|
Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
Churches pray for leader who won't steal from people
Lizwe
Sebatha, ZimOnline
March 25, 2008
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2922
Bulawayo - Zimbabwean
churches on Monday held a mass prayer meeting for peaceful elections
and to ask God to guide the nation in selecting a leader who will
not steal from the people and abuse fellow citizens.
Zimbabwe elects a new
president and parliament on March 29 amid an acute recession blamed
on repression and mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe and seen
in the world's highest inflation of more than 100 000 percent, rising
unemployment, shortages of food and every basic commodity.
Analysts have warned
that a nation desperate for change could explode in Kenyan-style
post-election violence if Mugabe - who the opposition accuses of
cheating in previous polls - rigs the election.
"We are praying
for a leadership after the elections that will be a servant of the
people, a leader that will be moral and a leader that will not abuse
national resources," Bishop Trust Sinjoji told ZimOnline at
the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds in Bulawayo where
the prayer meeting was held.
About 600 worshipers
attended the prayer meeting that was organised by the three largest
representative bodies for Christians in the country, the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches, Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the
Catholics Bishops Conference.
Church leaders also used
the rally to urge Christians, who are the majority in Zimbabwe,
to vote in the polls next Saturday and to reassure voters that their
ballot would be secret because no one except God could ever know
how they voted.
"Crucial elections
are coming next week and we all should exercise our rights and vote.
God is watching the elections. We are asking for the holding of
peaceful, free and fair elections," said Pastor Raymond Motsi,
one of the church leaders at the meeting.
Mugabe, who polls show
trailing main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has promised
a thunderous victory against the opposition and denies charges he
plans to rig the ballot.
The veteran leader, in
power since Zimbabwe's 1980 independence from Britain and seeking
another five-year term, has told the opposition to accept the election
result, warning that security forces were ready to crush any Kenya-style
post-election upheaval.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
