Dozens of parishioners led by an elder, Jeffrey Chingosho, descended on the church building and threw out anything belonging to the militia. The move follows a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling, which ordered Kunonga to return property he seized from the local Anglican Church after his excommunication in 2007.
The Dhirihori church was constructed as a local parishioners’ initiative in the 1980s. Villagers pooled resources and funded the project without assistance from Kunonga.
“We were shocked when Kunonga visited the area last year. He deployed militia to seal off the church building from the mainstream parishioners led by (Chad) Gandiya. This was day light robbery, given that the church building was constructed by locals without any outside assistance,” said a parishioner, Mbuya Maria Neshamba.
The Supreme Court ruling has put to rest a high profile and protracted legal battle over church property. Reading out the court ruling last week Monday, Justice Yunus Omerjee said: “Kunonga has no right to the church property, because he left the mainstream Anglican Church when he announced a breakaway during a row over homosexuality.”
Kunonga, became an Anglican bishop in October 1997. Bishop Sebastian Bakare replaced him in January 2008. He was criticised within the Anglican Church for his ardent support of President Robert Mugabe. This was at a time when other religious leaders in the country, notably Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, were condemning Mugabe’s government for its human rights abuses across.
Kunonga was officially excommunicated in 2008 from the Anglican Church. This stripped him of all recognition as a cleric. Nevertheless, he continued as the head of a breakaway faction within Zimbabwe, apparently under the protection of Mugabe. This was despite massive defections by most of his flock and criticism from international church leaders.
Kunonga subsequently embarked on a nationwide church property grabbing spree. In January 2008, a court Judge ordered that the breakaway Anglican Province led by Kunonga must share the use of church buildings with the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, loyal to Archbishop Gandiya.
Later in August 2011, the country’s Chief Justice ruled that all Anglican property in the Harare diocese was under Kunonga’s custody. On 19 November 2012, the Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice, Luke Malaba, ruled that Kunonga and his followers were no longer part of the church of the Province of Central Africa.
Kunonga was ordered to surrender everything that belonged to the church and was ordered to pay the costs of the civil appeal.
Post published in: News