| CHRISTIANS throughout the world responded to the urgent call by the Anglican diocese of Harare for a day of prayer for Zimbabwe on Sunday. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York described it as “part of a search for increased solidarity and justice for the people of Zimbabwe at home and in the UK” (News, 25 April).
The Archbishops’ statement called for immediate, concerted, and effective action by the government of South Africa and other regional organs, and for the UN to mediate and intervene as needed.
“Continuing political violence and drift could unleash spiralling communal violence, as has been seen elsewhere in the continent,” the Archbishops warned.
They declared that the current climate of “political intimidation, vote-rigging, and delay” had left the presidential election process without credibility, making the people of Zimbabwe “even more vulnerable to conflict heaped upon poverty, and the threat of national disintegration”.
Referring directly to the invasion by riot police of a Mothers’ Union gathering last week, they said: “Faithful men, women, and young people, who seek better governance in either political or church affairs, continue to be beaten, intimidated, or oppressed, as was the recent Mothers’ Union gathering in Mbare. Anglicans cannot worship in their Cathedral in Harare, and Mothers’ Union groups cannot now gather without fear of violence or intimidation against them.”
Dr Sentamu spent a day of fasting and prayer in York Minster on Sunday, encouraging the public to join him for the vigil and light a candle in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. “We must all stand together with our brothers and sisters living under the tyranny of Mugabe, and pray that they will find deliverance,” he said.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu described Zimbabwe as “staring into the abyss”. He joined the worldwide calls to stop the supply of weapons to the country until the political crisis was resolved, and warned: “If violence flares further in Zimbabwe, those supplying the weapons will be left with blood on their hands.”
The emboldened Anglican Council of Zimbabwe has publicly decried the delay in publishing the results of the presidential election. As Christians, the Council members said in a statement that they were “embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed at what is clearly a flawed election process. We are shocked and totally disapprove . . .
“There are reports of torture, killings, breaking into and burning houses, damage and theft, threats and intimidation. This is happening to ordinary, innocent, law-abiding citizens in our beloved Zimbabwe. We totally condemn this vindictive, lawless behaviour, and call upon the perpetrators and masters to halt this violence.”
Churches in Zimbabwe opened their doors on Sunday to give refuge to people fleeing the violence. Christian Aid, a partner of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA), said that its member churches had received people in Harare and in Bulawayo. In the latter, militia are reported to be undergoing intensive training on the outskirts of the city.
“Such a heavy presence and involvement of the military is having a traumatic affect on the population,” reported Pastor Promise Manceda of ZCA.
Tearfund is also receiving reports from its Zimbabwean partners, which include churches in Bulawayo. Karyn Beattie, Tearfund’s Disaster Response Manager for Zimbabwe, said: “Fear and confusion are spreading across the country in this vacuum of uncertainty and threat. We are very concerned for the safety of people, those just simply trying to exist — although there is nothing simple about existing in a country in collapse.”
A Harare resident described the escalating situation to the Church Times as “A game of poker played out on the world stage. . . We are on our knees and really trusting the Lord.”
The Bishop of Natal, the Rt Revd Rubin Phillip, called for a campaign of prayer for Zimbabwe, to take place daily in the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity in Pietermaritzburg. It began on Sunday, which was Freedom Day in South Africa, and will continue until Youth Day on 16 June. “Intense prayer is one of the crucial ways in which we can struggle against this appalling situation,” said Bishop Phillip.
Bishop Phillip has been praised by the South African shack-dwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, together with the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, for his active solidarity with the Zimbabwean people.
An impassioned statement said: “We call on others to follow their example. We call on all clergy to stand with the poor . . . We express our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe suffering terrible oppression in their own country, and terrible xenophobia in South Africa.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Student Christian Federation also joined the growing outcry for immediate release of the presidential election results. The WCC’s general secretary, the Revd Dr Samuel Kobia, said that the electoral process had again been compromised by “rigging and reprisals”. He supported church leaders’ calls for intervention by the UN, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Community “to prevent a political crisis from escalating into mass violence”.
A joint report from the WCC and the All African Conference of Churches called on the Zimbabwean Church to give leadership to the people of the southern African nation.
Although the churches have been “outspoken in promoting and entrenching a transparent governance structure that is sensitive to the plight of the Zimbabwean populace”, they nevertheless “have not spoken with one voice, nor do they seem to read from the same script over the years”, the report says. |
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