Zanu-PF and the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) are attending church services of various denominations and citing verses from the bible to convince the electorate.
Religious modes of thinking about the world are widespread in Africa and have a pervasive influence on politics in the broadest sense, as academics Stephen Ellis and Gerrie Ter Haar argued in 2007.
They, like German philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883), sought to understand the role of religion in society.
According to the government statistics agency’s 2015 countrywide Demographic and Health Survey, 86% of Zimbabweans identify as Christians, 11% say they do not practice any religion, less than 2% follow only traditional beliefs, and less than 1% identify as Muslims.
CCC’s presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, is an ordained pastor in the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM).
In 2018, Chamisa used the phrase and hashtag “God is in it” as part of his challenge in connecting with his followers and supporters.
This time around, in a memo to his party members, Chamisa said he wanted candidates who were “God-fearing” to represent CCC.
He still believes “God is in it” in this upcoming election.
In a tweet on Saturday, Chamisa said: “Prayer is a weapon of choice for the fight (elections), a tool unto victory.” His message was linked to James 5:16.
On Tuesday, at a CCC rally in Charandura, a rural growth point in the Midlands province, gospel musician Mathias Mhere burst into song: “Our God is turning tables, back to sender.”
He was implying that this election would backfire for Zanu-PF against God’s will.
But Zanu-PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa has also been hard at work for the Christian vote.
Since the beginning of the year, along with the first family and senior party members, he has been attending church services from various apostolic sects.
The sects, in turn, promised to get Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF at least 2.3 million votes in an election with six million registered voters.
Archbishop Johannes Ndanga, of the African Peace, Council and International, vowed that his church members would only vote for Mnangagwa.
“We must not divide our vote, so the church vote is needed in favour of Zanu-PF,” he said.
Arguably the biggest coup by Zanu-PF was that the late Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa Forward in Faith founder, Archbishop Ezekiel Guti, who died, aged 100, in South Africa last week, be declared a national hero.
Guti is the first religious leader outside politics to be declared a national hero.
While the two front-runners, according to numerous opinion polls, canvass for the Christian vote, another pastor and politician, Jacob Ngarivhume, the leader of Transform Zimbabwe, is languishing in jail.
He was sentenced to four years, with a year suspended, on charges of inciting public violence. He was accused of having organised and led the 31 July 2020 anti-corruption protests.