Church groups meet to find middle ground on Mugabe & way forward

By Tererai Karimakwenda
06 July 2006

Bishop Trevor Manhanga of The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and his delegation from the Inter Christian Denomination were in Bulawayo Thursday to meet with church leaders from the Christian Alliance who have criticised their cooperation with Robert Mugabe. Manhanga’s group last month agreed to postpone the traditional Day of Prayer after meeting Mugabe at state house and allowed him to make a political speech at the event in Harare. At the meeting Thursday the Bulawayo based Alliance clerics expressed their concerns about the church being used by the government to push its agenda and to give a face of respectability to its human rights abuses. The two groups talked for hours trying to find common ground. And they seem to have decided to work together.

Pastor Albert Chatindo of The Christian Alliance told us Friday that they had finally agreed to work with Bishop Manhanga as far as developing a document with recommendations for the way forward to be presented to Robert Mugabe. Chatindo said the two groups still had their differences but they are Christian brothers and not rivals. He explained that the Alliance will take a look at the draft first, contribute to it and then re-evaluate their position at the time.

At the meeting Thursday Manhanga revealed details of the meeting with Mugabe in order to show they were not being manipulated. He said they told Mugabe he was surrounded by useless people and raised concerns about Operation Murambatsvina. Manhanga then said Mugabe admitted there were some useless people in his cabinet. Alliance church leaders have told us in the past few weeks that they do not believe Mugabe’s rhetoric because the government has continued to evict more families and arrests of protestors have continued since the meeting at state house. The convener of The Alliance, Bishop Kadenge, is still in hiding after receiving threats from state agents 2 weeks ago. Alliance leaders had refused to cooperate with Mugabe because of all these human rights violations. Chatindo said their position has not changed, but they will at least help develop recommendations for the way forward.