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Statement on the Save Zimbabwe Campaign
Christian Alliance
March 20, 2007

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In the past two weeks, the nation has been under serious tension due to the brutal violent response by the state machinery to stop peaceful Zimbabwean citizens from attending a prayer meeting organized under the auspices of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. That extreme and disproportionate response resulted in the death of two innocent citizens, Gift Tandare and Itai Manyeruke both of Highfields. We have just learnt about the death of Itai Manyeruke on Wednesday. We are sending our condolences to their families. It also resulted in the arrest and brutal assault on leaders of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign who were on their way to attend the prayer meeting.

We wish to put it on record that the meeting organized on March 11 2007 at Zimbabwe Grounds was intended to be a prayer meeting coordinated by the Christian Alliance as chair of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. The Christian Alliance has taken lead to ensure that the Save Zimbabwe Campaign becomes a platform where prayer is encouraged. As Christians it is our obligation to minister to people in ways that reduce anger and frustration and building hope. Prayer is one of the tools that we believe will bring healing and transformation in a peaceful manner in our nation.

As the Christian Alliance, we are non-partisan. And we therefore value and respect the Save Zimbabwe Campaign as a non-partisan platform seeking to bring together various religious and civic groupings and political formations within our country, so that we can all engage each other in finding a lasting solution to our ongoing national crisis.

We call upon the ministers of Home Affairs and of Defense to ensure that the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe National Army are there to protect all Zimbabwean citizens and to remain apolitical. The assault and torture of arrested citizens by the state agents without due process of the courts is a serious human rights offence by the state.

A major concern for us is the rapid shrinking of religious space where the state has taken upon itself to re-define who should be allowed to hold prayer meetings and who can attend it. We call upon the government to stop interfering with freedom of worship and association within the church in Zimbabwe. It is sad to note that on March 11, many church services in Highfield, Glen Norah and Glen View could not take place due to the excessive use of force by the police and the CIO who went about interfering and infringing on people's God-given rights of movement, assembly and association. This development has resulted in the State creating a very hostile and threatening situation of anguish and hopelessness.

It is the duty of the state to ensure that people live in an environment where socio- economic and personal security is guaranteed for all citizens.

We have been encouraged by the response of church bodies in the SADC region like the South African Council of Churches, who have called upon SADC to ensure that freedom of association and worship in Zimbabwe is respected. We also applaud the response of the African Union that has expressed concern over the deteriorating conditions in our country.

We the people of Zimbabwe want peace, prosperity, human dignity which are our God given rights. We are also looking forward in the near future to reconcile with all our relatives and friends who are scattered in the diaspora due to harsh economic and political conditions prevailing in Zimbabwe.

As we enter into the period of Easter we call upon all Zimbabweans to get into prayer for the nation, only God can save Zimbabwe. As the Christian Alliance we sense a renewed urgency for the speedy and peaceful resolution of our national crisis to avert looming disaster. We believe the time has come to engage in meaningful and productive dialogue with all stakeholders for the sake of this nation. May God save us from these trials and tribulations that we are facing for this short time.

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