Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Anglican primate urges Mugabe action

COMMENT - More propaganda. They can't complain about a lack of 'rule of law', and then turn around and not get the right police permits for gathering in the large groups they want to use to destabilize the country, so they can invite foreign troops to illegally invade the country, 'for humanitarian reasons'. Or continually call the president of the country 'Mugabe'. Either you believe in the rule of law and make it part of your election platform, or you don't.

Anglican primate urges Mugabe action
04/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I Agencies

THE Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town has called on President Robert Mugabe to put an end to persecution of the Anglican Church after state police broke up the annual prayer retreat of clergy from the Diocese of Harare.

About 80 diocesan priests were meeting at Peterhouse School in Marondera Tuesday when police intervened and halted the gathering, reportedly on the grounds that it had not received official legal clearance.

Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, called the police action shocking and deplorable.

“I call on President Mugabe to ensure that the religious freedom of all Zimbabweans, and especially persecuted Anglicans, is respected, and to instruct the police to allow the churches freedom of assembly and worship,” Makgoba said in a Jan. 4 statement.

A statement released by the Harare diocese said: “We deplore this action and call upon higher authorities to intervene. So much for freedom of religion.”

Police spokesman, Oliver Mandipaka said the meeting had to be broken following concerns members of a splinter Anglican group led by Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, could have tried to meet in the same private school.

"Judging from past experiences, these meetings have turned violent. It was on that basis that we advised them to disperse," Oliver Mandipaka told the German news agency dpa.
"People must correctly interpret police actions. We were just being proactive.

"Weddings and churches do not need police clearances. But in the past these groups have clashed after gathering at the same venue. That is what we wanted to avoid."

Zimbabwe’s Anglicans have faced repeated harassment and violence from Mugabe’s police force since Bishop Nolbert Kunonga was excommunicated by the Church of the Province of Central Africa in May 2008.

A Mugabe ally, Kunonga still claims ownership of the diocese’s Anglican churches and backs the persecution of the country’s loyal Anglicans who are routinely intimidated and prevented from worshipping in their own church buildings.

Incumbent Anglican Bishop Chad Gandiya has led the Harare diocese since May 2009.
“We affirm Bishop Chad Gandiya, his clergy and people at this time,” Makgoba said in his statement.

“As they share in the sufferings of Christ, may they gain strength from the experience and never give in to a cynical and sinister government.”

Makgoba also called on “ecumenical friends and our partners in the Anglican Communion to ask their governments to put pressure on Zimbabwe to end this persecution.”

In October, Makgoba was joined by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the archbishops of Central Africa and Tanzania in meeting with Mugabe, presenting him with a dossier of abuses against the Anglican Church and calling on him to “put an end to all unacceptable and illegal behavior.”

Labels: ANGLICAN CHURCH, MDC

posted by MrK @ 5:36 PM