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Church leaders keen to resuscitate initiative
Thenjiwe Mabhena, ZimOnline
January 28, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2611

Harare- A group of church leaders says it stands ready to step up efforts to find a mediated solution in Zimbabwe following the virtual collapse of a regional endeavor to unlock the country's eight-year political stalemate.

Bishop Trevour Manhanga, one of the leading proponents of the church initiative, said the apparent collapse of talks led by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki had given the church leaders renewed hope to break the impasse.

The church leaders, who two years ago produced a document titled, "The Zimbabwe We Want: Towards A National Vision for Zimbabwe" said they will produce a new and more comprehensive document in March that they believe could form the basis for dialogue between the government and the opposition.

"We are hoping that the first draft would be ready before the elections on 29 March . . . We would want whoever wins the elections to use the document to plan their policies," said Manhanga.

Mugabe last weekend threw the Southern African Development Community (SADC) initiative into turmoil after he unilaterally declared 29 March as the date for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has reacted with anger to the announcement describing the move as "an act of madness" saying there were issues pertaining to timing of the polls that were still under discussion at the SADC-backed inter-party talks.

Manhanga said the apparent collapse of the Mbeki-led talks had suddenly thrown their church initiative back into the spotlight.

"It makes us more relevant. The politicians must again go back to the drawing board. It (deadlock) will add impetus to our initiative," said Manhanga.

The church leader said their outreach programme had seen them traverse at least two thirds of the country's provinces gathering views from political parties, business lobby group, war veterans as well as ordinary Zimbabweans.

The church leaders, who are generally seen as pro-government, last year presented a copy of their document to Mugabe and have also met MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a bid to coax the two to embrace dialogue.

The national vision document called for the setting up of an independent land commission to ensure equitable land redistribution, a new, democratic constitution for Zimbabwe as well as a review of harsh media laws blamed for the closure of independent newspapers over the past five years.

While Mugabe had appeared to embrace the church initiative, he however rejected outright calls to introduce a new constitution arguing there was nothing wrong with Zimbabwe's Lancaster House constitution drafted by the British just before the country's independence in 1980.

Political analysts warned then that Mugabe was not interested in the document as he only wanted to buy time for his embattled government. The document has been gathering dust over the past two years.

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