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A
call to conscience - Zimbabwe Silver Jubilee, 1980-2005
Joint
Pastoral Letter of the ZCBC, ZCC, EFZ and HCD
April 2005
The Spirit of the
Lord has been given to me, for Yahweh has anointed me. He has sent me
to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; To
proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison;
To proclaim a year of favour from Yahweh, a day of vengeance for our
God, to comfort all those who mourn and to give them for ashes a garland;
For mourning robe the oil of gladness, for despondency, praise.
Isaiah 61: 1-3
1. A year of favour
Zimbabweans
celebrate twenty-five years of independence this year, 2005. Married couples
often celebrate their first twenty five years together, their silver jubilee.
It is a celebration of their love for each other, in which their children
join them, but it is also a celebration of achievement. Despite difficulties,
disappointments and maybe misunderstandings, they are still together.
A silver jubilee is not just an excuse for a party. It is a real celebration
of faithfulness.
2. Are we approaching
our jubilee in this mood of celebration? Are we happy with the relationships
we have lived together these past twenty-five years? Have we built a society
in which each feels at home and at peace with his or her neighbour?
3. Ancestral home
The biblical
concept of the 'jubilee year' (Leviticus 25) has two major thrusts: returning
to one's ancestral home and giving the fields and vines a rest. Both of
these are connected with renewal. It is now a tradition among us in Zimbabwe
to visit our 'ancestral home' at Christmas and Easter and on other occasions
according to our means. It is wonderfully refreshing to go back to one's
roots. You see again your life's journey from where it all began. And
you meet some of the people with whom you lived those early years. To
see where you have come from is a great help in reflecting on where you
are going.
4. Silver Jubilee
is an opportunity for us here in Zimbabwe to reflect and see where we
have come from. Many of us can remember vividly the suffering and trauma
of the liberation struggle. We would have preferred, in the 1950s and
60s, to achieve our freedom through non-violent means but every attempt
ended in frustration. We were driven by the prevailing circumstances to
embark on a violent road. We did it knowingly and deliberately. To be
fully human is to be free and we were determined to be free. Our dignity,
our sense of who we are, had been trampled on for decades. The conviction
grew among us and within us that we had to embark on this great struggle.
5. The option
for violence, once taken, has to be unequivocally renounced once the reason
for that violence is no longer there. As we revisit our ancestral homes,
either in spirit or in body, this jubilee year, we cannot fail to notice
that violence has really made its home among us. We are familiar with
the increase in robberies in our cities and towns. We know of the difficulty
of people to obtain services in public offices. This is a kind of violence.
We know that HIV and AIDS have spread among us because men have taken
advantage of women, especially girls. This too is violence. And there
is much evidence of public servants, particularly politicians, using violence
to obtain what they want. We have allowed a culture of violence to persist
among us since the time of the liberation war.
6. Giving the fields
a rest
The second
way the bible tells us of celebrating the jubilee is to give our fields
a rest.
"You must not sow
your field or prune your vine, or harvest your ungathered corn or gather
grapes from your untrimmed vine. It is to be a year of rest for the
land," Leviticus 25: 4,5.
In our profit
driven global economy the idea of giving fields, factories or computers
'a rest' sounds like pure foolishness. Yet the idea of resting one day
a week is built in both in our traditional culture and in our Judeo-Christian
heritage. Even God took a rest on the seventh day, (Genesis 2:2,3).
The biblical idea here is to recognize that human beings are not totally
in charge. We do not know everything. 'It is God who makes things grow,'
(I Cor 3:6). 'Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then
the ear, then the full grain in the ear,' (Mark 4:28).
7. The image
of the mechanic and gardener can be helpful here. The mechanic fixes things.
He imposes solutions on problems according to a set idea he has in his
mind. He follows physical principles, which lead to preconceived ends.
There is little room in his craft for unpredictable results.
8. The gardener
on the other hand prepares the way. He does all that is necessary to create
the conditions for growth. He cultivates the soil, sows the seed, manures
it, weeds it and waters it. But once he has done all he can he remembers
that he is only a servant who 'has done no more than (his) duty,' (Luke
17:10). He is open to whatever happens next. In the image of the gardener
there is room for surprise.
9. A jubilee
year is a special occasion when we can stop and listen and open our lives
to the 'God of Surprises.' It is a time of allowing the values that are
there within the soil of our hearts to produce their fruit. It is a time
for us to come in touch with our deepest desires.
10. Achievements
of the new Zimbabwe
As we reflect
on our first twenty-five years as an independent country, we are conscious
that the values we live now are not altogether the ones we aspired to
during the struggle and at the time of the raising of our multi-coloured
flag at midnight on 17th April 1980 in Rufaro Stadium. Many speeches at
that time put flesh on the idea of freedom. It was to mean equality of
all before the law; equitable access to opportunities in education, employment,
housing and land; the ability to associate with others; participation
in the processes of decision-making and production. The list was impressive
and inspiring. It amounted to the proclamation of a new state where all
would be equal and free and where the instruments of the state would be
used to promote the good of all the citizens. Reconciliation with old
enemies was proclaimed. There was euphoria and an atmosphere not unlike
that of a wedding feast.
11. Some of
these great ideals were achieved in the early years. There was a tremendous
drive in education. The school building programme of the 1980s was truly
impressive. Similarly the health services were expanded: hospitals and
clinics were built and medical staff welcomed from abroad, notably Cuba,
to meet the shortfall among our own personnel. Opportunities opened up
in business, industry and agriculture and in the public service. We improved
roads and extended electricity to some rural areas.
12. Today the
achievements of the 1980s look deeply flawed and the lofty sentiments
of that time tawdry. The reality in our homes and schools, our hospitals
and public buildings, is one of bleak decay. Our money loses value between
the time it is put into our pocket and the time it is taken out and used.
Most families in the country focus on how to find their next meal. Planning
for the future is a forgotten luxury.
13. How did we
come to where we are?
Perhaps
before asking this there is a prior question: how is it that up to today
we remain hopeful, cheerful and resourceful as a people? Foreign newspapers
paint a scene of gloom. But that is not our experience. Wherever we travel
we find resilience, hope and even joy. It is as though our people recognize
the words of Paul:
"It is by faith
and through Jesus that we have entered this state of grace in which
we can boast about looking forward to God's glory. But that is not all
. we can boast about our sufferings. These sufferings bring patience,
as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings
hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been
poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Romans 5: 2-5
14. In our
hearts we know that we are on a journey. Every Zimbabwean tries to progress
in that journey even if it involves suffering. He knows where he has come
from. He has experienced, or heard his parents speak of the bad old days
of Rhodesia. He knows that the present situation is, in substance, a huge
advance on those days. He also knows, in spite of the gloss politicians
put on our situation, that up to now we have failed to develop our country
in any meaningful way. But he further knows that he is learning all the
time how things could be. Zimbabweans are forming a vision, maybe at this
stage still a bit confused, but it is a vision nonetheless. We are full
of hope.
15. Freedom
has been won but it is like a parcel that is held up in customs. You know
it is there but you cannot get at it. Nonetheless, we know that a time
is coming when we will soon 'get at it.' Then we will be able to unwrap
it and set democratic institutions and structures in place. These allow
each person the space to live their life fully and in peace. People will
realize their potential. That is why people are cheerful. They have a
hope founded on belief in their own genius. They know they can do wonders
in this richly endowed and beautiful land that God has allotted to Zimbabweans.
16. Our path
since 1980 has been strewn with achievements and failures. This will help
us design the future if we understand the past. Certainly, we have enjoyed
relative peace. We had terrible civil conflict in the 1980s but that did
not reach the stage of tearing the country apart as what happened among
our brothers and sisters in other parts of Africa. We have held together
and discovered confidence as a people. We know the future will be brighter
than the present. We are going to make it so.
17. We have
to accept responsibility for the path we have walked. If we go on denying
the part we played in the present failures and blaming others for our
problems, we are only postponing the day of recovery. Without repentance
we waste energy trying to justify our faults. We have to admit that in
the assertion of our dignity we have asserted our power; in asserting
our own freedom we have trampled on the freedom of others; in safeguarding
our own security we have taken away the security of others; in proclaiming
our own message we have closed our ears to the message of others. Through
strong-arm tactics we may have attained what we want in the short term,
but by alienating other people in the process, we may eventually lose
all.
18. A house of
fear
The result
has been that we have built a house of fear. Some people do not feel free
to speak their mind. Some no longer give their opinion without first checking
if there is anyone listening, who could be a threat. Even the Preacher
cannot preach the Word of God contextually for fear of harassment and
even deportation if expatriate. For certain crimes, people will not seek
redress from the law because they know they will not receive it. The vision
of Zimbabwe as a free nation is stifled. The people are frozen in a war
mode with the language and practices of a command structure. All this
we have lived each day, prisoners in a concentration camp from the Zambezi
to the Limpopo.
19. The death of
conscience
All of this has happened
because we have not listened to our conscience, which is the voice of
God within us. We have buried it away because it is too uncomfortable
to live with. We have resorted to lying, deceit and equivocation as tools
of survival. We have obeyed orders without allowing ourselves to ask whether
they are good or evil. We have cooperated in commercial practices that
further marginalise the poor. We have also connived in sycophancy towards
the rich and powerful. We have regressed to the blindness of the Jews
in Isaiah's time:
"Woe to the legislators
of infamous laws,
to those who issue
tyrannical decrees, who refuse justice to the unfortunate and cheat
the poor among my people of their rights, who make widows their prey
and rob the orphan," Isaiah 10 1,2.
When we return to
our ancestral home and allow the soil of our heart to bring forth what
it wills, we face the raw message our conscience speaks to us. In the
stillness we discover that things do not have to be as they are. Like
Elijah of old, we learn our mission again, (I Kings 19:9-15).
20. Reconciliation
We have
reached our twenty-fifth birthday. Is there a way we can draw a line under
the juvenile delinquency of the past and begin to live our mature years
in justice and peace? In order to do this, we have to learn to listen
to the Good Spirit speaking in our heart. As a first step, we call upon
all the people of Zimbabwe to be reconciled among themselves.
21. We need
to begin with the ancient hurts and honestly recognize that, although
we have achieved a great degree of unity. We still need to enhance the
relationship between the two great groups of people: the Ndebele and the
Shona. Some animosities stretch as far back as the pre-colonial times.
These were suppressed for a time, under the colonial government but re-surfaced
in the liberation struggle and the years immediately succeeding independence.
The Gukurahundi of the 1980s shall remain a festering wound until it is
squarely faced. One of the practices of the ancient jubilee was the freeing
of slaves and the canceling of debts all with the purpose of rebuilding
relationships among people. In a situation not unlike ours, Martin Luther
King wrote;
"We merely bring to
the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out
into the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can
never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all
its ugliness to the natural medicine of air and light, injustice must
be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of
human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured,"
Why We Can't Wait, 1963.
22. We have
also had a long history of mutual suspicion, fear and even hatred, between
black and white people in our country throughout the twentieth century.
This spilled over into violence and rapine in the first years of this
new century.
23. We have
minority groups in Zimbabwe. There are approximately two million of our
people that are neither Ndebele nor Shona. We refer to the Shangaans in
Chiredzi, the Sothos in Gwanda, the Tongas in Binga, Nyaminyami and Gokwe
North, the Nambyas in Hwange, the Vendas in Beit Bridge and the Kalangas
in Plumtree and Bulilima Mangwe. Because they are relatively few, divided
by language and geography and in generally poor-soil areas, they have
not featured much in the national agenda. They have suffered from a marginalisation
of cultural respect. By and large their languages have not been taught
in their schools. The Tonga, in particular, have never had their grievances,
dating back to the building of the Kariba Dam, addressed.
'If one part of
the body is hurt, all parts are hurt with it...it is precisely the parts
of the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable
ones .' (I Cor 12: 26,23).
24. Hope
Reconciliation
looks to the past; hope to the future. There are signs of economic improvement
after the upheavals of the past five years. This can be seen in the economic
indices, such as inflation, but also in the economic activity of the people.
Formal employment has plummeted but many people are finding ways of employing
themselves in small businesses and small plots. It does not amount to
a turn around in the economy but it does underlie the wonderful resourcefulness
of the people. If they can show such initiative in economic matters they
can show it in other spheres as well.
25. Our leaders
have often called the Churches the 'conscience of the nation' and truly
we believe we have a contribution to make. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Lord of history. Many in roles of authority in this land say they
are Christians. So we can say they share this belief. The expression 'Lord
of history' means that Jesus is working (John 5: 17) to draw (John 6:
44) all people to the Father, the source of all life and the goal of all
history. Jesus is fully aware of the promises we make, the hopes we hold
to, as well as the failures, compromises and evil deeds we fall into.
But he never abandons us (Isaiah 49:15). His Spirit 'hovers' over the
land as it did in the beginning of creation (Genesis 1:2). He knows what
we are made of (John 2:25) and waits for us to return to him and then
he will prepare a feast (Luke 15:20-24).
26. Our heritage
We truly
celebrate our silver jubilee with joy and thanksgiving. We have much hope
for the future. We have set our hand on the plough and we will not look
back (Luke 9:62). By happy coincidence our independence is celebrated
each year at the time of Easter. For the Christian this is a time of immense
joy, which we want to share with all our fellow citizens. In our capacity
as leaders of Churches in Zimbabwe, we invite all people of good will
to join with us in rising up in spirit and laying hold of our heritage.
27. This heritage
calls us to listen to the voice of conscience within us and courageously
to follow it; it calls us to compassion and leaving our own security to
reach out to others in pain and poverty; and it calls us to the civic
duty enshrined in the aspirations of the founders of this nation. Some
of the aspirations were that the common interests of the people be paramount
in all efforts to exploit the country's resources; that the productive
processes involve them as full participants, in both the decision making
process, management and control.
28. This jubilee
is a moment of grace. No one would deny that the past five years have
been hard for the majority of our citizens. The Lord did not promise us
peace (Luke 12:51). In fact He expressly invited us to 'take up our cross'
(Luke 9:21). The disciples were slow to understand this. But eventually
they did and were 'glad to suffer humiliation for the sake of the name.'
(Acts 5:41). We are on the same journey and we are facing the same sufferings.
29. Our perseverance,
our hope and our joy will bear fruit. Let us pray for our country: for
reconciliation, for honesty and integrity, for compassion for others,
for justice for all and for true peace in our hearts, our homes and our
communities. Let us remember that prayer alone is not enough. The word
constantly on the lips of the disciples in the early church was not 'prayer'
but 'witness.' Prayer is essential but it is useless if it is not backed
up by the witness of our lives. We realize as Churches that counting solely
on good will in Nation and Peace Building is not enough. While Government
should play its part in enabling a people-driven Constitution to help
consolidate the good and remedy some of the ills experienced in the past
twenty five years, the Churches should intensify their efforts in the
coming years in imparting the necessary social teaching based on the Gospel
and skills in Nation and Peace building.
'The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all,' (2 Cor13:13).
- Rt. Rev. Michael
D. Bhasera, Bishop of Masvingo (President of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops'
Conference)
- Bishop Khumbulani
P. Nemapare (President of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches)
- Bishop Trevor Manhanga
(President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe)
- Very Rev. Murombedzi
C. Kuchera (Chairman of the Heads of Christian Denominations)
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