By Violet Gonda
11 July 2005

The president of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) Russell Botman, and the Anglican Archbishop for Cape Town Njongonkulu Ndungane, are reported to be in Zimbabwe as part of a high level church delegation to assess the impact of Operation Murambatsvina. The church leaders and representatives of non-governmental and civic organizations are on a two-day visit.

A spokesman for the group, Bishop Abrahams of the Methodist church, said the churchmen would visit the Caledonia transit camp where thousands of people whose homes were demolished are staying. The group also plans to meet with trade unions, civil society organizations and political leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties.

The government says the exercise aims to clean up urban areas and deal with criminal activities, but the churchmen are not convinced. Bishop Abrahams compared the clean up to similar acts committed by the apartheid government of South Africa. He said, "There has been a kind of parallel with what we have seen happening in South Africa with forced removals, the apartheid forced removals, that we have seen where people are left destitute, without shelter and livelihoods." He was not sure whether they would be meeting Robert Mugabe but said they would be taking their findings to Thabo Mbeki and making certain recommendations to the South African government.

Other members of the group include Cardinal Wilfred Napier of the Catholic Church, Dutch Reformed church Moderator Coenie Burger and the president of the International Federation of Christian Churches, Ray McCauley.

The group will be hosted by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and will be consulting with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference and the Evangelical Alliance.