Speaking after the Supreme Court reversed an earlier ruling by the High Court recognising Kunonga as the rightful owner of Anglican Church property in the diocese of Harare, Coltart said: “Our prayers have been answered for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. I now look forward to working with them to restore sanity in their schools which have suffered so much during this period of insanity. As usual my door is open if they need help in this regard.”
Deputy Chief Justice, Luke Malaba on Monday ruled that Kunonga and his followers were no longer part of the Anglican Church as they broke away from the main church in 2007 – hence they were not entitled to any property. Malaba said Kunonga had wrongly been in control of the church’s property since 2007.
Coltart, like many other Anglican worshippers, expressed delight at the Supreme Court judgement which he said would help restore order in the Anglican schools.
Soon after the judgement, social media such as Facebook was awash with congratulatory messages for Bishop Gandiya who leads the Church of Central Province of Africa, while Kunonga was heavily attacked by jubilant parishioners.
In an interview with The Zimbabwean, Gandiya admitted that standards in schools which had been seized by Kunonga had fallen heavily.
“We realise we have a big task ahead of us. Our Education Committee will be meeting this week to map out strategies on how best to improve the standards,” said Gandiya.
Post published in: News
I am greatly relieved and give thanks to hear that at last the government – through David Coltart, Minister of Education – is beginning to restore legal rights to the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, enabling Anglicans to administer their church’s properties in good order, and pray that this will continue. Zimbabweans and lovers of Zimbabwe at home and abroad have felt ashamed of Zimbabwe’s reputation worldwide as
a country where Christians are persecuted for their faith.