prison and their families.
Religion, like politics, is often a dangerous business in this country.
As President Robert Mugabe, 87, pushes for an election this year, the harassment of independent churches seen as hostile to his government has intensified.
Truncheon-wielding riot police officers stormed a Nazarene church here in the capital last month to break up a gathering called to pray for peace. Days later, the authorities in Lupane arrested a Roman Catholic priest leading a memorial service for civilians massacred in the early years of Mr. Mugabe’s decades in power.
Mr. Mugabe, a Roman Catholic, recently denounced black bishops in established churches as pawns of whites and the West, singling out for special opprobrium Catholic bishops who have “a nauseating habit of unnecessarily attacking his person,” the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported.
The second meeting of the Steering Group of TEAC 2 (Theological Education in the Anglican Communion) took place in Harare, Zimbabwe, February 17 ”“ 24 2011, at the invitation of Bishop Chad Gandiya, Anglican Bishop of Harare and a member of the Steering Group. It was chaired by Archbishop Colin Johnson of Toronto, Canada.
Although problems with obtaining a visa for Zimbabwe had prevented several members of the Steering Group from getting to Harare, and their input was missed, the fidelity and witness amidst persecution of Bishop Chad and his clergy and people offered a vital context for TEAC’s work.
The Group offered two days of ”˜Continuing Ministerial Education’ to about 80 clergy from the Diocese of Harare and other Dioceses of the Church of the Province of Central Africa. The training developed themes explored in the Signposts statement which seeks to set out the essentials of the Anglican Way, ”˜Formed by Scripture’, ”˜Shaped through Worship’, ”˜Ordered for Communion’, ”˜Directed by God’s Mission’. Members of the Steering Group gained as well as gave, honoured to meet with the courageous clergy of the diocese and learn of their experiences. The powerful Shona song, “Namata urinde” “Watch and pray” (which can be heard in the audi player below) marked the beginning and end of the teaching sessions and seemed an extraordinarily apt watchword for these Christians standing firm in their faith in spite of difficulties and dangers.
Zimbabwe’s church property battle heated up last week as police evicted Anglicans loyal to Bishop Chad Gandiya and the Church of the Province of Central Africa from their church.
However, the Zimbabwe Standard reports the latest eviction by police on behalf of breakaway Bishop Nolbert Kunonga was from a church built by a congregation in Chitungwiza after they had been evicted from their original church home.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have condemned the recent resurgence of police intimidation of Anglicans in Zimbabwe. Church goers, including clergy and local bishops, have been barred from entering their churches and threatened with arrest and violence.
Since the start of Advent the ZRP and Kunonga loyalists have disrupted services and locked out congregations across the diocese loyal to Dr Gandiya and the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA).
Dr Kunonga’s fresh campaign for control of the church in Harare is a “real test to the fragile government of National Unity,” the Rev Paul Gwese reported, “as it was at the intervention of the co-ministers of Home Affairs” that Anglicans were able to “use their churches without been disrupted by rogue police officers aligned to Kunonga.”
In an email sent to supporters dated Nov 29, Dr Gandiya recounted how the ZRP and Kunonga clergy broke up a service he was leading at St Clare’s Mission in Murewa.
Above all, the crisis in church and state has invited everyone to deepen their faith and to rediscover the prophetic symbolism of the broken bread and wine at the heart of the Christian shared meal, in the presence of the one whose sacrifice enacts and enables real justice to be both seen and done. That may sound like pious old hat in a west so over-secularised it can’t see the cross for the trees. But in Zimbabwe, the shared reality of Jesus Christ is helping a whole nation to transcend tyranny. I found myself using as a prayer this short hymn, which a distinguished friend of mine, David Isitt, a former chaplain of King’s College, Cambridge, and canon of Bristol, wrote to help people grasp this hope of transformation.
Lord, we receive /Your body and your blood /And claim communion /in one bond of love. In faith and hope /For all your world we plead, /Where hungry children /Cry for want of bread. Take in your hands /Once more, O Lord of Life, /This broken bread, /this cup of sacrifice. So shall the world /In mercy find relief; /Your children make their /Eucharist in peace.
Twenty-five years ago, people involved in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa would say wistfully: “Look at Zimbabwe. It’s come through a bitter war of liberation without wrecking its social cohesion, it’s developed a proper democratic culture and it’s feeding itself.”
Granted, this was, even then, a slightly too rosy picture, but it wasn’t nonsense. It represented a conviction that Zimbabwe was showing what was possible to its neighbours and indeed to the whole continent.
And this means that one of the worst of the countless casualties inflicted by Robert Mugabe on his wretched country is the destruction of many people’s hopes, both in Zimbabwe itself and throughout Africa. The continent can’t afford more failed states, mass hunger, contempt for the rule of law. And how much more painful it is when a country has been held up as a sign of promise.
The Primates of the Anglican Communion, meeting in Alexandria, Egypt on 3rd February, 2009, heard first hand reports of the situation in Zimbabwe, and note with horror the appalling difficulties of the people of this nation under the current regime.
We give thanks to God for the faithful witness of the Christians of Zimbabwe during this time of pain and suffering, especially those who are being denied access to their churches. We wish to assure them of our love, support and prayers as they face gross violation of human rights, hunger and loss of life as well as the scourge of a cholera epidemic, all due directly to the deteriorating socio-political and economic situation in Zimbabwe.
It is a matter of grave concern that there is an apparent breakdown of the rule of law within the country, and that the democratic process is being undermined, as shown in the flagrant disregard of the outcome of the democratic elections of March 31st 2008, so that Mr Robert Mugabe illegitimately holds on to power. Even the recent political situation of power sharing, brokered by SADC, may not be long lasting and simply further entrench Mr Mugabe’s regime. There appears to be a total disregard for life, consistently demonstrated by Mr Mugabe through systematic kidnap, torture and the killing of Zimbabwean people. The economy of Zimbabwe has collapsed, as evidenced by the use of foreign currencies in an independent state.
We therefore call upon President Robert Mugabe to respect the outcome of the elections of 2008 and to step down. We call for the implementation of the rule of law and the restoration of democratic processes.
(ACNS) I am deeply pained by the terrible deterioration, disease and despair we are seeing in Zimbabwe.
I welcome signs that the South African government is alive to the implications of the total collapse of governance in Zimbabwe, of which we see new evidence daily.
But the silence of SADC leaders in general is disgraceful. Why throughout this crisis have we seen no evidence of public leadership from King Mswati III, chairperson of SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation?
He should not only be taking high-profile action on Zimbabwe, but needs to show that peace and democracy are possible in his own country.
Are SADC’s leaders not moved by the terrible human suffering in Zimbabwe? Where is their ubuntu? Must people be massacred in Zimbabwe’s streets before SADC will take firm, decisive and public action? Will they even then?
No, SADC has failed and is morally bankrupt. President Mugabe has demonstrated again and again that he will not share power. He is no longer fit to rule. I appeal to the chair of the African Union, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania to step in and declare publicly that Mugabe’s rule is now illegitimate and that he must step aside, and for the AU to work speedily with the United Nations to set up a transitional government to take control.
Mugabe and his corrupt regime must go. Lord Acton said: ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ How can anyone share power in a thoroughly corrupt regime?
The sterility of the power-sharing agreement can be seen through this broken land where its people die from eating anthrax-infected cattle or from starvation. Where sewers are open and there is no running water in towns hospitals any longer. A place where there is no electricity to operate the most basic services. A land where cholera is claiming more lives by the day.
The time has come for the international community to recognise that the power-sharing deal signed in September is dead. The impasse within the South African-sponsored negotiations between the MDC and Zanu PF has been sustained by a Mugabe regime which is unwilling to give up power and refuses to recognise the rule of law.
Christian Aid partner organisations in Zimbabwe are responding to the cholera outbreak which is now affecting the entire country.
According to the World Health organisation more than 12,000 cases have been reported and 565 people have died.
In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, the Dabane Trust, a Christian Aid partner which specialises in drought recovery programmes, is providing an emergency response in both the city and in the outlying rural areas.
More than 425 people have died since the outbreak in August and the number is expected to rise due to poor sanitation worsted by the onset of the rainy season.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused the government of under-reporting the deaths, saying that he believed more than 500 people had died and half a million were affected by cholera.
Zimbabwe’s dilapidated infrastructure has made clean water a luxury, with many people relying on shallow wells and latrines in their yards.
A deep moral and spiritual crisis in Zimbabwe explains why the nation has become so corrupt, the Bishop of Harare, Dr Sebastian Bakare, told the Human Rights Conference in Lulea, Sweden, last week.
The social, economic, and poÂlitical challenges were just the tip of the iceberg, Dr Bakare said in a keynote address on the place of the Church. He lamented Zimbabwe’s reputation as “a nation that denies basic democratic principles and human rights”, and said that the majority of people were denied a meaningful life, lacking “every-thing except the air they breathe”. Those benefiting from political patronage had access to all that made life easier.
Dr Sentamu commented:
“This is a step in the right direction on a path that will hopefully lead to a full restoration of justice, democracy and a final end to the brutal regime of Robert Mugabe.
There will be understandable caution amongst the international community who will be concerned that any aid that follows today’s announcement will find its way to the poor of Zimbabwe and not to those who have abused power over the past three decades.
Concern over the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe: A Message from the Heads of Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe
As the shepherds of the people, we, Church leaders of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’
Conference (ZCBC) and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), express our deep concern over the deteriorating political, security, economic and human rights situation in Zimbabwe following the March 29, 2008 national elections.
Before the elections, we issued statements urging Zimbabweans to conduct themselves peacefully and with tolerance towards those who held different views and political affiliation from one’s own. After the elections, we issued statements commending Zimbabweans for the generally peaceful and politically mature manner in which they conducted themselves before, during and soon after the elections.
Reports that are coming through to us from our Churches and members throughout the country indicate that the peaceful environment has, regrettably, changed:
Given the political uncertainty, anxiety and frustration created by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC’s) failure to release the results of the presidential poll 4 weeks after polling day:
Organized violence perpetrated against individuals, families and communities who are accused of campaigning or voting for the “wrong”
political party in the March 29, 2008 elections has been unleashed throughout the country, particularly in the countryside and in some high density urban areas. People are being abducted, tortured, humiliated by being asked to repeat slogans of the political party they are alleged not to support, ordered to attend mass meetings where they are told they voted for the “wrong” candidate and should never repeat it in the run-off election for President, and, in some cases, people are murdered.
The deterioration in the humanitarian situation is plummeting at a frightful pace. The cost of living has gone beyond the reach of the majority of our people. There is widespread famine in most parts of the countryside on account of poor harvests and delays in the process of importing maize from neighbouring countries. The shops are empty and basic foodstuffs are unavailable. Victims of organized torture who are ferried to hospital find little solace as the hospitals have no drugs or medicines to treat them.
As the shepherds of the people, we appeal:
1. To the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the
African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to work towards arresting the deteriorating political and security situation in Zimbabwe. We warn the world that if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere.
2. For the immediate end to political intimidation and retribution
arising from how people are perceived to have voted in the March 29,
2008 elections and arising from the desire to influence how people will vote in the anticipated run-off in the presidential poll. Youth militia and war veteran/military base camps that have been set up in different parts of the country should be closed as a step towards restoring the peace and freedom of people’s movement that was witnessed before and during the March 29, 2008 elections.
3. To ZEC to release the true results of the presidential poll of
March 29, 2008 without further delay. The unprecedented delay in the publication of these results has caused anxiety, frustration, depression, suspicion and in some cases illness among people of Zimbabwe both at home and abroad. A pall of despondency hangs over the nation which finds itself in a crisis of expectations and governance. The nation is in a crisis, in limbo and no real business is taking place anywhere as the nation waits.
4. To, finally, the people of Zimbabwe themselves. You played your
part when you turned out to vote on 29 March 2008. We, again, commend you for exercising your democratic right peacefully. At this difficult time in our nation, we urge you to maintain and protect your dignity and your vote. We urge you to refuse to be used for a political party or other people’s selfish end especially where it concerns violence against other people, including those who hold different views from your own. It was the Lord Jesus who said, “Whatever you do to one of these little ones, you do it unto me (Matthew 25:45).
We call on all Zimbabweans and on all friends of Zimbabwe to continue to pray for our beautiful nation. As the shepherds of God’s flock, we shall continue to speak on behalf of Zimbabwe’s suffering masses and we pray that God’s will be done.
We remain God’s humble servants:
The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC)
The United Nations Security Council must decide what to do about Robert Mugabe’s theft of the Zimbabwe presidential election last week. It should begin with the international arms embargo called for Saturday by President George W. Bush, who announced that he will impose strong unilateral sanctions “against this illegitimate government of Zimbabwe and those who support it.” The Security Council should also take up stronger economic sanctions along the lines of a U.S. draft resolution.
Strong international support for tougher sanctions on Mr. Mugabe and his followers could help motivate the African Union (AU) to move beyond its unsatisfactory call on Tuesday for a government of national unity.
In broadcasts monitored in South Africa, [Morgan] Tsvangirai described the election campaign as a “violent, illegimate sham of an election process.”
He appealed for the African Union and the United Nations to act to prevent “genocide” in the country.
Tsvangirai made the announcement in Harare Sunday after extensive debate within his Movement for Democratic Change. It came against the backdrop of rising violence and intimidation in the buildup to the election, scheduled to be held on June 27. Dozens of activists have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands forced from their homes.
Stephen Crittenden: While we have you here, Canon Conger, as well as being one of the senior correspondents for the truly excellent Church of England Newspaper, you have your own very fine blog site on all matters Anglican, and it seems like a good opportunity to catch up on what’s going on in North America in the lead-up to the Lambeth conference. It seems that things are being ramped up to quite a considerable degree in the lead-up to Lambeth. I notice that the church in California is preparing to conduct its first gay marriages, Bishop G. Robinson of New Hampshire who’s the gay bishop at the centre of the whole crisis, has recently announced that he wants to marry. A number of dioceses in Canada seem to be moving in the direction of same sex blessings. It really does look like Lambeth could be a real showdown would you agree? Or is that not how you read the situation?
George Conger: Well the Archbishop of Canterbury is desperate that nothing happen at Lambeth. He wants to prevent any sort of showdown, and so he’s devised a program that minimises any opportunity for collective mass action on particular issues. Using the tool of small groups and face-to-face discussion, a cynic would say that’s the way to prevent real action from taking place. What you’re seeing in the US are people as I say, establishing facts on the ground, going into the conference saying ‘Well this is the situation where I am’, and basically playing a political gamesmanship. ‘This is how far we’re going to go and get what we want, be it same sex blessings, the normalisation of gay clergy, or from the conservative side, we’re going to have parallel churches overseen by African archbishops in the US’, and basically saying, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ It’s a game of brinksmanship right now in the run-up to Lambeth. And there could be an explosion. Neither side is backing away, and for conservatives this is an issue of salvation; that the liberals are teaching a false doctrine, a false Christ; for liberals, the conservatives are blind to the call of justice and the prophetic words of the gospel. There are two religions in one church. There’s no sanction for bad behaviour in the Anglican communion.
Zimbabweans in rural areas “fear for their lives,” a church official said after a report warned that Zimbabwe is headed toward civil war.
Postelection attacks have been “most severe” in rural areas, and many Zimbabweans in these areas may be too afraid to vote for the opposition in the runoff presidential election June 27, said Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.
However, many people in the country’s towns and cities “are motivated to vote again to ensure an end to the present system,” he told Catholic News Service in a May 26 telephone interview from the capital, Harare.
“Many communities feel that voting will be an act of solidarity with their friends who have been killed or wounded in the violence, so that they did not die in vain,” Chaumba said.
The parishioners were lined up for Holy Communion on Sunday when the riot police stormed the stately St. Francis Anglican Church in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. Helmeted, black-booted officers banged on the pews with their batons as terrified members of the congregation stampeded for the doors, witnesses said.
A policeman swung his stick in vicious arcs, striking matrons, a girl and a grandmother who had bent over to pick up a Bible dropped in the melee. A lone housewife began singing from a hymn in Shona, “We will keep worshiping no matter the trials!” Hundreds of women, many dressed in the Anglican Mothers’ Union uniform of black skirt, white shirt and blue headdress, lifted their voices to join hers.
Beneath their defiance, though, lay raw fear as the country’s ruling party stepped up its campaign of intimidation ahead of a presidential runoff. In a conflict that has penetrated ever deeper into Zimbabwe’s social fabric, the party has focused on a growing roster of groups that elude its direct control ”” a list that includes the Anglican diocese of Harare, as well as charitable and civic organizations, trade unions, teachers, independent election monitors and the political opposition.
Anglican leaders and parishioners said in interviews that the church was not concerned with politics and that it counted people from both the ruling party and the opposition in its congregations.
We join in particular the call from the heads of Christian denominations in Zimbabwe and our brother Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Thabo Makgoba, for the government of South Africa, the SADC region and the United Nations to act effectively. There must be an immediate arms embargo and any ships carrying arms must be recalled.
A year ago we committed ourselves, with the Anglican Archbishop of the province, to work with the bishops of Zimbabwe to support those who spoke on behalf of the poor and marginalised in that country and to denounce those that would not leave ministers of the gospel free to serve them. As we have just heard one bishop say, “It is Zimbabweans who are suffering at the hands of Zimbabweans. The political parties must protect the people who are voting.”
The current climate of political intimidation, violence, vote rigging and delay has left the presidential election process without credibility. Now the people of Zimbabwe are left even more vulnerable to conflict heaped upon poverty and the threat of national disintegration. It is therefore crucial that the international community act in support of regional efforts to bring a mediated settlement to this political crisis so that the social and economic and spiritual crisis of the country can be addressed. We commend the efforts of governments and agencies actively seeking to end the crisis and pray that those whose efforts have seemed lacklustre to renew their commitment as fellow Christians, Africans and members of the human family and international community.
Churches across England have been praying for Zimbabwe before, during and after the polls. Agencies and dioceses from the UK have worked ably to support partners and parishes. We join with those now calling for an international day of prayer for Zimbabwe this Sunday (April 28) as part of a search for increased solidarity and justice for the people of Zimbabwe at home and in the UK. Ecumenically, and as part of a broad based coalition, we must work to build a civil society movement that both creates political will and gives voice to those who demand an end to the mayhem that grows out of injustice, poverty, exclusion and violence.
There is growing regional and international pressure for an arms embargo to be placed on Zimbabwe, until a legitimate government is in place. This is mainly because of the Chinese arms ship that was turned away from South Africa last week.
A High Court order sought by pressure groups in Durban barred its transit overland to Zimbabwe, while trade unions in the region urged their members to refuse to unload it. Campaigners are arguing that presidential election results have still not been announced 25 days after the elections and as such any arms shipments are likely to be used for internal repression.
On Wednesday the new Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, called on the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
The careers of two of Africa’s most prominent politicians — Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela — have striking similarities. Both were born in an era when white power prevailed throughout Africa, Mandela in 1918, Mugabe in 1924. Both were products of the Christian mission school system. Both attended the same university, Fort Hare in South Africa. Both emerged as members of the small African professional elite, Mandela a lawyer, Mugabe a teacher. Both were drawn into the struggle against white minority rule, Mandela in South Africa, Mugabe in neighboring Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Both advocated violence to bring down white-run regimes. Both endured long terms of imprisonment, Mandela, 27 years, Mugabe, 11. Both suffered the anguish of losing a son while in prison, and both were refused permission to attend the funeral.
But whereas Mandela used his prison years to open a dialogue with South Africa’s white rulers in order to defeat apartheid, Mugabe emerged from prison bent on revolution, determined to overthrow white society by force. Military victory, he said, would be the “ultimate joy.”