By Elizabeth Kendal
After excommunicated rogue bishop, Nolbert Kunonga -- also known as Mugabe's bishop -- broke away from the Anglican Church in 2007, he forcibly occupied and seized control of a vast array of church properties, including the cathedral in Harare, numerous churches, vicarages, schools, clinics, orphanages, offices, vehicles and bank accounts.
Kunonga, who has been linked to violence against Anglicans, including the murder of 10 clergy, has long been backed by pro-Mugabe police and ZANU-PF thugs. Anglicans suspect Kunonga of complicity in the February 2011 murder of Jessica Mandeya (89), a lay leader in the rural parish of Mashonaland East who was raped, mutilated and strangled after she refused to join Kunonga's pro-Mugabe faction. Kunonga denies any part in this, retorting that if he were going to kill anyone, it would be his nemesis, Bishop Chad Gandiya.
For more background see:
Religious Liberty Monitoring, label Zimbabwe
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, label Zimbabwe
On 12 August 2011, Zimbabwe's Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku released an interim order confirming Bishop Chad Gandiya as the Bishop of Harare, but upholding the 24 July 2009 High Court ruling granting the illegitimate bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, control over all Anglican Church assets in Harare.
See: Chief Justice grants excommunicated Kunonga control over Anglican properties
By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 17 Aug 2011
On Monday 19 November 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the appeal put forward by the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) and led by Bishop Chad Gandiya. It also set aside, condemning as "wrong", two judgments that had been granted in favour of the Nolbert Kunonga-led "Diocesan Trustees for the Diocese of Harare" entitling them to control of Anglican church properties.
For full report from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) see:
Supreme Court decision ending unprecedented assault on religious freedom welcomed
20 Nov 2012
ZLHR is advocating that immediate action be taken "to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the violations that, for almost six years, visited Anglican Church parishioners including the disadvantaged young children at CPCA-run orphanages around the country. Such action," it said, "will have the effect of contributing positively to the restoration of public confidence in the justice delivery system."
Supreme Court Judge Yunus Omerjee, who read the judgement, said: "When one leaves a club one does not take its property with him or her. It has long been established as a salutary principle of law in this area of property ownership that when one or more people secede from an existing church, they have no right to claim church property even if those who remain members of the congregation are in the minority."
See: Kunonga loses Anglican property fight
by Moses Chibaya, New Zimbabwe, 19 Nov 2012
Daniel Nemukuyu reports: "After the ruling, Bishop Gandiya and his followers broke into wild celebrations outside the Supreme Court with some singing hymns and dancing."
Dr Kunonga has been ordered to return all Anglican properties illegally seized from the Church of the Province of Central Africa.
Speaking after the Supreme Court judgment Zimbabwe's Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, himself an Anglican, said: "Our prayers have been answered for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. I now look forward to working with them to restore sanity in their schools which have suffered so much during this period of insanity. As usual my door is open if they need help in this regard."
"We prayed, we waited and we have been vindicated," said Bishop Chad Gandiya. "This is God's doing . . . "We have been in exile for five years, but now we are going back home."
Bishop Gandiya described Monday's ruling as a "pleasant surprise" and appealed to all Anglicans to be "gracious in winning".
Of course it might be too much to expect that Kunonga will be gracious in losing. Implementing the order might not be as straight forward as issuing it.
UPDATES:
Zimbabwe: Jubilant Anglicans Return to Parishes
By Innocent Ruwende and Evelene Taadira, 26 November 2012
excerpt:
It was an emotional Sunday for members of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) as they returned to various parishes after five years of worshipping under trees or rented premises.
This came in the wake of last week's Supreme Court ruling which gave the Harare Diocese led by Bishop Chad Gandiya control over the church's properties.The properties had been under the control of Bishop Nolbert Kunonga of the Church of the Province of Zimbabwe, who is former head of the Harare Diocese.
The Supreme Court decision ended years of feuding between the CPCA and Dr Kunonga's group and gave Anglicans the right to worship in their church buildings, and repossess other properties including schools, clinics and orphanages that had been under the control of Dr Kunonga.
Anglican Harare CPCA spokesperson Mr Precious Shumba said their members had access to all their premises and for the first time in five years conducted services in the parishes.
He said they had not met any resistance from most priests aligned to Bishop Kunonga. . .
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Zimbabwe: Kunonga Faction Resists Eviction in Some Parishes
By Tererai Karimakwenda, 26 November 2012
excerpt
Anglican clergy and parishioners who went back to worship in church buildings that had been seized by the former Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, have said for the most part parishes were peaceful but they faced resistance in some areas. . .
Peaceful services were held in many parishes, including Avondale, Cranborne, Mabelreign, Mufakose, Budiriro and Norton, where church services were conducted midweek after Kunonga's bishops and priests moved out.
But strong resistance was reported at three of Kunonga's parishes on Friday, including St Philip parish in Tafara and St James parish in Mabvuku, where Reverend Raymond Makiwa is alleged to have threatened to unleash dogs on anyone trying to evict him. . .
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Ousted Bishop Kunonga fights back
Daniel Nemukuyu and Tererai Karimakwenda, November 28, 2012
excerpt
[Kunonga's faction] has engaged prominent Harare lawyer Mr Jonathan Samukange of Venturas and Samukange law firm and yesterday filed two separate High Court applications to stop the pending eviction of its clergy and laity from church properties. . .
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Kunonga ran up $300k bills: Bishop Gandiya
by Moses Chibaya 21 Nov 2012
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Zimbabwe: Chief Justice grants excommunicated Kunonga control over Anglican properties
Zimbabwe's Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku has just released an interim order -- valid until the matter is finalised in the Supreme Court -- confirming Bishop Chad Gandiya as the Bishop of Harare, but upholding the 24 July 2009 High Court ruling granting renegade Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga control over all Anglican Church assets in Harare.
As these properties belong to the Church of the Province of Central Africa, from which Kunonga was excommunicated in 2007 on the grounds of schism, Bishop Gandiya is right to ask, "How can he [Kunonga] be given custodianship of properties of an organisation of which he is not a member?"
Kunonga gets control
The Zimbabwean, 12 Aug 2011
Supreme Court gives bishop Kunonga custodianship of Anglican Church’s assets
By William Matsvimbo, for Religion in Zimbabwe, 12 Aug 2011
Kunonga gets custody of church property
by Irene Madongo, for SW Radio Africa, 16 August 2011
Bishop Gandiya has told the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) that the diocese and the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) are waiting to see what will happen next. While the ruling means that Kunonga's legal challenge to Gandiya's installation as Bishop of Harare is finally over, the ownership of Anglican properties remains in the hands of the Supreme Court. "If the Supreme Court does not return the properties to our church then we will have no way of appealing the decision," Gandiya said.
In a letter to his supporters, Bishop Gandiya writes: "All along he [Kunonga] has been abusing church members and misusing church properties with the support of some in the Zimbabwe Republic Police and nobody stopped him. [Background] We thought that the laws of the land would stop him but now we see the law legitimising his impunity. We have tried to engage various responsible authorities but to no avail.
"We believe that this is setting a very dangerous precedent in the country. Dr Kunonga is claiming ownership of properties that do not belong to him. This is daylight robbery now with the support of the law. We continue to hope for the time when reason will prevail to the glory of God."
Bishop Gandiya expressed concern over what the ruling might mean for Anglican clergy. "You can well imagine the distress and chaos this is likely to result, especially for our priests who are living in rectories. I am very concerned about the likely disturbances to my priests and their families."
EVICTIONS BEGIN
On 16 August the Anglican Communion News Service reported the first eviction.
"The Rev. Dzikamai Mudenda, his wife and their extended family were forced to leave St. James Anglican Church in Mabvuku, Diocese of Harare, in the wake of a High Court judgment that Kunonga had interim custody of church properties.
"Other priests living in parish rectories have received stamped copies of the High Court judgment from supporters of Kunonga who, in one case, were accompanied by the police. The priests, including Friar Joshua from Bishop Gaul College, have all been told to move out.
"Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare said Aug. 15 that alternative accommodation has been found for Mudenda and that they are preparing for the eviction of other priests.
"'Our parishes are busy finding alternative accommodation for them,' he said. 'We don't know who he [Kunonga] is going to put in these houses. This is not going to be easy at all. It will disrupt their family life and ministry. I have been busy this evening getting in touch with my priests and encouraging them.'"
As eviction of Anglican priests begins, Harare bishop prays 'God help us'
By ACNS staff, 16 August 2011
Michael Chingore, registrar for the Anglican Diocese of Harare, confirmed to the Episcopal News Service (ENS): "The Rev. Dzikamai Mudenda and his family left after they were threatened by people from the Kunonga group who came with copies of the court judgment. They have been going around the vestries and parishes dropping copies of the judgment and demanding that the church officers leave."
The global head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will visit Zimbabwe in early October. He is pressing for a meeting with Robert Mugabe, but the President's Office has not as yet confirmed an appointment.
Rowan Williams has appealed to Robert Mugabe previously -- unsurprisingly, to no avail.
On the other hand, the universal head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, does not need Mugabe's permission for anything. The Church must intercede for the persecuted church in Zimbabwe.
-------------------
Another article of interest:
Zimbabwean Churches Told to Support Ruling Party—or Else
Mugabe regime violently targeting wide spectrum of congregations.
George Conger, for Christianity Today, 10 Aug 2011
As these properties belong to the Church of the Province of Central Africa, from which Kunonga was excommunicated in 2007 on the grounds of schism, Bishop Gandiya is right to ask, "How can he [Kunonga] be given custodianship of properties of an organisation of which he is not a member?"
Kunonga gets control
The Zimbabwean, 12 Aug 2011
Supreme Court gives bishop Kunonga custodianship of Anglican Church’s assets
By William Matsvimbo, for Religion in Zimbabwe, 12 Aug 2011
Kunonga gets custody of church property
by Irene Madongo, for SW Radio Africa, 16 August 2011
Bishop Gandiya has told the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) that the diocese and the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) are waiting to see what will happen next. While the ruling means that Kunonga's legal challenge to Gandiya's installation as Bishop of Harare is finally over, the ownership of Anglican properties remains in the hands of the Supreme Court. "If the Supreme Court does not return the properties to our church then we will have no way of appealing the decision," Gandiya said.
In a letter to his supporters, Bishop Gandiya writes: "All along he [Kunonga] has been abusing church members and misusing church properties with the support of some in the Zimbabwe Republic Police and nobody stopped him. [Background] We thought that the laws of the land would stop him but now we see the law legitimising his impunity. We have tried to engage various responsible authorities but to no avail.
"We believe that this is setting a very dangerous precedent in the country. Dr Kunonga is claiming ownership of properties that do not belong to him. This is daylight robbery now with the support of the law. We continue to hope for the time when reason will prevail to the glory of God."
Bishop Gandiya expressed concern over what the ruling might mean for Anglican clergy. "You can well imagine the distress and chaos this is likely to result, especially for our priests who are living in rectories. I am very concerned about the likely disturbances to my priests and their families."
EVICTIONS BEGIN
On 16 August the Anglican Communion News Service reported the first eviction.
"The Rev. Dzikamai Mudenda, his wife and their extended family were forced to leave St. James Anglican Church in Mabvuku, Diocese of Harare, in the wake of a High Court judgment that Kunonga had interim custody of church properties.
"Other priests living in parish rectories have received stamped copies of the High Court judgment from supporters of Kunonga who, in one case, were accompanied by the police. The priests, including Friar Joshua from Bishop Gaul College, have all been told to move out.
"Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare said Aug. 15 that alternative accommodation has been found for Mudenda and that they are preparing for the eviction of other priests.
"'Our parishes are busy finding alternative accommodation for them,' he said. 'We don't know who he [Kunonga] is going to put in these houses. This is not going to be easy at all. It will disrupt their family life and ministry. I have been busy this evening getting in touch with my priests and encouraging them.'"
As eviction of Anglican priests begins, Harare bishop prays 'God help us'
By ACNS staff, 16 August 2011
Michael Chingore, registrar for the Anglican Diocese of Harare, confirmed to the Episcopal News Service (ENS): "The Rev. Dzikamai Mudenda and his family left after they were threatened by people from the Kunonga group who came with copies of the court judgment. They have been going around the vestries and parishes dropping copies of the judgment and demanding that the church officers leave."
The global head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will visit Zimbabwe in early October. He is pressing for a meeting with Robert Mugabe, but the President's Office has not as yet confirmed an appointment.
Rowan Williams has appealed to Robert Mugabe previously -- unsurprisingly, to no avail.
On the other hand, the universal head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, does not need Mugabe's permission for anything. The Church must intercede for the persecuted church in Zimbabwe.
-------------------
Another article of interest:
Zimbabwean Churches Told to Support Ruling Party—or Else
Mugabe regime violently targeting wide spectrum of congregations.
George Conger, for Christianity Today, 10 Aug 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ZIMBABWE: Churches targeted for political violence
-- Churches targeted for political violence.
-- The scandal of Nolbert Kunonga.
-- Bringing an end to power-sharing.
Churches targeted for political violence.
On Saturday 9 April, some 500 Christians -- including 4 bishops and 46 pastors from Harare, Mutare, Bulawayo and Gweru -- gathered in the Church of Nazarene in Glen Norah, a densely populated suburb of Harare, for a special 'Praying for Peace to Save Zimbabwe' church Service.
Their prayer for peace was shattered however, when a truckload of some 20 armed rioted police descended on the gathering. After firing tear gas into the church, the riot police stormed the sanctuary wielding batons and brandishing AK 47 rifles. Ironically, the organisers of the prayer service had also planned to commemorate the 11 March 2007 'Save Zimbabwe Prayer Rally' in which police shot one participant dead and arrested over 100. As with the March 2007 prayer rally, the April 2011 prayer service had been organised in response to a sharp escalation in political violence ahead of elections.
See: Police brutally disrupt prayer for peace
By Esther Gomo, Nehanda Radio, 11 April 2011.
According to Gomo, after the riot squad had emptied the church, they "went on to fire the tear gas canisters indiscriminately at several churches in the vicinity, as well as the general residential area around the church and Chitubu Shops.
"At the time of writing [11 April], 4 clergymen, including 2 Bishops (Bishop Paul Isaya and Bishop Paul Mukome – who heads the Church of Nazarene, Pastor Nemukuyu and Pastor Caroline Sanyanga) had been arrested. In addition 5 other congregates, including Shakespeare Mukoyi, who is also the Deputy Chairperson for Harare Youth Assembly in the Movement for Democratic Change Led by Morgan Tsvangirai, were also arrested.
"Several injuries were noted from the worshipers, and are being attended to at a local clinic."
Gomo also notes: "The church service was initially scheduled to be held at St Peters Kubatana Centre but congregates had to relocate after the Riot Squad barricaded the main entrance and refused access to worshipers. [. . .]
"The heavy-handed disruption of the church services is a shameful violation of the constitution of Zimbabwe, which allows for freedoms of religion and worship."
See also: Police violently suppress prayer for peace
According to Sokwanele's Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch: Issue 27 (25 May 2011), the "Zanu-PF has instructed the police to target church services and the clergy for their implicit opposition of President Mugabe’s violent, authoritarian rule".
Sokwanele reports that, only about a week after the attack on the "Praying for Peace" service, Father Mark Mkandla, a Catholic priest in Lupane, was arrested after a special church service organised to pray for national healing and reconciliation. Ft Mkandla delivered a powerful sermon against violence only to be subsequently arrested.
Insidiously, not only are church leaders are being offered land in exchange for loyalty, but officials from President Mugabe's Zanu (PF) have been using an anti-sanctions petition to split churches. Regime officials visit churches with the aim of forcing members of to sign the petition. Pastors who resist find their congregations split, with pro-Mugabe members being offered Zanu (PF) support to start new churches where Zanu (PF) slogans are chanted.
See: Party abuses churches --- Bishop
By Zwanai Sithole, The Zimbabwean, 17 May 2011
Yet as the Zimbabwean notes: "In reality there are no sanctions on Zimbabwe but restrictive measures on Mugabe and his cronies. Mugabe and his comrades are restricted from making shopping trips to London on the grounds of gross human rights violations."
Further to this, Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Lazarus Dokora, has condemned unregistered schools and called on the police (a pro-Mugabe force) to investigate them.
Unregistered schools mushroomed in Zimbabwe during the economic meltdown, as striking, underpaid government teachers earned income by giving private classes. But what began as private classes, gradually developed into a network of unregistered independent schools and colleges, many of which are housed in churches.
Peter Chinyadza runs a school of some 50 students in Chitungwiza, some 30km south of Harare. While he is in the process of seeking registration, the school -- which operates out of All Saints Anglican Church -- is as yet unregistered and under investigation.
See: Govt descends on unregistered schools
By Pride Gonde, Newsday correspondent, Harare. 24 May 2011
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean Catholic bishops feel they have been undermined and the faithful have been scandalized by the Vatican's warm and friendly embrace of Mugabe at the 1 May beatification service of the late Pope John Paul II.
Gunther Simmermacher, editor of an independent South African Catholic journal, noted that no formal invitations were issued to heads of state, and "international diplomacy sometimes requires unpalatable things of its practitioners."
But as he notes: the "televised sight of the tyrant being warmly embraced by a broadly smiling prelate" was "embarrassing for the courageous bishops of Zimbabwe, and to the clergy, religious and laity who strive for a peaceful transition to an equitable and accountable democracy.
"Shortly before departing on his 'absolutely heavenly' Vatican sojourn, Mr. Mugabe described the Zimbabwean bishops as 'so-called men of God who lie' and 'mere puppets of Western countries. In that light particularly, Mr. Mugabe's reception in the Vatican has created an impression, surely inaccurate, that the Vatican sides with him against the bishops of Zimbabwe."
See: Catholic paper: Dictator's Vatican welcome undermined Zimbabwe bishops
Catholic News Service, 19 May 2011
The Scandal of Nolbert Kunonga
Just as Mugabe is violently confiscating white-owned farms in the name of 'indigenisation' and 'anti-colonialism', his thug-stooge bishop, Nolbert Kunonga is violently confiscating Anglican properties under the same pretence. Kunonga was defrocked by the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa in Nov 07 on the grounds of heresy, schism, and suspicion that he was complicit in the murders of ten Anglican clergy.
(For background see: 'We are being persecuted'. By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 27 June 08)
Kunonga now controls 40 percent of all Zimbabwe's Anglican churches -- including 30 churches in Harare alone. The doors are unlocked on Sundays, but only to pro-Mugabe supporters who have torn down the colonial artefacts and broken up pews bearing memorial plaques. The overwhelming majority of Zimbabwe's Anglicans now worship in any facility that will open its doors to them.
Further to this, Kunonga's wife Agatha controls the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe Mother's Union (ACZMU) and she is forcing its members to sign the so-called anti-sanctions petition.
Anglicans suspect Nolbert Kunonga of complicity in the Feb 2011 murder of Jessica Mandeya (89), a lay leader in the rural parish of Mashonaland East who was raped, mutilated and strangled after she refused to join Kunonga's faction. Kunonga denies he had anything to do with the murder, retorting that if he was going to kill anyone, it would be his nemesis, Bishop Chad Gandiya, who was elected by the Anglican Church to replace Kunonga as Bishop of Harare.
According to Bishop Gandiya, five bishops are on Kunonga's hit list for "elimination".
"We're all being followed", said Julius Makono, the bishop of Manicaland, one of the five.
Godfrey Tawonezvi, bishop of Masvingo, another of the five, was recently visited by two of Kunonga's men. "They had all our phone numbers, our home addresses", he said.
See: Mugabe Ally Escalates Push to Control Anglican Church
By Celia W. Dugger, New York Times. 29 May 2011
ALSO: Zimbabwe's Anglicans forced to worship in pubs
By Peta Thornycroft, Harare and Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg.
The Telegraph, 25 Mar 2011
Bringing an end to power-sharing
Mugabe has recently called for early elections in order to end the power-sharing government, in spite of the fact that the "Global Political Agreement" (the power-sharing agreement stitched together by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) after the 2008 elections) mandates that before the next elections can be held, a new constitution must be approved by referendum, and a new voter registry must be drawn up. It is unlikely these conditions will be met because the police, the judiciary and the Zimbabwe Election Commission are all partisan and rule of law has collapsed.
See: How Zanu-PF plans to steal the Zimbabwe elections
British-South African journalist and historian RW Johnson discusses Zimbabwe's grossly rigged electoral register. 29 May 2011
RW Johnson writes: "Despite clear and binding international agreements to the contrary, evidence now available shows that President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF is again planning to steal the next elections with the help of a grossly rigged electoral register."
According to Johnson, Zimbabwe's electoral register, drawn up by outspoken Zanu-PF supporter Tobaiwa Mudede, "was notoriously full of dead and fictional voters - who always voted Zanu-PF." Johnson writes that Mugabe has always maintained the register is a 'state secret'. When an NGO did manage to secure a copy, it was found to contain at least twice as many voters as was plausible. Despite this, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has never upheld any complaint against the register.
See also: S. African Institute Calls for a New Zimbabwe Voters Roll Before Elections
Voice of America, 30 May 2011.
As far as Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba is concerned, the Zanu (PF) will win the next elections and "ensure stability".
VOA reports: "Prime Minister Tsvangirai immediately condemned Nyikayaramba’s remarks, saying such utterances put the country in an 'unnecessary war mode' and clearly show that elements in the military want to usurp civilian authority.
"Retired Zimbabwe National Army officer Martin Rupiya, director of the African Public Policy and Research Institute, told VOA reporter Blessing Zulu that Nyikayaramba’s remarks show that the service chiefs remain intransigently partisan.
"Political commentator Bhekilizwe Ndlovu called Nyikayaramba’s statements reckless."
Friday, June 27, 2008
Zimbabwe: 'We are being persecuted.'
Date: Friday 27 June 2008
Subj: Zimbabwe: "We are being persecuted."
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
"Religious freedom" that is conditional on being a member of the State religion is clearly not religious freedom. "Religious freedom" that does not permit conversion is not religious freedom. Likewise, "religious freedom" that is conditional on political allegiance is not religious freedom.
What began in 2001 as government interference in Anglican affairs has developed into religious liberty abuse so severe and violent that "dissident" Anglicans -- that is most Anglicans -- in the capital, Harare, now risk death to meet together. And there is no reason to believe that Mugabe's religious repression and persecution will end with the Anglicans of Harare. If Mugabe manages to steal the election and take control of the Anglican churches of Harare he will doubtless move to control all churches of all denominations nationwide.
As policy analyst Dr J Peter Pham comments, "Mugabe's dealings in recent years with Zimbabwean Anglicans highlight the totalitarian trajectory of his rule." (Link 1)
There is a huge amount of anxiety over what will eventuate after 27 June 08 -- the day slated for the run-off presidential election. With religious liberty already being so seriously violated, what does the future hold? If Mugabe retains power, will everyone who does not worship according to his dictates be deprived of food, incarcerated or murdered? Will Christians who want to worship the Lord be forced to meet in secret "underground" house churches, while the dictator points to State-run cathedrals and says, "You are free to worship there!"
MUGABE SEIZES THE PROPERTIES OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN HARARE
In Harare, thousands of Anglicans have been locked out of dozens of church properties. Why? Because the Anglican Church had the audacity (read: integrity and courage) to stand up to Mugabe's corrupt puppet-bishop, Rev Dr Nolbert Kunonga.
THE ELEVATION AND IMPLOSION OF DR NOLBERT KUNONGA
In 2001, Zimbabwean secret police secured the election of Nolbert Kunonga to the post of Anglican Bishop of Harare. Kunonga had been in the USA, teaching Liberation Theology in the Rev Sun Myung Moon's Unification Seminary in Barrytown, New York.
Dr Pham describes Kunonga's "election" as a "racially-charged campaign targeting the frontrunner for the episcopate, the white vicar-general of the diocese, Canon Tim Neill, who had earned the ire of the regime for denouncing its human rights abuses. (A letter from one government agency once warned the Oxford-trained cleric that he was 'applying for an early passport to hell.') Once enthroned at Harare's Cathedral of St. Mary and All Saints, Kunonga proceeded to turn his diocese into the 'religious' arm of ZANU-PF . . ." (Link 1)
Pham goes on to quote an April 2008 Christianity Today article by Anglican journalist and commentator Canon George Conger, which explains that after his election "Kunonga drove off the diocese's white Zimbabwean clergy and purged its ranks of those deemed disloyal to the regime, causing half of the African clergy to flee abroad. To fill empty pulpits, he began ordaining clergy without theological training – including some members of the secret police, Zimbabwe's vice president Joseph Msika, and two government cabinet ministers". (Full CT article: link 2)
Canon Conger was recently interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National "Religion Report". He told host Stephen Crittenden: "In 2003, a case was brought in Ecclesiastical Court against Dr Kunonga, charging him with a range of crimes from heresy to fraud, to inciting members of the secret police to murder ten of his clergy who were not toeing the line. A church trial was held in 2005 but the trial collapsed because the witnesses were afraid to return to Zimbabwe for fear of their lives." (Link 3)
But by October 2007, as courageous organised opposition was rising, Kunonga knew his power was waning. So, in a politically motivated stunt he moved to separate the diocese of Harare from the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa -- a grouping of dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe -- on the false claim that it was full of homosexuals. Canon Conger explains in Christianity Today: "In an interview with Voice of America on February 25, [Zimbabwean Bishop, Sebastian] Bakare said all of Zimbabwe's Anglican congregations had abandoned Kunonga, as had most of the clergy. There was 'no doubt' the schism was 'politically motivated', he said, as 'Kunonga wanted to deliver the Anglican diocese to ZANU-PF [Mugabe's political party]'."
Subsequently in November 2007 the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa removed Kunonga from his post as bishop of Harare on the grounds of schism. European-educated Rev Dr Sebastian Bakare (66), the former bishop of Manicaland (the region bordering Mozambique) was brought out of retirement to stand in for Kunonga. Kunonga challenged the Church's decision in Harare's High Court.
In January 2008 Harare's High Court upheld the Anglican Church's right to govern its own affairs, but ruled that Harare's Cathedral be shared between Kunonga and Bishop Bakare. On 10 February, Kunonga, in defiance of the court order, barricaded himself inside the Cathedral along with some 40 members of the ZANU-PF youth militia. In early May the Supreme Court dismissed Kunonga's appeal. Furthermore, Kunonga has now been formerly excommunicated by the dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa.
VIOLENCE EXPLODES
State-orchestrated violence against Harare's Anglicans has since exploded. Mugabe's police have seized all the Anglican property in Harare and marked "dissident" Anglicans as traitors.
A New York Times report dated 16 May describes the violence: "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 worshipping 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 . . .
"At St Paul's Church in the Highfield suburb of Harare, the congregation refused to budge and kept singing 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' when a dozen policemen entered the church on May 4. But the commander radioed for backup, and soon more than 50 riot police officers arrived, the church's wardens said.
"Hundreds of parishioners were then drummed out of the church to the deafening beat of baton sticks banging on pews. People began taking out their cellphones to photograph the policemen who had forced them out.
"The officers then charged into the scattering crowd, batons swinging. 'Even myself, they hit my hand,' said a stunned seamstress. 'They said, "Go back to your homes. You are not supposed to be here".' "
Bishop Bakare tells the New York Times: "As a theologian who has read a lot about the persecution of the early Christians, I'm really feeling connected to that history. We are being persecuted." (Link 4)
Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop M Thomas Shaw recently travelled to Zimbabwe on a "secret mission" to investigate and offer support to Zimbabwe's Anglicans. In an article published on 6 June, Bishop Shaw tells Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe that Anglican worshippers in Zimbabwe are routinely being arrested and beaten, churches are being padlocked by police, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, and clergy vehicles are being seized.
Paulson reports: "Shaw said Zimbabweans told him that beatings, jailings, and intimidation by police using dogs and batons have become routine elements of Anglican life in Harare, the country's capital. He said one priest told him he has to sleep in a different home each night because of threats to his life; another priest was arrested the day after having lunch with Shaw, apparently for refusing to surrender a parish car. Shaw said he was told about a 9-year-old boy beaten in church, among many other stories of persecution and physical assault by government officials.
"'They [the government] literally have taken over all the [Anglican] property -- people have access to the property during the week, but on the weekends, when church is supposed to take place, if they go into the church to pray or to hold services, there are riot police that are there immediately,' he said. 'They've confiscated rectories. . . . They've tried to confiscate all of the parish vehicles, and it's practically impossible to buy a car or rent a car in Zimbabwe now, because of all the shortages, and so they take a car and they literally paralyse the priest from doing the pastoral ministry and taking care of people.'
"Speaking of a May 18 incident, Shaw said, 'There were between 80 or 90 riot police that came into this church to break up the congregation, and these people refused to leave, and even though it was a very threatening atmosphere, they just stayed there and prayed and sang hymns together for over two hours while the police were threatening them and pounding on pews and there were police dogs.'
"'Sunday I went to this really poor township, and over 400 people were worshipping in this yard of this person's house, spilling out into the road,' he said. 'It was an unbelievable experience. The enthusiasm, the joy that these people have is pretty profound.'" (Link 5)
Today the Anglican churches in Harare are locked to all but those who support Mugabe and his puppet-bishop, Kungona. The situation for "dissident" Anglicans is further complicated by the fact that in mid May, police invoked security laws and broadened the ban of public rallies to included public prayer meetings. Pastor Useni Sibanda, a spokesperson for the group called Churches in Bulawayo, told Ecumenical News International on 20 May, "We were told last week that churches are no longer allowed to hold prayer meetings in the open except on church premises." (Link 6) This is a difficult thing to do when you are locked out of your church.
On 20 June the Anglican Journal reported: "In recent weeks, police have raided offices of human rights and church groups, including the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe, and Ecumenical Support Services, and arrested a number of their workers. After the attorney general refused to prosecute those arrested, they were cleared of charges and released." (Link 7)
THE CHURCH IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS
In early June, the Bishops of the Province of Central Africa issued a "Pastoral Message" in which they express their deep concern and dismay at the marked escalation in violence and called upon the perpetrators of violence to respect the law.
"As bishops we are also pained to hear that members of the Anglican Diocese of Harare are being denied to pray in their church buildings. We are concerned that their right to worship enshrined in the constitution of Zimbabwe as well as the Article 18 of the UN Charter on Human Rights is being violated. This mirrors the persecution of Christians of the Early Church and in this context we remind the perpetrators that now as then God still triumphs over evil.
"As bishops, we pray that the right of the people of Zimbabwe as spelled out in the constitution be upheld, that the judicial system as a reservoir of integrity, without respect of persons in its judgment and ruling, be guided by the spirit of justice and equity. That the law enforcement agents carry out their professional duties to defend shared values. The political parties respect the will of the people regardless of whether the results of the elections are in their favour or not.
"We offer this prayer for sanity and resolve to bring all people in Zimbabwe to the realisation that we are all God's children, created in His image to love one another.
"As bishops we commend all God's children in Zimbabwe to His mercy that they may live in love, justice and peace.
"In closing we offer this prayer to all:
"Lord, you asked for my hands that you might use them for your purpose.
I gave them for a moment then withdrew them for the work was hard.
You asked for my mouth to speak out against injustice.
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.
You asked for my eyes to see the pain of poverty.
I closed them for I did not want to see.
You asked for my life that you might work through me.
I gave a small part that I might not get too involved.
Lord, forgive my calculated efforts to serve you
Only when it is convenient for me to do so,
Only in those places where it is safe to do so,
And only with those who make it easy to do so.
Father, forgive me, renew me
Send me out as a usable instrument
That I might take seriously the meaning of your cross." (Link 8)
This Pastoral Message and prayer was issued by the Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa. It was signed by 15 bishops, all of whom have a clearer image and more profound understanding of the cross of Jesus Christ now than they ever did previously. May the hopes of the Zimbabwean Church remain anchored in the knowledge that that cross is now empty, for the cross is not only a symbol of transitory suffering on the path to eternal glory, but of the redemption of suffering itself.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Zimbabwe's Runoff Rip-off
J. Peter Pham, Ph.D. 24 June 2008
http://worlddefensereview.com/pham062408.shtml
2) Thug Bishop
By George Conger, posted 3 April 2008
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/1.18.html
3) Zimbabwean Anglican excommunication
4 June 2008, Radio interview with Canon George Conger
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2264468.htm
4) Zimbabwe's Rulers Unleash Police on Anglicans
New York Times, 16 May 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa/16zimbabwe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
5) Bishop finds flock tormented in Zimbabwe
Boston Globe, 6 June 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2008/06/06/bishop_finds_flock_tormented_in_zimbabwe/?page=full
6) Zimbabwe police ban open-air prayer meetings
22 May 2008. http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=1928
7) Churches call for prayers as election-related violence escalates in Zimbabwe
Ecumenical News International, 20 June 2008
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/churches-call-for-prayers-as-election-related-violence-escalates-in-zimbabwe/
8) Anglican Communion News Service. 3 June 2008
Pastoral Message issued by the Bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa
On the Crisis in Zimbabwe: "I Have Heard The Cry of My People"
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2008/6/3/ACNS4411
Subj: Zimbabwe: "We are being persecuted."
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
"Religious freedom" that is conditional on being a member of the State religion is clearly not religious freedom. "Religious freedom" that does not permit conversion is not religious freedom. Likewise, "religious freedom" that is conditional on political allegiance is not religious freedom.
What began in 2001 as government interference in Anglican affairs has developed into religious liberty abuse so severe and violent that "dissident" Anglicans -- that is most Anglicans -- in the capital, Harare, now risk death to meet together. And there is no reason to believe that Mugabe's religious repression and persecution will end with the Anglicans of Harare. If Mugabe manages to steal the election and take control of the Anglican churches of Harare he will doubtless move to control all churches of all denominations nationwide.
As policy analyst Dr J Peter Pham comments, "Mugabe's dealings in recent years with Zimbabwean Anglicans highlight the totalitarian trajectory of his rule." (Link 1)
There is a huge amount of anxiety over what will eventuate after 27 June 08 -- the day slated for the run-off presidential election. With religious liberty already being so seriously violated, what does the future hold? If Mugabe retains power, will everyone who does not worship according to his dictates be deprived of food, incarcerated or murdered? Will Christians who want to worship the Lord be forced to meet in secret "underground" house churches, while the dictator points to State-run cathedrals and says, "You are free to worship there!"
MUGABE SEIZES THE PROPERTIES OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN HARARE
In Harare, thousands of Anglicans have been locked out of dozens of church properties. Why? Because the Anglican Church had the audacity (read: integrity and courage) to stand up to Mugabe's corrupt puppet-bishop, Rev Dr Nolbert Kunonga.
THE ELEVATION AND IMPLOSION OF DR NOLBERT KUNONGA
In 2001, Zimbabwean secret police secured the election of Nolbert Kunonga to the post of Anglican Bishop of Harare. Kunonga had been in the USA, teaching Liberation Theology in the Rev Sun Myung Moon's Unification Seminary in Barrytown, New York.
Dr Pham describes Kunonga's "election" as a "racially-charged campaign targeting the frontrunner for the episcopate, the white vicar-general of the diocese, Canon Tim Neill, who had earned the ire of the regime for denouncing its human rights abuses. (A letter from one government agency once warned the Oxford-trained cleric that he was 'applying for an early passport to hell.') Once enthroned at Harare's Cathedral of St. Mary and All Saints, Kunonga proceeded to turn his diocese into the 'religious' arm of ZANU-PF . . ." (Link 1)
Pham goes on to quote an April 2008 Christianity Today article by Anglican journalist and commentator Canon George Conger, which explains that after his election "Kunonga drove off the diocese's white Zimbabwean clergy and purged its ranks of those deemed disloyal to the regime, causing half of the African clergy to flee abroad. To fill empty pulpits, he began ordaining clergy without theological training – including some members of the secret police, Zimbabwe's vice president Joseph Msika, and two government cabinet ministers". (Full CT article: link 2)
Canon Conger was recently interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National "Religion Report". He told host Stephen Crittenden: "In 2003, a case was brought in Ecclesiastical Court against Dr Kunonga, charging him with a range of crimes from heresy to fraud, to inciting members of the secret police to murder ten of his clergy who were not toeing the line. A church trial was held in 2005 but the trial collapsed because the witnesses were afraid to return to Zimbabwe for fear of their lives." (Link 3)
But by October 2007, as courageous organised opposition was rising, Kunonga knew his power was waning. So, in a politically motivated stunt he moved to separate the diocese of Harare from the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa -- a grouping of dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe -- on the false claim that it was full of homosexuals. Canon Conger explains in Christianity Today: "In an interview with Voice of America on February 25, [Zimbabwean Bishop, Sebastian] Bakare said all of Zimbabwe's Anglican congregations had abandoned Kunonga, as had most of the clergy. There was 'no doubt' the schism was 'politically motivated', he said, as 'Kunonga wanted to deliver the Anglican diocese to ZANU-PF [Mugabe's political party]'."
Subsequently in November 2007 the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa removed Kunonga from his post as bishop of Harare on the grounds of schism. European-educated Rev Dr Sebastian Bakare (66), the former bishop of Manicaland (the region bordering Mozambique) was brought out of retirement to stand in for Kunonga. Kunonga challenged the Church's decision in Harare's High Court.
In January 2008 Harare's High Court upheld the Anglican Church's right to govern its own affairs, but ruled that Harare's Cathedral be shared between Kunonga and Bishop Bakare. On 10 February, Kunonga, in defiance of the court order, barricaded himself inside the Cathedral along with some 40 members of the ZANU-PF youth militia. In early May the Supreme Court dismissed Kunonga's appeal. Furthermore, Kunonga has now been formerly excommunicated by the dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa.
VIOLENCE EXPLODES
State-orchestrated violence against Harare's Anglicans has since exploded. Mugabe's police have seized all the Anglican property in Harare and marked "dissident" Anglicans as traitors.
A New York Times report dated 16 May describes the violence: "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 worshipping 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 . . .
"At St Paul's Church in the Highfield suburb of Harare, the congregation refused to budge and kept singing 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' when a dozen policemen entered the church on May 4. But the commander radioed for backup, and soon more than 50 riot police officers arrived, the church's wardens said.
"Hundreds of parishioners were then drummed out of the church to the deafening beat of baton sticks banging on pews. People began taking out their cellphones to photograph the policemen who had forced them out.
"The officers then charged into the scattering crowd, batons swinging. 'Even myself, they hit my hand,' said a stunned seamstress. 'They said, "Go back to your homes. You are not supposed to be here".' "
Bishop Bakare tells the New York Times: "As a theologian who has read a lot about the persecution of the early Christians, I'm really feeling connected to that history. We are being persecuted." (Link 4)
Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop M Thomas Shaw recently travelled to Zimbabwe on a "secret mission" to investigate and offer support to Zimbabwe's Anglicans. In an article published on 6 June, Bishop Shaw tells Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe that Anglican worshippers in Zimbabwe are routinely being arrested and beaten, churches are being padlocked by police, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, and clergy vehicles are being seized.
Paulson reports: "Shaw said Zimbabweans told him that beatings, jailings, and intimidation by police using dogs and batons have become routine elements of Anglican life in Harare, the country's capital. He said one priest told him he has to sleep in a different home each night because of threats to his life; another priest was arrested the day after having lunch with Shaw, apparently for refusing to surrender a parish car. Shaw said he was told about a 9-year-old boy beaten in church, among many other stories of persecution and physical assault by government officials.
"'They [the government] literally have taken over all the [Anglican] property -- people have access to the property during the week, but on the weekends, when church is supposed to take place, if they go into the church to pray or to hold services, there are riot police that are there immediately,' he said. 'They've confiscated rectories. . . . They've tried to confiscate all of the parish vehicles, and it's practically impossible to buy a car or rent a car in Zimbabwe now, because of all the shortages, and so they take a car and they literally paralyse the priest from doing the pastoral ministry and taking care of people.'
"Speaking of a May 18 incident, Shaw said, 'There were between 80 or 90 riot police that came into this church to break up the congregation, and these people refused to leave, and even though it was a very threatening atmosphere, they just stayed there and prayed and sang hymns together for over two hours while the police were threatening them and pounding on pews and there were police dogs.'
"'Sunday I went to this really poor township, and over 400 people were worshipping in this yard of this person's house, spilling out into the road,' he said. 'It was an unbelievable experience. The enthusiasm, the joy that these people have is pretty profound.'" (Link 5)
Today the Anglican churches in Harare are locked to all but those who support Mugabe and his puppet-bishop, Kungona. The situation for "dissident" Anglicans is further complicated by the fact that in mid May, police invoked security laws and broadened the ban of public rallies to included public prayer meetings. Pastor Useni Sibanda, a spokesperson for the group called Churches in Bulawayo, told Ecumenical News International on 20 May, "We were told last week that churches are no longer allowed to hold prayer meetings in the open except on church premises." (Link 6) This is a difficult thing to do when you are locked out of your church.
On 20 June the Anglican Journal reported: "In recent weeks, police have raided offices of human rights and church groups, including the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe, and Ecumenical Support Services, and arrested a number of their workers. After the attorney general refused to prosecute those arrested, they were cleared of charges and released." (Link 7)
THE CHURCH IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS
In early June, the Bishops of the Province of Central Africa issued a "Pastoral Message" in which they express their deep concern and dismay at the marked escalation in violence and called upon the perpetrators of violence to respect the law.
"As bishops we are also pained to hear that members of the Anglican Diocese of Harare are being denied to pray in their church buildings. We are concerned that their right to worship enshrined in the constitution of Zimbabwe as well as the Article 18 of the UN Charter on Human Rights is being violated. This mirrors the persecution of Christians of the Early Church and in this context we remind the perpetrators that now as then God still triumphs over evil.
"As bishops, we pray that the right of the people of Zimbabwe as spelled out in the constitution be upheld, that the judicial system as a reservoir of integrity, without respect of persons in its judgment and ruling, be guided by the spirit of justice and equity. That the law enforcement agents carry out their professional duties to defend shared values. The political parties respect the will of the people regardless of whether the results of the elections are in their favour or not.
"We offer this prayer for sanity and resolve to bring all people in Zimbabwe to the realisation that we are all God's children, created in His image to love one another.
"As bishops we commend all God's children in Zimbabwe to His mercy that they may live in love, justice and peace.
"In closing we offer this prayer to all:
"Lord, you asked for my hands that you might use them for your purpose.
I gave them for a moment then withdrew them for the work was hard.
You asked for my mouth to speak out against injustice.
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.
You asked for my eyes to see the pain of poverty.
I closed them for I did not want to see.
You asked for my life that you might work through me.
I gave a small part that I might not get too involved.
Lord, forgive my calculated efforts to serve you
Only when it is convenient for me to do so,
Only in those places where it is safe to do so,
And only with those who make it easy to do so.
Father, forgive me, renew me
Send me out as a usable instrument
That I might take seriously the meaning of your cross." (Link 8)
This Pastoral Message and prayer was issued by the Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa. It was signed by 15 bishops, all of whom have a clearer image and more profound understanding of the cross of Jesus Christ now than they ever did previously. May the hopes of the Zimbabwean Church remain anchored in the knowledge that that cross is now empty, for the cross is not only a symbol of transitory suffering on the path to eternal glory, but of the redemption of suffering itself.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Zimbabwe's Runoff Rip-off
J. Peter Pham, Ph.D. 24 June 2008
http://worlddefensereview.com/pham062408.shtml
2) Thug Bishop
By George Conger, posted 3 April 2008
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/1.18.html
3) Zimbabwean Anglican excommunication
4 June 2008, Radio interview with Canon George Conger
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2264468.htm
4) Zimbabwe's Rulers Unleash Police on Anglicans
New York Times, 16 May 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa/16zimbabwe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
5) Bishop finds flock tormented in Zimbabwe
Boston Globe, 6 June 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2008/06/06/bishop_finds_flock_tormented_in_zimbabwe/?page=full
6) Zimbabwe police ban open-air prayer meetings
22 May 2008. http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=1928
7) Churches call for prayers as election-related violence escalates in Zimbabwe
Ecumenical News International, 20 June 2008
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/churches-call-for-prayers-as-election-related-violence-escalates-in-zimbabwe/
8) Anglican Communion News Service. 3 June 2008
Pastoral Message issued by the Bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa
On the Crisis in Zimbabwe: "I Have Heard The Cry of My People"
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2008/6/3/ACNS4411
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Zimbabwe: Government interference escalates
Date: Tuesday 6 June 2006
Subj: Zimbabwe: Government interference escalates
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Over recent years, the Mugabe regime has introduced several measures to silence dissent. Quite apart from open police brutality, measures like the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill 2004 (NGO Bill, see link 1) and the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA, which provides the police with wide-ranging powers to control or ban public gatherings of three or more persons) have enabled the Mugabe regime to crush or silence dissent, close doors and obstruct channels of communication and aid. These laws have had a devastating effect upon the Church's ability to deliver humanitarian aid and engage in human rights, justice and freedom issues.
The POSA was recently used to ban a prayer procession organised by a united Christian forum called "Churches in Bulawayo", on the grounds that the police deemed it a security risk. In their statement to the press Churches in Bulawayo expressed serious concern that the police would deny them the right to hold a prayer procession. They regard this as a serious infringement of their freedom to worship.
UPHOLDING THE BIBLICAL MANDATE
On 23 May 2005 a wave of demolitions heralded the commencement of Robert Mugabe's "Operation Murambatsvina". It is estimated that some 300,000 homes were demolished by the "Mugabe Tsunami" – a man-made disaster that left some 1.5 million homeless and destitute. Several people including small children were crushed in the dwellings they called "home". Many other victims died from the consequences of poverty combined with homelessness, such as starving or freezing to death. Still others died prematurely from illnesses simply because the medical missions and NGOs that served the poor were likewise not spared (Link 2).
Operation Murambatsvina left Zimbabwe's churches facing what appeared to be an insurmountable volume of human suffering. However, one great blessing did arise from the ashes of Murambatsvina. Christians long divided by difference found unity in their conviction that they must uphold the Biblical mandate to defend the poor and needy, and that they can do it best if they do it together. Operation Murambatsvina gave life and purpose to a powerful movement of practical church unity. Churches in Bulawayo is one such church alliance. According to its 16 May 2006 press release, "Churches in Bulawayo sheltered over 2000 families at the height of Murambatsvina and have continued to provide food assistance as well as medical help and payment of school fees for displaced children."
Churches in Bulawayo organised a prayer procession for 20 May 2006 to commemorate Operation Murambatsvina and pray for its victims. "Sokwanele" Civil Action Support Group reports, "This event was but one of the several organized across the country by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, an informal ecumenical alliance seeking a united Christian response to the current crisis. The objective - shared by many civic groups including Crisis in Zimbabwe - was to focus attention on the plight of victims of ZANU PF's purge of the poor, one year on from the nationwide campaign of destruction which saw hundreds of thousands rendered homeless and destitute." (Link 3)
Church leaders in Bulawayo consulted the police about their intention to hold a prayer procession. They did this as a courtesy, not because they were obliged to, as events that have "bona fide religious purposes" are exempt from the POSA. The police initially granted the churches clearance. However, they soon made an about turn and withdrew permission saying the procession would be a security risk. The Churches in Bulawayo press release explains, "What has frightened the police is that thousands of Bulawayo residents are intending to take part in the procession."
After withdrawing permission for the prayer procession, police then moved to intimidate the pastors into submission. The Churches in Bulawayo press release explains: "Since yesterday [Monday 15 May] junior police officers have been calling individual clerics to interrogate and intimidate them to cancel the procession. But this morning, Tuesday, about 30 senior security officers in Bulawayo who are members of the Joint Operations Command – that is composed of police, army and Central Intelligence Organisation – summoned the leadership of Churches in Bulawayo to a two-hour interrogation session."
The Bulawayo pastors however, being consumed with conviction that they must obey the Biblical mandate – "Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:9) – were not easily intimidated. Instead, they challenged the police ban in the Bulawayo High Court. Lawyers for the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance argued that the police ban was an "infringement of our freedom to worship" and it demonstrated "the desperate position of this regime". Late in the evening of Friday 19 May, the High Court ruled in favour of the pastors, saying that the churches had the legal right to hold a prayer procession. (Link 4)
Sokwanele's report is entitled, "More steel in the men of God: Despite police threats the Church goes ahead with Commemoration," and it explains what happened next. "The organizers of most of the other commemorative events planned for this weekend [20-21 May] eventually succumbed to police pressure to call them off. Not so the pastors who lead Churches in Bulawayo." (Link 3)
PRAYER PROCESSION
On Saturday 20 May 06, in defiance of Mugabe's police, Churches in Bulawayo led some 300 very courageous believers in a prayer procession. Everyone who participated did so with the knowledge that, in the words of Rev. Promise Mnceda, ". . .the likelihood of arrests and beatings is very high." (Reuters 19 May)
The prayer procession commenced at St Patrick's Church in Makokoba, Bulawayo's oldest township. From there the band of believers walked into the city singing "Nkosi Sikeleli Africa" (a famous African anthem) and hymns and choruses. Sokwanele reports that the singing attracted "the friendly attention of passers-by". Police and CIO officers lined the route, but the day passed without incident. When the procession reached its destination at the Brethren in Christ Church in the city, those taking part settled down outside to listen to speeches, songs and a poem written especially for the event. Messages of solidarity were read from supporters such as Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube (unable to attend) and British-based TEAR Fund. (Link 5)
Sokwanele concludes: "For many of the unfortunate victims of Operation Murambatsvina and hundreds of internally displaced persons the Church has become their only refuge and security in a turbulent time of deep crisis. They are grateful, and we as a nation should be profoundly grateful that the Church is there for them. That the Church is taking up its divine mandate, not only to care for the victims of the most gross human rights abuses but also to challenge and confront the arrogant tyranny responsible, is a cause for general rejoicing."
Rejoice – yes! But don't forget, these church leaders are facing perilous times. By the time the next church event rolls around the Bulawayo High Court will doubtless have a new judge (see Institute for War and Peace Reporting: "Mugabe Moulds Pliant Judiciary", link 6).
PERSECUTION BY PROXY
But the suffering of Zimbabwe has not produced a turning point for the churches so much as it has produced a watershed, and not all church leaders are falling down the same side of the mountain. Churches in Zimbabwe are splitting and polarising over the issue of how to respond to the Mugabe regime. Groups like the Churches of Bulawayo and the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance advocate solidarity for the purpose of upholding the Biblical mandate of Proverbs 31:9. Others however believe that preaching salvation without engagement in political issues must be the sole focus of the church.
Others still are discovering that allegiance to Mugabe can be very profitable, both in terms of promotion and material reward. Church leaders driven by greed, power-lust and pride rather than a heart for God's kingdom and glory – and such leaders are found in every nation – enjoy symbiotic relationships with the Mugabe regime. This enables Mugabe to interfere directly in church affairs and persecute "troublesome" clerics via proxies: bishops who have exchanged the Biblical mandate for a dictator's rewards.
Most notable is the case of the Anglican Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, who not only accepted the gift of St Marnock's Farm in Nyabiri (someone else's land) as a token of personal gratitude from Robert Mugabe, but he also used Zanu PF militia to evict the 40 families of farm workers living in the farm village. Further more it has been alleged that Kunonga used his influence with the ruling party to secure the post of bishop of Harare.
In August 2005 Kunonga appeared before the Provincial Court of the Anglican Church of Central Africa (an ecclesiastical court) to face 38 charges, including incitement to murder, intimidating critics, preaching racial hatred, and mishandling church funds. In December 2005 the court hearing collapsed without explanation and all charges were dropped. Many suspect Zanu PF interference.
Twelve priests have left the parish since Kunonga became bishop, ten of whom live in exile, claiming to have fled persecution. According to the Reverend Paul Gwese who fled Zimbabwe last September, ". . Reverend Nolbert Kunonga, . . .has terrorised Christians, and . . is turning his diocese into a religious branch of Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party." The exiled clerics recently observed a day of prayer and then unanimously agreed to approach Ugandan-born John Sentamu, Britain's first black archbishop, for help. (Link 7)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Zimbabwe: The NGO Bill and the Church. 20 January 2005
2) Zimbabwe: urban renewal or social engineering?
-- Operation Murambasvina, 4 July 2005
3) More steel in the men of God: Despite police threats the Church goes ahead with Commemoration. Saturday, 20 May 2006
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/415
4) Churches in court fight for 'prayer marches'
By Jane Fields, Harare, 19 May 2006
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=743752006
AND
Bulawayo high court upholds churches' legal right to march
By Tererai Karimakwend,. 20 May 2006 http://www.swradioafrica.com/news190506/churchmarch200506.htm
5) Bulawayo churches defy Zimbabwe protest ban. 22 May 2006
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060522zimb.shtml
AND
'We Remember': A Poem written In Honor of the Victims of Murambatsvina. By Dumisani O. Nkomo http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/?cat=37
6) Mugabe Moulds Pliant Judiciary.
By Hativagone Mushonga in Harare, 31 May 2006
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=321302&apc_state=henh
7) Shameful silence on Nolbert Kunonga, Anglican Bishop of Harare
5 January 2006 http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/334
AND
Zimbabwean clerics to seek help from Archbishop of York. 27 May 2006 http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=465&cat=2
Subj: Zimbabwe: Government interference escalates
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Over recent years, the Mugabe regime has introduced several measures to silence dissent. Quite apart from open police brutality, measures like the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill 2004 (NGO Bill, see link 1) and the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA, which provides the police with wide-ranging powers to control or ban public gatherings of three or more persons) have enabled the Mugabe regime to crush or silence dissent, close doors and obstruct channels of communication and aid. These laws have had a devastating effect upon the Church's ability to deliver humanitarian aid and engage in human rights, justice and freedom issues.
The POSA was recently used to ban a prayer procession organised by a united Christian forum called "Churches in Bulawayo", on the grounds that the police deemed it a security risk. In their statement to the press Churches in Bulawayo expressed serious concern that the police would deny them the right to hold a prayer procession. They regard this as a serious infringement of their freedom to worship.
UPHOLDING THE BIBLICAL MANDATE
On 23 May 2005 a wave of demolitions heralded the commencement of Robert Mugabe's "Operation Murambatsvina". It is estimated that some 300,000 homes were demolished by the "Mugabe Tsunami" – a man-made disaster that left some 1.5 million homeless and destitute. Several people including small children were crushed in the dwellings they called "home". Many other victims died from the consequences of poverty combined with homelessness, such as starving or freezing to death. Still others died prematurely from illnesses simply because the medical missions and NGOs that served the poor were likewise not spared (Link 2).
Operation Murambatsvina left Zimbabwe's churches facing what appeared to be an insurmountable volume of human suffering. However, one great blessing did arise from the ashes of Murambatsvina. Christians long divided by difference found unity in their conviction that they must uphold the Biblical mandate to defend the poor and needy, and that they can do it best if they do it together. Operation Murambatsvina gave life and purpose to a powerful movement of practical church unity. Churches in Bulawayo is one such church alliance. According to its 16 May 2006 press release, "Churches in Bulawayo sheltered over 2000 families at the height of Murambatsvina and have continued to provide food assistance as well as medical help and payment of school fees for displaced children."
Churches in Bulawayo organised a prayer procession for 20 May 2006 to commemorate Operation Murambatsvina and pray for its victims. "Sokwanele" Civil Action Support Group reports, "This event was but one of the several organized across the country by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, an informal ecumenical alliance seeking a united Christian response to the current crisis. The objective - shared by many civic groups including Crisis in Zimbabwe - was to focus attention on the plight of victims of ZANU PF's purge of the poor, one year on from the nationwide campaign of destruction which saw hundreds of thousands rendered homeless and destitute." (Link 3)
Church leaders in Bulawayo consulted the police about their intention to hold a prayer procession. They did this as a courtesy, not because they were obliged to, as events that have "bona fide religious purposes" are exempt from the POSA. The police initially granted the churches clearance. However, they soon made an about turn and withdrew permission saying the procession would be a security risk. The Churches in Bulawayo press release explains, "What has frightened the police is that thousands of Bulawayo residents are intending to take part in the procession."
After withdrawing permission for the prayer procession, police then moved to intimidate the pastors into submission. The Churches in Bulawayo press release explains: "Since yesterday [Monday 15 May] junior police officers have been calling individual clerics to interrogate and intimidate them to cancel the procession. But this morning, Tuesday, about 30 senior security officers in Bulawayo who are members of the Joint Operations Command – that is composed of police, army and Central Intelligence Organisation – summoned the leadership of Churches in Bulawayo to a two-hour interrogation session."
The Bulawayo pastors however, being consumed with conviction that they must obey the Biblical mandate – "Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:9) – were not easily intimidated. Instead, they challenged the police ban in the Bulawayo High Court. Lawyers for the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance argued that the police ban was an "infringement of our freedom to worship" and it demonstrated "the desperate position of this regime". Late in the evening of Friday 19 May, the High Court ruled in favour of the pastors, saying that the churches had the legal right to hold a prayer procession. (Link 4)
Sokwanele's report is entitled, "More steel in the men of God: Despite police threats the Church goes ahead with Commemoration," and it explains what happened next. "The organizers of most of the other commemorative events planned for this weekend [20-21 May] eventually succumbed to police pressure to call them off. Not so the pastors who lead Churches in Bulawayo." (Link 3)
PRAYER PROCESSION
On Saturday 20 May 06, in defiance of Mugabe's police, Churches in Bulawayo led some 300 very courageous believers in a prayer procession. Everyone who participated did so with the knowledge that, in the words of Rev. Promise Mnceda, ". . .the likelihood of arrests and beatings is very high." (Reuters 19 May)
The prayer procession commenced at St Patrick's Church in Makokoba, Bulawayo's oldest township. From there the band of believers walked into the city singing "Nkosi Sikeleli Africa" (a famous African anthem) and hymns and choruses. Sokwanele reports that the singing attracted "the friendly attention of passers-by". Police and CIO officers lined the route, but the day passed without incident. When the procession reached its destination at the Brethren in Christ Church in the city, those taking part settled down outside to listen to speeches, songs and a poem written especially for the event. Messages of solidarity were read from supporters such as Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube (unable to attend) and British-based TEAR Fund. (Link 5)
Sokwanele concludes: "For many of the unfortunate victims of Operation Murambatsvina and hundreds of internally displaced persons the Church has become their only refuge and security in a turbulent time of deep crisis. They are grateful, and we as a nation should be profoundly grateful that the Church is there for them. That the Church is taking up its divine mandate, not only to care for the victims of the most gross human rights abuses but also to challenge and confront the arrogant tyranny responsible, is a cause for general rejoicing."
Rejoice – yes! But don't forget, these church leaders are facing perilous times. By the time the next church event rolls around the Bulawayo High Court will doubtless have a new judge (see Institute for War and Peace Reporting: "Mugabe Moulds Pliant Judiciary", link 6).
PERSECUTION BY PROXY
But the suffering of Zimbabwe has not produced a turning point for the churches so much as it has produced a watershed, and not all church leaders are falling down the same side of the mountain. Churches in Zimbabwe are splitting and polarising over the issue of how to respond to the Mugabe regime. Groups like the Churches of Bulawayo and the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance advocate solidarity for the purpose of upholding the Biblical mandate of Proverbs 31:9. Others however believe that preaching salvation without engagement in political issues must be the sole focus of the church.
Others still are discovering that allegiance to Mugabe can be very profitable, both in terms of promotion and material reward. Church leaders driven by greed, power-lust and pride rather than a heart for God's kingdom and glory – and such leaders are found in every nation – enjoy symbiotic relationships with the Mugabe regime. This enables Mugabe to interfere directly in church affairs and persecute "troublesome" clerics via proxies: bishops who have exchanged the Biblical mandate for a dictator's rewards.
Most notable is the case of the Anglican Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, who not only accepted the gift of St Marnock's Farm in Nyabiri (someone else's land) as a token of personal gratitude from Robert Mugabe, but he also used Zanu PF militia to evict the 40 families of farm workers living in the farm village. Further more it has been alleged that Kunonga used his influence with the ruling party to secure the post of bishop of Harare.
In August 2005 Kunonga appeared before the Provincial Court of the Anglican Church of Central Africa (an ecclesiastical court) to face 38 charges, including incitement to murder, intimidating critics, preaching racial hatred, and mishandling church funds. In December 2005 the court hearing collapsed without explanation and all charges were dropped. Many suspect Zanu PF interference.
Twelve priests have left the parish since Kunonga became bishop, ten of whom live in exile, claiming to have fled persecution. According to the Reverend Paul Gwese who fled Zimbabwe last September, ". . Reverend Nolbert Kunonga, . . .has terrorised Christians, and . . is turning his diocese into a religious branch of Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party." The exiled clerics recently observed a day of prayer and then unanimously agreed to approach Ugandan-born John Sentamu, Britain's first black archbishop, for help. (Link 7)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Zimbabwe: The NGO Bill and the Church. 20 January 2005
2) Zimbabwe: urban renewal or social engineering?
-- Operation Murambasvina, 4 July 2005
3) More steel in the men of God: Despite police threats the Church goes ahead with Commemoration. Saturday, 20 May 2006
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/415
4) Churches in court fight for 'prayer marches'
By Jane Fields, Harare, 19 May 2006
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=743752006
AND
Bulawayo high court upholds churches' legal right to march
By Tererai Karimakwend,. 20 May 2006 http://www.swradioafrica.com/news190506/churchmarch200506.htm
5) Bulawayo churches defy Zimbabwe protest ban. 22 May 2006
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060522zimb.shtml
AND
'We Remember': A Poem written In Honor of the Victims of Murambatsvina. By Dumisani O. Nkomo http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/?cat=37
6) Mugabe Moulds Pliant Judiciary.
By Hativagone Mushonga in Harare, 31 May 2006
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=321302&apc_state=henh
7) Shameful silence on Nolbert Kunonga, Anglican Bishop of Harare
5 January 2006 http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/334
AND
Zimbabwean clerics to seek help from Archbishop of York. 27 May 2006 http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=465&cat=2
Monday, July 4, 2005
Zimbabwe: Operation Murambasvina
Date: Monday 4 July 2005
Subj: Zimbabwe: urban renewal or social engineering?
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
ZIMBABWE: URBAN RENEWAL OR SOCIAL ENGINEERING?
Is Operation Murambasvina an urban renewal project that has been disastrously mismanaged by an uncaring dictator, OR, an attempt at social engineering by a murderous regime that is prepared to use government-engineered famine to decimate its opposition? One thing is certain, the Church is being drawn into the front-line of this battle, and the cost could be high.
-----------------------------------------------
President Robert Mugabe has unleashed a tsunami-like wave of destruction upon Zimbabwe's urban poor, who also happen to be those who generally do not support Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF. The demolitions commenced on 23 May under the auspices of "Operation Murambasvina" (Operation Restore Order). It is estimated that some 300,000 homes and have been demolished, leaving some 1.5 million homeless. So far three children have died after being crushed in their homes. Others have died from exposure. More than 30,000 people have been arrested.
The world was quite oblivious to this tragedy until recently when images of bulldozers, security police, burning homes, and mothers and children sitting amidst rubble were secretly recorded and smuggled out of Zimbabwe and broadcast around the world. (This film and other images and articles can be found at: link 1)
The extent of the devastation is now well known. What is still unclear is what is REALLY happening in Zimbabwe, for other details indicate that this operation is indeed much more than a badly handled urban renewal project, and really is a Mugabe/Zanu-PF war against opponents. It appears that, in the light of the recent Velvet, Rose, Orange and Cedar "revolutions", Mugabe and his Zanu-PF are merely engaging in a little "revolution"-prevention, by shattering, impoverishing, dispersing and possibly even killing-off the opposition before it can get organised.
DIDYMUS MUTASA
Three years ago, when Didymus Mutasa was Zanu-PF's Secretary for Administration and in charge of food distribution, he commented regarding food distribution to the opposition, "We would be better off with only 6 million, with our own people who support the liberation struggle. We don’t want all these extra people."
In April 2005, after his election victory, Mugabe appointed Didymus Mutasa to be his Minister for State Security. This role puts Mutasa in charge of the Central Intelligence Organization (Mugabe’s secret police) and in charge of Operation Murambasvina. (Link 2)
On top of this, Mutasa's Ministry for State Security is now in charge of food distribution, although Mutasa claims that there are no food shortages in Zimbabwe. When a journalist recently challenged Mutasa with reports from Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube that people are starving to death in Bulawayo, Mutasa replied, "The cleric [Ncube] has a psychological disease and he needs to have his head examined because he is a liar." (Link 3)
RE-EDUCATION CAMPS AND SPIES
Christina Lamb reports for Times On Line that those left homeless by Operation Murambasvina are being "herded into re-education camps and told they can have a housing plot only if they swear allegiance to the party of President Robert Mugabe. Those who refuse are loaded into trucks and dumped in remote rural areas, far from their own homes, where food is scarce. Human rights workers say they are being left to die in what they believe is a deliberate strategy by the Mugabe regime to exterminate opponents." (Link 4)
Another Zimbabwean writer comments, "Indeed there are stories coming out of people being trucked out to re-education camps. We saw such camps during the early stages of the farm invasions where farm workers were often exposed to this political re-education. Now it seems the same technique is being used on the urban poor. People are forced to recant and become members of the ruling party before they receive any guarantee of a new home or of food relief. It is almost impossible to credit that this is happening in Zimbabwe in the year 2005 but all the evidence seems to be pointing that way: a Pol Pot type operation to empty the towns and force the poorest of the poor back into the countryside where they will starve to death without government assistance, which we all know they will not get unless they chant the party slogans and sing the party songs." (Link 2)
Harare correspondent Dumisani Muleya said in an opinion piece published in "Business Day" (Johannesburg, 22 June), "The scenario is almost like a theatrical revival of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution or Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rampage. The political philosophy and motives are similar." (Link 5)
Zim Online reports, "A Zim Online news crew touring Caledonia Farm, converted into a holding camp for thousands of families evicted from their shanty homes in and around Harare, met several agents of the state's dreaded spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). They said they were at the camp to 'monitor the mood' of the families and also to keep a record on who visits them especially non-governmental organizations or members of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, adding that this was being done only as a security precaution." (Link 6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHURCH DEEPLY IMPACTED AND THREATENED
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All church ministries that operate amongst the poor have been deeply impacted. Their clinics, shelters, orphanages and chapels have been bulldozed and torched along with everything else. (for two reports/testimonies: see link 7)
Churches are defying the orders of the regime and providing shelter, food and blankets to the homeless. The National Pastors Conference, representing over 100 Christian pastors, has demanded that President Mugabe "engage in a war against poverty and not against the poor". The immense scale of this humanitarian catastrophe is stretching the churches.
In 1945, Deitrich Bonhoeffer was executed in a German concentration camp for protesting the injustice and evil of Hitler's murderous Nazi regime. His commitment to discipleship compelled him to act, and he paid with his life. It might not be long before Christian leaders in Zimbabwe, in confronting the evil and inhumanity of the ruling powers, find themselves incarcerated or on a death-list on account of their principled Christian words or actions. It is indeed the Church's calling to be "yeast" in society. As Bonheoffer noted, "To flee into invisibility is to deny the call." As such, the Church's call puts it on a collision course with Mugabe and the Zanu-PF.
Bulawyo's courageous Archbishop Pius Ncube is a long-time open critic of the Mugabe regime. In an interview from the Vatican with Britain's Channel 4, he testified that Mugabe keeps him under tight surveillance. "Mugabe goes around intimidating people, anyone who dares talk is followed, next is torture, next is demonisation or humiliation. I'm standing for the truth and I trust in God. I'm under surveillance myself, my phones are tapped, I've been followed by car, I've even been followed by plane. An aeroplane was following me right from town to a mission station about 140km away, for two hours I was being followed through dust roads." (Link 8)
Archbishop Ncube also compares the present situation in Zimbabwe to that of Cambodia under Pol Pot. Archbishop Ncube expects that many of those exiled into rural areas without food will perish. Likewise, Methodist bishops in South Africa have warned that the situation is "a complete recipe for genocide".
Compelled as the Archbishop is by his commitment to discipleship, he says he has no option but to speak out. "I am aware of the dangerous situation of speaking up but that is the only thing I can do -- to speak up for the people. I'll go back there. I am so angry. I am ready to stand before a gun and be shot."
Godfrey Magwenzi, the charge d'affairs and deputy head of the Zimbabwean Consulate in London, told Channel 4 News that nobody in Zimbabwe took Archbishop Ncube seriously. 'The sewage and filth that spills out of that man's mouth should shame and embarrass all men of the cloth,' he said." (Link 9)
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Kubatana.net
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/urbdev/050601evictdex.asp?sector=URBDEV
2) Should Blair phone Mugabe?
The Zimbabwean, 25 June 2005
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/24-june-2005/should-blair-phonr.html
3) Zimbabwe officials break ranks over food crisis
By Staff Reporter, 26 April 2005
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/food15.12571.html
4) Mugabe policy branded 'new apartheid'
Christina Lamb, 12 June 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1650991,00.html
5) Echoes of Mao, Pol Pot in Mugabe's Clean-Up Blitz
Business Day (Johannesburg) OPINION
By Dumisani Muleya, 22 June 2005
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506220647.html
6) Government plants spies among evicted families
Zim Online (SA) 20 June 2005
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=12127
7) Where is the outside world?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170703.html
The Harrowing Period in Sakubva
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170702.html
8) Channel 4 Interview with Pius Ncube
Bishop: Mugabe another Pol Pot?
By Jon Snow, 25 June 2005
http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=283
9) Zimbabwean archbishop says he's ready to die in defense of people
By Simon Caldwell, CNS, 24 June 2005
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0503743.htm
Subj: Zimbabwe: urban renewal or social engineering?
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
ZIMBABWE: URBAN RENEWAL OR SOCIAL ENGINEERING?
Is Operation Murambasvina an urban renewal project that has been disastrously mismanaged by an uncaring dictator, OR, an attempt at social engineering by a murderous regime that is prepared to use government-engineered famine to decimate its opposition? One thing is certain, the Church is being drawn into the front-line of this battle, and the cost could be high.
-----------------------------------------------
President Robert Mugabe has unleashed a tsunami-like wave of destruction upon Zimbabwe's urban poor, who also happen to be those who generally do not support Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF. The demolitions commenced on 23 May under the auspices of "Operation Murambasvina" (Operation Restore Order). It is estimated that some 300,000 homes and have been demolished, leaving some 1.5 million homeless. So far three children have died after being crushed in their homes. Others have died from exposure. More than 30,000 people have been arrested.
The world was quite oblivious to this tragedy until recently when images of bulldozers, security police, burning homes, and mothers and children sitting amidst rubble were secretly recorded and smuggled out of Zimbabwe and broadcast around the world. (This film and other images and articles can be found at: link 1)
The extent of the devastation is now well known. What is still unclear is what is REALLY happening in Zimbabwe, for other details indicate that this operation is indeed much more than a badly handled urban renewal project, and really is a Mugabe/Zanu-PF war against opponents. It appears that, in the light of the recent Velvet, Rose, Orange and Cedar "revolutions", Mugabe and his Zanu-PF are merely engaging in a little "revolution"-prevention, by shattering, impoverishing, dispersing and possibly even killing-off the opposition before it can get organised.
DIDYMUS MUTASA
Three years ago, when Didymus Mutasa was Zanu-PF's Secretary for Administration and in charge of food distribution, he commented regarding food distribution to the opposition, "We would be better off with only 6 million, with our own people who support the liberation struggle. We don’t want all these extra people."
In April 2005, after his election victory, Mugabe appointed Didymus Mutasa to be his Minister for State Security. This role puts Mutasa in charge of the Central Intelligence Organization (Mugabe’s secret police) and in charge of Operation Murambasvina. (Link 2)
On top of this, Mutasa's Ministry for State Security is now in charge of food distribution, although Mutasa claims that there are no food shortages in Zimbabwe. When a journalist recently challenged Mutasa with reports from Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube that people are starving to death in Bulawayo, Mutasa replied, "The cleric [Ncube] has a psychological disease and he needs to have his head examined because he is a liar." (Link 3)
RE-EDUCATION CAMPS AND SPIES
Christina Lamb reports for Times On Line that those left homeless by Operation Murambasvina are being "herded into re-education camps and told they can have a housing plot only if they swear allegiance to the party of President Robert Mugabe. Those who refuse are loaded into trucks and dumped in remote rural areas, far from their own homes, where food is scarce. Human rights workers say they are being left to die in what they believe is a deliberate strategy by the Mugabe regime to exterminate opponents." (Link 4)
Another Zimbabwean writer comments, "Indeed there are stories coming out of people being trucked out to re-education camps. We saw such camps during the early stages of the farm invasions where farm workers were often exposed to this political re-education. Now it seems the same technique is being used on the urban poor. People are forced to recant and become members of the ruling party before they receive any guarantee of a new home or of food relief. It is almost impossible to credit that this is happening in Zimbabwe in the year 2005 but all the evidence seems to be pointing that way: a Pol Pot type operation to empty the towns and force the poorest of the poor back into the countryside where they will starve to death without government assistance, which we all know they will not get unless they chant the party slogans and sing the party songs." (Link 2)
Harare correspondent Dumisani Muleya said in an opinion piece published in "Business Day" (Johannesburg, 22 June), "The scenario is almost like a theatrical revival of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution or Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rampage. The political philosophy and motives are similar." (Link 5)
Zim Online reports, "A Zim Online news crew touring Caledonia Farm, converted into a holding camp for thousands of families evicted from their shanty homes in and around Harare, met several agents of the state's dreaded spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). They said they were at the camp to 'monitor the mood' of the families and also to keep a record on who visits them especially non-governmental organizations or members of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, adding that this was being done only as a security precaution." (Link 6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHURCH DEEPLY IMPACTED AND THREATENED
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All church ministries that operate amongst the poor have been deeply impacted. Their clinics, shelters, orphanages and chapels have been bulldozed and torched along with everything else. (for two reports/testimonies: see link 7)
Churches are defying the orders of the regime and providing shelter, food and blankets to the homeless. The National Pastors Conference, representing over 100 Christian pastors, has demanded that President Mugabe "engage in a war against poverty and not against the poor". The immense scale of this humanitarian catastrophe is stretching the churches.
In 1945, Deitrich Bonhoeffer was executed in a German concentration camp for protesting the injustice and evil of Hitler's murderous Nazi regime. His commitment to discipleship compelled him to act, and he paid with his life. It might not be long before Christian leaders in Zimbabwe, in confronting the evil and inhumanity of the ruling powers, find themselves incarcerated or on a death-list on account of their principled Christian words or actions. It is indeed the Church's calling to be "yeast" in society. As Bonheoffer noted, "To flee into invisibility is to deny the call." As such, the Church's call puts it on a collision course with Mugabe and the Zanu-PF.
Bulawyo's courageous Archbishop Pius Ncube is a long-time open critic of the Mugabe regime. In an interview from the Vatican with Britain's Channel 4, he testified that Mugabe keeps him under tight surveillance. "Mugabe goes around intimidating people, anyone who dares talk is followed, next is torture, next is demonisation or humiliation. I'm standing for the truth and I trust in God. I'm under surveillance myself, my phones are tapped, I've been followed by car, I've even been followed by plane. An aeroplane was following me right from town to a mission station about 140km away, for two hours I was being followed through dust roads." (Link 8)
Archbishop Ncube also compares the present situation in Zimbabwe to that of Cambodia under Pol Pot. Archbishop Ncube expects that many of those exiled into rural areas without food will perish. Likewise, Methodist bishops in South Africa have warned that the situation is "a complete recipe for genocide".
Compelled as the Archbishop is by his commitment to discipleship, he says he has no option but to speak out. "I am aware of the dangerous situation of speaking up but that is the only thing I can do -- to speak up for the people. I'll go back there. I am so angry. I am ready to stand before a gun and be shot."
Godfrey Magwenzi, the charge d'affairs and deputy head of the Zimbabwean Consulate in London, told Channel 4 News that nobody in Zimbabwe took Archbishop Ncube seriously. 'The sewage and filth that spills out of that man's mouth should shame and embarrass all men of the cloth,' he said." (Link 9)
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Kubatana.net
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/urbdev/050601evictdex.asp?sector=URBDEV
2) Should Blair phone Mugabe?
The Zimbabwean, 25 June 2005
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/24-june-2005/should-blair-phonr.html
3) Zimbabwe officials break ranks over food crisis
By Staff Reporter, 26 April 2005
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/food15.12571.html
4) Mugabe policy branded 'new apartheid'
Christina Lamb, 12 June 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1650991,00.html
5) Echoes of Mao, Pol Pot in Mugabe's Clean-Up Blitz
Business Day (Johannesburg) OPINION
By Dumisani Muleya, 22 June 2005
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506220647.html
6) Government plants spies among evicted families
Zim Online (SA) 20 June 2005
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=12127
7) Where is the outside world?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170703.html
The Harrowing Period in Sakubva
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170702.html
8) Channel 4 Interview with Pius Ncube
Bishop: Mugabe another Pol Pot?
By Jon Snow, 25 June 2005
http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=283
9) Zimbabwean archbishop says he's ready to die in defense of people
By Simon Caldwell, CNS, 24 June 2005
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0503743.htm
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Zimbabwe: The NGO Bill and the Church
Date: Thursday 20 January 2005
Subj: Zimbabwe: The NGO Bill and the Church
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
As Zimbabwe heads towards elections, the Zanu-PF ruling party continues to silence dissent through repressive legislation.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) requires that all media organisations register with the government-appointed Media and Information Commission and is a tool that enables the Mugabe regime to reduce freedom of speech and control the Press. Several independent newspapers have already been suspended using the AIPPA. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA), another piece of repressive legislation, is used to prevent meetings and activities of any organisation which is critical of Zanu PF.
Another restrictive Bill, Zimbabwe's new Non-Governmental Organisations Bill 2004, proceeded through parliament in early December, passing with 48 votes for and 28 against, and now awaits President Mugabe's signature to be enacted as law. The Daily News (Harare) warns: "Just like AIPPA and POSA, if passed into law in its present form, the NGO Bill will be used to shut down the operations of any NGO which the ruling party believes to be a challenge to its hold on power." (27 Oct 2004)
THE NGO BILL AND THE CHURCH
Jen Redshaw, reporting for South China Morning Post in Harare, Zimbabwe, writes, "Churchgoers fear the law signals the start of a new drive by Mr Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian government to extend its control over the church. David Coltart, an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), calls it 'one of the worst attacks on the independence of the church'.
"Speaking on Friday after a meeting of church leaders to discuss the act, the Anglican Bishop of Manicaland told the South China Morning Post he was worried. 'We are saying no [to the bill],' Father Sebastian Bakare said in a telephone interview. 'It is putting the church in a situation where it will be incapacitated. We can't be confined to the pulpit only.'
"One church official recently told a small meeting in Harare: 'I think it's the beginning of the persecution of the church. We're heading for tough times'." (SCMP 20 Dec 2004)
"DRACONIAN LAW"
The International Bar Association (IBA) has written an analysis of the Zimbabwean NGO Bill 2004. The IBA states in its introduction, "At the outset, it is critical to note that while the preamble to the Bill states that it is 'for the registration of non-governmental organisations, to provide for an enabling environment for the operations, monitoring and regulation of all non-governmental organisations …', an analysis of the Bill suggests that it is a far-reaching and draconian law clearly designed to exert full and complete control over non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other human rights and development organisations in Zimbabwe."
HOW DOES THE NGO BILL THREATEN THE CHURCH?
The NGO Bill takes the most repressive features of its predecessor, the Private Voluntary Organisations Act (PVO) of 1966, and expands it so that virtually all foreign and local NGOs will be within reach of the Bill for the purpose of investigation and discipline by a Council that will be stacked with government ministers.
One of the most significant differences between the PVO and NGO Bills is the NGO Bill's definition of an NGO. Excerpt from Part One the Bill:
---------------------------------
"non-governmental organisation" means any foreign or local body or association of persons, corporate or unincorporate, or any institution, the objects of which include or are one or more of the following—
(a) the provision of all or any of the material, mental, physical or social needs of persons or families;
(b) the rendering of charity to persons or families in distress;
(c) the prevention of social distress or destitution of persons or families;
(d) the provision of assistance in, or promotion of, activities aimed at uplifting the standard of living of persons or families;
(e) the provision of funds for legal aid;
(f) the prevention of cruelty to, or the promotion of the welfare of, animals;
(g) the promotion and protection of human rights and good governance;
(h) the promotion and protection of environmental rights and interests and sustainable development;
(i) such other objects as may be prescribed;
(j) the collection of contributions for any of the foregoing;
------------------------------
Clearly, numerous Christian ministries, including church and mission based ministries, will be classified as NGOs on account of their provision of humanitarian aid and charity, defence of human rights, prevention of family distress, or even just their collection of contributions for such ministries.
Even if the church/mission/ministry doesn't offer any of the above listed services they may still be classed as an NGO on account of, "(i) such other objects as may be prescribed".
Will a pastor threaten the status of his church by exegeting a text such as Isaiah 58 (for example), which could (theoretically) be classed as "promotion of human rights"? If such an exegesis is followed by taking a collection for a ministry that provides food for the hungry and clothes for the naked (v7), will the church be required to seek NGO registration in order to remain open? Handling contributions collected contrary to the Act is a criminal offence!
This seems far fetched, but the NGO Bill would enable such a scenario. If a particular Christian pastor is publicly critical of the government, then surely that pastor is vulnerable to such repressive measures.
NGO COUNCIL
A Non-governmental Organisations Council will be established. It will consist of five NGO representatives and nine (instant majority) government ministers. All are to be appointed by the Minister. ("'Minister' means the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act".)
The NGO Council is responsible for considering applications for NGO registration (which is compulsory); for investigating NGO activities and administering disciplinary action is necessary; for formulating rules for registration, de-registration, and codes of conduct for NGOs. The NGO Council has extraordinarily wide powers for investigation which will render all NGOs, even those dealing with sensitive information, open to investigation by government officials.
The NGO Council may also investigate "maladministration", which is broadly defined as, "any contravention of any provision of a code of conduct that may be proscribed" (proscribed that is, by the NGO Council that is stacked with government ministers). NGO directors or committees may be suspended for "maladministration", or if the NGO Council deems that suspension is "in the public interest".
The NGO Council may be funded by moneys appropriated by the government through an Act of parliament, by foreign governments, through moneys accrued in the course of operation, and through fees and charges. (So the NGO Council could be partly funded by Libya (for example), while Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (for example) will not be permitted to receive any foreign funds! Section 17 of the NGO Bill states: "No local non-governmental organisation shall receive any foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving or including issues of governance.") A Registrar for NGOs will be appointed and a Registry of NGOs will be kept.
COMPULSORY REGISTRATION
Section 9 of the NGO Bill states that anyone commencing or continuing to operate an NGO without registration, or seeking financial assistance for an unregistered NGO, will be guilty of a criminal offence and may face a fine, a prison term (maximum 6 months) or both.
Section 9 point 4 of the NGO Bill states: "No foreign non-governmental organisation shall be registered if its sole or principal objects involve or include issues of governance." ("'foreign non-governmental organisation' means any association of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated, that does not consist exclusively of permanent residents or citizens of Zimbabwe who are domiciled in Zimbabwe". And, "'issues of governance' includes the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues".)
Regarding registration of remaining NGOs, NGO directors will have to lodge an application for registration with the Registrar. The NGO then has 30 days to place a notice in a local newspaper advising its details and its intent to receive registration. Anyone then has 60 days to lodge an objection to the Registrar as to why the NGO should not be registered. The Registrar then submits all the information to the NGO Council, which will either grant or deny registration. The NGO Council also has the power to cancel certificates of registration if they consider that circumstances have changed.
ANALYSIS
The International Bar Association (IBA) comments that the Zimbabwean NGO Bill gives the Mugabe regime, through the NGO Council "virtually open-ended powers to control the fate and activities of NGOs".
Of great concern to the IBA is the prohibition on foreign funds. "This raises serious concerns that organisations working on some of the most critical support projects in Zimbabwe – e.g. food distribution, AIDS relief, and political violence reporting – which are at present almost entirely foreign funded, may be closed. The inevitable consequence will be that less information on domestic human rights and governance conditions or activities will be reported on and the government will, as a result, be less accountable to its people.
"The irresistible inferences to be drawn from this analysis are that the Bill has been drafted as a targeted attack on NGOs pursuing objectives adverse to existing governmental policy and on foreign NGO activity in Zimbabwe. The objective is thus to silence dissent in a key component of civil society by excessive regulation and wide-ranging powers to discipline and close down NGO activity."
The IBA concludes that the NGO Bill "is nothing more than a further attempt by the Zimbabwean Government to exert a stranglehold on those perceived to be in opposition to government and government policies.
"The Bill extends the scope of the Government’s assault on sources of opposition and information even further, namely to human rights groups and other organs of civil society. In the ultimate analysis, not only is the Bill in flagrant violation of international and regional human rights standards and norms, it also represents a decisive rejection of the terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which provide for the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. That attitude can only be described as contemptuous of the rule of law and of regional and international standards of governance and of the protection of human rights. (International Bar Association 24 August 2004)"
Subj: Zimbabwe: The NGO Bill and the Church
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
As Zimbabwe heads towards elections, the Zanu-PF ruling party continues to silence dissent through repressive legislation.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) requires that all media organisations register with the government-appointed Media and Information Commission and is a tool that enables the Mugabe regime to reduce freedom of speech and control the Press. Several independent newspapers have already been suspended using the AIPPA. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA), another piece of repressive legislation, is used to prevent meetings and activities of any organisation which is critical of Zanu PF.
Another restrictive Bill, Zimbabwe's new Non-Governmental Organisations Bill 2004, proceeded through parliament in early December, passing with 48 votes for and 28 against, and now awaits President Mugabe's signature to be enacted as law. The Daily News (Harare) warns: "Just like AIPPA and POSA, if passed into law in its present form, the NGO Bill will be used to shut down the operations of any NGO which the ruling party believes to be a challenge to its hold on power." (27 Oct 2004)
THE NGO BILL AND THE CHURCH
Jen Redshaw, reporting for South China Morning Post in Harare, Zimbabwe, writes, "Churchgoers fear the law signals the start of a new drive by Mr Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian government to extend its control over the church. David Coltart, an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), calls it 'one of the worst attacks on the independence of the church'.
"Speaking on Friday after a meeting of church leaders to discuss the act, the Anglican Bishop of Manicaland told the South China Morning Post he was worried. 'We are saying no [to the bill],' Father Sebastian Bakare said in a telephone interview. 'It is putting the church in a situation where it will be incapacitated. We can't be confined to the pulpit only.'
"One church official recently told a small meeting in Harare: 'I think it's the beginning of the persecution of the church. We're heading for tough times'." (SCMP 20 Dec 2004)
"DRACONIAN LAW"
The International Bar Association (IBA) has written an analysis of the Zimbabwean NGO Bill 2004. The IBA states in its introduction, "At the outset, it is critical to note that while the preamble to the Bill states that it is 'for the registration of non-governmental organisations, to provide for an enabling environment for the operations, monitoring and regulation of all non-governmental organisations …', an analysis of the Bill suggests that it is a far-reaching and draconian law clearly designed to exert full and complete control over non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other human rights and development organisations in Zimbabwe."
HOW DOES THE NGO BILL THREATEN THE CHURCH?
The NGO Bill takes the most repressive features of its predecessor, the Private Voluntary Organisations Act (PVO) of 1966, and expands it so that virtually all foreign and local NGOs will be within reach of the Bill for the purpose of investigation and discipline by a Council that will be stacked with government ministers.
One of the most significant differences between the PVO and NGO Bills is the NGO Bill's definition of an NGO. Excerpt from Part One the Bill:
---------------------------------
"non-governmental organisation" means any foreign or local body or association of persons, corporate or unincorporate, or any institution, the objects of which include or are one or more of the following—
(a) the provision of all or any of the material, mental, physical or social needs of persons or families;
(b) the rendering of charity to persons or families in distress;
(c) the prevention of social distress or destitution of persons or families;
(d) the provision of assistance in, or promotion of, activities aimed at uplifting the standard of living of persons or families;
(e) the provision of funds for legal aid;
(f) the prevention of cruelty to, or the promotion of the welfare of, animals;
(g) the promotion and protection of human rights and good governance;
(h) the promotion and protection of environmental rights and interests and sustainable development;
(i) such other objects as may be prescribed;
(j) the collection of contributions for any of the foregoing;
------------------------------
Clearly, numerous Christian ministries, including church and mission based ministries, will be classified as NGOs on account of their provision of humanitarian aid and charity, defence of human rights, prevention of family distress, or even just their collection of contributions for such ministries.
Even if the church/mission/ministry doesn't offer any of the above listed services they may still be classed as an NGO on account of, "(i) such other objects as may be prescribed".
Will a pastor threaten the status of his church by exegeting a text such as Isaiah 58 (for example), which could (theoretically) be classed as "promotion of human rights"? If such an exegesis is followed by taking a collection for a ministry that provides food for the hungry and clothes for the naked (v7), will the church be required to seek NGO registration in order to remain open? Handling contributions collected contrary to the Act is a criminal offence!
This seems far fetched, but the NGO Bill would enable such a scenario. If a particular Christian pastor is publicly critical of the government, then surely that pastor is vulnerable to such repressive measures.
NGO COUNCIL
A Non-governmental Organisations Council will be established. It will consist of five NGO representatives and nine (instant majority) government ministers. All are to be appointed by the Minister. ("'Minister' means the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act".)
The NGO Council is responsible for considering applications for NGO registration (which is compulsory); for investigating NGO activities and administering disciplinary action is necessary; for formulating rules for registration, de-registration, and codes of conduct for NGOs. The NGO Council has extraordinarily wide powers for investigation which will render all NGOs, even those dealing with sensitive information, open to investigation by government officials.
The NGO Council may also investigate "maladministration", which is broadly defined as, "any contravention of any provision of a code of conduct that may be proscribed" (proscribed that is, by the NGO Council that is stacked with government ministers). NGO directors or committees may be suspended for "maladministration", or if the NGO Council deems that suspension is "in the public interest".
The NGO Council may be funded by moneys appropriated by the government through an Act of parliament, by foreign governments, through moneys accrued in the course of operation, and through fees and charges. (So the NGO Council could be partly funded by Libya (for example), while Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (for example) will not be permitted to receive any foreign funds! Section 17 of the NGO Bill states: "No local non-governmental organisation shall receive any foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving or including issues of governance.") A Registrar for NGOs will be appointed and a Registry of NGOs will be kept.
COMPULSORY REGISTRATION
Section 9 of the NGO Bill states that anyone commencing or continuing to operate an NGO without registration, or seeking financial assistance for an unregistered NGO, will be guilty of a criminal offence and may face a fine, a prison term (maximum 6 months) or both.
Section 9 point 4 of the NGO Bill states: "No foreign non-governmental organisation shall be registered if its sole or principal objects involve or include issues of governance." ("'foreign non-governmental organisation' means any association of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated, that does not consist exclusively of permanent residents or citizens of Zimbabwe who are domiciled in Zimbabwe". And, "'issues of governance' includes the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues".)
Regarding registration of remaining NGOs, NGO directors will have to lodge an application for registration with the Registrar. The NGO then has 30 days to place a notice in a local newspaper advising its details and its intent to receive registration. Anyone then has 60 days to lodge an objection to the Registrar as to why the NGO should not be registered. The Registrar then submits all the information to the NGO Council, which will either grant or deny registration. The NGO Council also has the power to cancel certificates of registration if they consider that circumstances have changed.
ANALYSIS
The International Bar Association (IBA) comments that the Zimbabwean NGO Bill gives the Mugabe regime, through the NGO Council "virtually open-ended powers to control the fate and activities of NGOs".
Of great concern to the IBA is the prohibition on foreign funds. "This raises serious concerns that organisations working on some of the most critical support projects in Zimbabwe – e.g. food distribution, AIDS relief, and political violence reporting – which are at present almost entirely foreign funded, may be closed. The inevitable consequence will be that less information on domestic human rights and governance conditions or activities will be reported on and the government will, as a result, be less accountable to its people.
"The irresistible inferences to be drawn from this analysis are that the Bill has been drafted as a targeted attack on NGOs pursuing objectives adverse to existing governmental policy and on foreign NGO activity in Zimbabwe. The objective is thus to silence dissent in a key component of civil society by excessive regulation and wide-ranging powers to discipline and close down NGO activity."
The IBA concludes that the NGO Bill "is nothing more than a further attempt by the Zimbabwean Government to exert a stranglehold on those perceived to be in opposition to government and government policies.
"The Bill extends the scope of the Government’s assault on sources of opposition and information even further, namely to human rights groups and other organs of civil society. In the ultimate analysis, not only is the Bill in flagrant violation of international and regional human rights standards and norms, it also represents a decisive rejection of the terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which provide for the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. That attitude can only be described as contemptuous of the rule of law and of regional and international standards of governance and of the protection of human rights. (International Bar Association 24 August 2004)"