Church leaders call for Mugabe to be ousted

By Lance Guma
16 April 2007

Several church leaders on Saturday called for the removal of Robert Mugabe from power and urged Zimbabweans to unite and fight for their rights. The prayer meeting at St Patrick’s Hall in Bulawayo’s Makokoba suburb was organised by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of churches, civic groups, students and political parties. Reverend Morris Nduri the Secretary General of the Malawi Presbyterian Church called for Mugabe’s removal, saying the country used to be the breadbasket of Africa but because of Mugabe’s, ‘vile leadership it is now an empty basket case.’ He went on to say people should stand up against ‘this dictator and throw away their fear,’ adding even death was inevitable and people should not fear it.
Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube also called for Mugabe’s removal accusing him of lacking sympathy for suffering Zimbabweans. ‘This leadership has lost its focus and every aspect of the economy has gone down due to a lack of care by the leadership,’ Ncube said. ‘The bread and butter issues that they were elected for have also deteriorated. The health system and education sector have all also declined due to mismanagement of the country by the ruling elite. As churches, we should all unite and remove these unjust leaders from further ruining our country.’

Although police allowed the meeting to go ahead on the condition politicians would not speak, this apparently only applied to Morgan Tsvangirai. Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme reports that there was a heavy police presence before the meeting started at 9am and as soon as it became apparent Tsvangirai was not coming police details could be seen trooping back to Mzilikazi police station in the city.

Arthur Mutambara representing his MDC party attended the meeting and called on Zimbabweans to unite in order to force a change of government. Tsvangirai MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe took a swipe at Mugabe for killing the country’s economy through corruption and mismanagement. ZAPU leader Paul Siwela, Zimbabwe National Students Union president Promise Mkwananzi, George Mkwananzi from the NCA, Reverend Nicholas Mkaronda (Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition- SA chapter) all spoke at the prayer meeting.

On Friday senior Catholic clerics from South Africa who had come to attend the service also condemned SADC leaders for failing to speak out on Mugabe’s crackdown against the opposition. Archbishop Buti Tlagale from Johannesburg and Bishop Kevin Dowling from Rustenburg said regional leaders were in fact giving tacit approval to Mugabe’s tactics by not speaking out.