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Mugabe critics boosted by new archbishop
By James Roberts, Newzimbabwe.com
June 21, 2004

IN a signal that he wants the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe to take a firmer line with the country’s dictator, Robert Mugabe, the Pope has appointed a member of the Ndebele people as Archbishop of Harare.

The appointment means that the country’s two leading Catholic bishops are linked to the Matabeleland provinces which Mugabe has done most to alienate. Catholics in Zimbabwe are hoping that the new Archbishop of Harare, Robert Ndlovu, will be able to take a more critical stance than his predecessor, Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa, who died from cancer in April 2003 at the age of 71. But with the rule of law shredded and the economy in ruins, Archbishop Ndlovu will need to tread carefully in order not to provoke further violence and intimidation. The appointment means that the Church in Zimbabwe is likely to avoid the sort of embarrassing approval which Archbishop Chakaipa, who was linked to Mugabe by ethnic ties, lavished on the President. Chakaipa’s reluctance to speak out against Mugabe meant that the dictator was able to play him off against Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, who has been a fearless critic of the regime.

At Chakaipa’s Requiem Mass held at the Harare Sports Centre, Mugabe said that Chakaipa had "unambiguously" supported the programme of land seizures from white farmers. Mugabe went on to attack Archbishop Ncube "for siding with the enemy … with the farmers and the British". The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference later clarified that Chakaipa had wanted ordinary people to have access to more land but did not approve of the violence. Archbishop Ncube this week welcomed the appointment of Ndlovu, who is currently Bishop of Hwange and a fellow member of the Ndebele people who have suffered the brunt of Mugabe’s repression. "Personally, I think for the good of the Church he is the ideal man," the Archbishop, speaking from his home in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, told The Tablet. "He is deeply spiritual, a very integrated personality, very prudent, very mature, very transparent," Archbishop Ncube said. "He is sensitive to the feelings of others, and a very efficient administrator." The fact that Ndlovu was so evidently a man "out to serve" would help defuse any resistance to his appointment on the part of those unhappy that a bishop from Matabeleland is filling such a senior post in the Church. "He will uplift the people," Ncube said.

Almost alone among the bishops, Ncube has been a fearless critic of Robert Mugabe, accusing him of remaining a prisoner of his own "egocentricity and megalomania". But Archbishop Ncube said this was not the kind of talk people could expect from Ndlovu. "I am an emotional person. He is more seasoned. He will not make headlines." As Bishop of Hwange, Ndlovu has been a determined defender of his people while being careful to avoid direct confrontation with the Government. After a feeding programme for 35,000 people run by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace came under attack by a gang of war veterans in May 2002, Bishop Ndlovu halted the programme out of concern for the workers’ safety. Two months later, the programme resumed, but this time run by the Catholic Development Commission. The bishop had worked behind the scenes to transfer the running of the programme to the CDC which, like the CCJP, was part of the Zimbabwe Bishops’ Conference but, because of its lower political profile, was an organisation the Government could be persuaded to accept. The Zimbabwean Church often has to walk such tightropes. But too many clergy reach too easy an accommodation with the Government, according to Archbishop Ncube. He said many senior individual clergy "put their mouth where the bread is buttered" – but not Ndlovu.

The new Archbishop of Harare was born in Lupane district in 1955 and was ordained a priest in August 1983. This was the time, three years after independence, when Mugabe’s Gukurahunde campaign to pacify Matabeleland was at its height. Lupane saw some of the worst atrocities of that campaign. Concerned at challenges to his rule from the region associated with the 20 per cent Ndebele minority in the country, Mugabe paid North Korea to train a private army known as the Fifth Brigade, which for two years terrorised the region. An estimated 20,000 people were murdered, with villagers of all ages being publicly tortured and killed as a warning to others – who were forced to watch the atrocities or participate in them – not to harbour so-called dissidents. Ndlovu became Bishop of Hwange in May 1999. His Matabeleland diocese is home to the country’s largest and best known national park but is also one of the poorest regions in the country. Mike Auret, former director of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, described Ndlovu as "certainly the only man who could possibly take the position". He said the new archbishop is "a learned man, a quiet and modest person who will follow his predecessor in the ‘non-involvement in politics’ stance".

Fr Nigel Johnson, a Jesuit priest in the Bulawayo archdiocese, said the fact that the state-controlled media had not reported the appointment of Ndlovu suggested the Government was not happy, and that Rome might therefore have "got it right and appointed the best man for the job". "Some people question whether it is good to have a Ndebele speaker appointed to a Shona-speaking diocese," Johnson said, "but the vast majority of the laity and clergy do not have tribalistic axes to grind. They will welcome a bishop who is dedicated to the service of his flock – and I have no doubt that Bishop Ndlovu will be just that." Ndlovu’s Harare flock - there are 380,000 Catholics in a capital city population of 4.7 million - is currently in need of all the support it can get. The price of a 10kg bag of the staple maize meal doubled this week from Z$10,000 to Z$20,000. It is an act that in other places would cause riots in the streets, but Mugabe has driven the country into a listless depression, Archbishop Ncube said. "People would rather starve than protest. All their avenues have been closed off by the Government. Ninety-five per cent have given up and say ‘Leave it to God’. They mean wait till [Mugabe] is out of the way." In the meantime, Ndlovu and the other bishops will need to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

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