In an interview with The Zimbabwean, Christian Alliance Organising Secretary, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya said that due to manipulation, the church had become heavily divided and was failing to speak with one voice in denouncing violence.
“The Church is a strong and powerful constituency and politicians know that. So they are trying to divide the Church along partisan lines. We should mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to rally behind critical values such as peace,” he said.
“More importantly, our leaders should be aware of reckless statements issued by politicians. These cannot go unchallenged and it is the responsibility of the Church to reprimand such acts” said Magaya. Zimbabwe’s security chiefs are on record saying that no party, other than Zanu (PF), is fit to rule the country and have declared to block Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai’s ascendency to power even if he wins in an election.
Magaya expressed concern that some prophets were acting to please politicians and in the process forgetting their role of standing as ambassadors of peace.
“Even in the Bible, there were prophets who prophesied positively on what wicked rulers wanted to hear, like we witnessed recently when about 100 prophets prophesied that President Mugabe will win the next elections.
“In my view that is not prophecy but something that is driven by partisan interests” said Magaya.
Last month, the leader of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe, Bishop Johannes Ndanga said that more than 100 indigenous apostolic sects had predicted victory for President Robert Mugabe in the forthcoming elections.
Zanu (PF) has of late stepped up efforts to gain the loyalty of the apostolic sects ahead of elections.
Magaya called for unity among Church leaders to enable them to keep politicians under check and ensure prevalence of peace, harmony and tolerance in the country. “The Church should be united and speak with one voice. In this particular election, the Church should champion values which the politicians will have to respect. The Church should be able to give a voice of conscience to the State and that can be done when the Church is united and speaks with one voice,” said Magaya.
Post published in: News