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Archbishop: Mugabe using Zimbabwe's clergy to spy and divide church
Violet Gonda, SW Radio Africa
June 05, 2006

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news060606/ncube060606.htm

A senior clergyman has revealed how Mugabe is using divide and rule tactics to silence opposition from the clergy. Some clerics are allegedly attending church meetings to spy for the government.

These allegations were made by Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, who said the church in Zimbabwe has generally lost credibility as a result of the government meddling. Speaking on SW Radio Africa’s Hot Seat programme Archbishop Ncube said, "The Church has let down the people very, very greatly by siding with Mugabe – hook, line and sinker."

The outspoken Roman Catholic cleric alleged that the Mugabe regime has also used bribes to get support from some senior church leaders. "I can confirm that a lot of money is being given to clerics and farms have been given to senior clerics, to get them to the government side in such a way that when we meet as clergy we can no longer be united."

Although he didn’t want to name specific people who have received bribes, saying it would become nasty and very personal, he did say church leaders like Anglican Bishop Norbert Kunonga and a Pastor Msindo are well known for having received a farm. The corruption also extends to clergymen in the Catholic Church. The Archbishop said he was one of those people offered a farm but refused. He said, "I am a respectable Catholic, so I refused. I knew they wanted to silence me because I am critical of the land reform programme which is not transparent."

Ncube said Mugabe is aware of the power of the churches in Zimbabwe and has divided and bribed some of the leaders to the extent that "we have become unfaithful to our calling… we as churchmen are supposed to stand with the poor to defend the poor and we have forgotten our mission."

He said he’d rather be poor than accept the government’s bribes because there is a lot of suffering in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile Zimbabwean writer Cathy Buckle wrote in her weekly column "Letter from Zimbabwe" that she was saddened this past week to watch a delegation of church leaders being filmed by state television at a meeting with Robert Mugabe, laughing almost uncontrollably as he hurled abuse at Archbishop Ncube.

Buckle wrote, "For a few moments the address actually had to stop because the clerics were giggling and chortling so much. The cause for their hilarity was President Mugabe's reference to Archbishop Pius Ncube's public statement that he was praying for the President's death."

She went on to say, "I sat in shock, overwhelmed with despair. This public display of hilarity represented the moral leadership of our country. These are the men who are supposed to be taking the pain and suffering of ordinary people to the President and appealing for an end to the horrific deprivations. Their laughter went beyond the bounds of diplomacy and even if it was just for show or for the camera, it sent a chill through the air."

The clerics were part of a group of church leaders from the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) who met Mugabe at State House where they threw their support behind the government.

The Standard newspaper reported that the Secretary-General of the ZCC Densen Mafinyane said during the meeting with Mugabe: "We love Zimbabwe and support your (government) efforts." And ZCC President Bishop Peter Nemapare also sang praises of the government. "We know we have a government that we must support, interact with and draw attention (to concerns)," he said.

Responding to this Ncube said: "The leader of the ZCC is a staunch supporter of Mugabe from time immemorial. I mean, he himself is a very corrupt person who has misused church property and so on… Bishop Nemapare - clearly this man has always been backing Mugabe… defending Mugabe and he is the one who was leading this delegation."

He added, "It ‘s a very, very painful situation… and Mugabe is trying to clean himself up and to try and laugh with those clerics, those hypocritical clerics that are backing him. It’s no laughing matter what is going on in Zimbabwe. It’s a life and death situation."

The cleric said the church should have done something as a united front way back in 2000, "But as churches we kept dilly dallying and playing the card of sovereignty of Zimbabwe – playing the card of patriotism being hoodwinked in all sorts of ways and now we find ourselves in a situation where churches have lost their credibility."

We were not able to get a comment from the ‘compromised’ church leaders.

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