Riot Police and CIO stop Church services

At least three priests and several parishioners were arrested in the raids on the charge of holding services without the authorization of police or government. Only clergy supporting Kunonga may legally continue to hold services, police warned parishioners in leaflets.
Bakare said he was appalled by the reports of Zimbabwean police forcibly stopping the Sunday services in Harare where clergy have publicly refused to acknowledge Kunonga’s episcopal authority.
The Zimbabwean heard that police, for the second week in a row, viciously broke church services on  Sunday at St. Pauls Parish in Highfield,  St Columbus in Kuwadzana, Christ Church in Borrowdale, St Francis in Waterfalls and St. Andrews Parish in Glenview , where parishioners were beaten up and some taken into police custody.
Kunonga, a close ally of Mugabe, had his priestly license revoked last December after illegally separating from the Anglican Central African Province.
He later claimed he had formed his own Anglican Church of Zimbabwe and installed himself as Archbishop.
An obscure number of Anglican supporters of Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party are accusing Bakare of breaking church canonic law in the ouster of Kunonga.
While independent of the Church of England, the denomination – with an estimated 40,000 active members – belongs to the worldwide “Lambeth Communion”.
Supporters of the election of Bakare, the new vicar general of the diocese, say he is a dedicated and impartial theologian unlike Reverend Kunonga, a toadying bootlicker of Mugabe who preaches Zanu (PF) rhetoric from the pulpit.
Kunonga, who has stayed in the United States for years, is alleged to support Mugabe’s militant black empowerment policies. He is also a former theology lecturer at Africa University, in Mutare. Repeated efforts to reach him for comment were futile. But  Bishop Bakare said he was “deeply concerned about the continuous disruption of church services by the police and the army who have disregarded  High Court orders.”
Bakare said Kunonga was giving false information to the police and security chiefs that the diocese of Harare supports the MDC, which Bakare vehemently rejected insisting the Church preaches Christ Crucified and Righteousness not party politics.
Bakare said Kunonga was lying to the authorities that the diocese of Harare was an appendage of the Church of England eager to recolonise the country and that it was pro homosexual, said Bakare.
In the divide over homosexuality in the Anglican Communion, Kunonga has attempted to claim he is on the side of biblical orthodoxy.
Bakare alleged that Kunonga was personally involved in the roping in of riot police and intelligence operatives to stop his services. Bakare said they had four High Court orders issued by Judge President Rita Makarau, reference number HC.345/08 , Justice Lawrence Kamwi (HC 402/08), Justice Hungwe (HC 3208/07) and the latest by Justice Antonia Guvava (HC 2259/08) giving  the Anglican diocese of Harare a  legal right to access and use of the Anglican properties and premises.
Bishop Bakare said on Sunday: “We will ask other religious leaders in Harare to lend us their churches from next Sunday so our congregations can continue to worship. We will also sue the commissioner of police next week.
“We know the orders are coming from high up, not from ordinary policemen.”