A BOND between Zanu PF and the Church formed during the
country’s protracted liberation struggle cannot be broken by some men of God
hiding behind the pulpit to push a “nefarious” political agenda, President
Mnangagwa has said.
Addressing members of the Politburo yesterday, President
Mnangagwa, who is the revolutionary party’s First Secretary, said even in
post-independent Zimbabwe, Zanu PF has continued to work hand in hand with the
Church.
“In the post-independence period, we continue to work well
with the Church to advance the national development agenda, as a united people.
However, it is most unfortunate when men of the cloth begin to use the pulpit
to advance a nefarious agenda for detractors of our country,” said President
Mnangagwa.
This comes as the Roman Catholic Church last week torched a
storm after releasing a letter under the title “The march is not ended”, which
contained unproven and untested claims of a crisis in Zimbabwe.
The sensationalised pastoral letter dovetailed with the
country’s detractors’ attempt to manufacture a non-existent crisis in Zimbabwe
which was supposed to culminate in subversive demonstrations on July 31, a
march that was thwarted by the country’s security forces.
After Zimbabweans rejected the opposition subversive
attempts that were disguised as anti-corruption protests, the country’s
detractors roped in some churches, civil society and opposition forces in the
region to harp about the non-existent crisis.
However, President Mnangagwa, who commended Zimbabweans for
rejecting the evil regime change machinations, said men of cloth dabbling in
politics should make a choice between being politicians or shepherding the
nation as the clergy.
“They must come out and form political parties. As Zanu PF,
we are ready for the 2023 elections. We are a people’s party that believes in
unity, love, peace and in championing development. We fought for the
empowerment of our people,” he said.
The President said Zanu PF, as a party that fought tooth
and nail to deliver Zimbabwe from colonial bondage, achieve democracy and
constitutionalism, would always ensure that those tenets are entrenched in the
country.
“Following their crashing failure, our detractors are
evidently in disarray and desperate, and grasping at straws to destroy
confidence in our democratically elected Government. They are equally on an
overdrive to discredit our people-centred programmes,” he said.
In the aftermath of its crushing defeat in the 2018
harmonised elections, the MDC Alliance vowed to sabotage the Zanu PF led
administration by throwing spanners into most of the Government programmes,
through rolling out violent demonstrations and besmirching the Second Republic
on social media platforms.
Despite the concerted efforts of the country’s detractors,
both internal and external, the ruling party is working towards fulfilling its
manifesto.
Zanu PF, Church bond is unbreakable through a raft of
people-oriented programmes, the President said.
“We are delivering on the promises we made to the people.
We set out under the Second Republic to establish and sustain a just and
equitable society firmly based on our historical, cultural, social and economic
experiences as well as our aspirations for better quality of life for all our
people.
“As highlighted in our manifesto, our agriculture programme
such as the broadening of the access to land by more Zimbabweans through the
rationalisation of farm sizes and the elimination of multiple farm ownership,
is on course” he said.
Later this month, the President will launch the Agriculture
Recovery Plan, which seeks to meet the promises made towards promoting
productivity, enhance support systems and infrastructure, and develop markets
for the agriculture products to earn the country much needed foreign currency.
The Government, he said had concluded the Global
Compensation Deed Agreement with the white former commercial farmers in line
with the country’s constitutional provisions.
The President also recommended the speedy implementation of
Cadre Development Programmes in the party so as to come up with an informed
party member.
“I call upon the Commissariat Department from the cell to
the national level to move with speed and implement Cadre Development
Programmes leveraging ICTs. An informed and alert cadre can more effectively
advance the national agenda and help to accelerate the implementation of our
development projects”.
In a press briefing following the 343 ordinary session, the
revolutionary party acting Secretary for Information and Publicity, Cde Patrick
Chinamasa said the Politburo endorsed the President’s response to the letter
issued by a few bishops and therefore not reflective of the general feeling
among Catholics.
“The Politburo endorsed the President’s response to a few
bishops whose letter has been discredited as (it was) disrespectful, malicious
and pandering to the narrative of the splitting MDCs. The Politburo laughed
them off and advised them that if they are tired of reading bibles and
preaching Godly principles of peace, love and unity, then they are well within
their rights to join politics openly rather than seek to do so nicodemously,
hiding behind the cross of Christ. We know that Catholic members felt
misrepresented by this selfish elite cleric band,” said Cde Chinamasa.
Indigenous churches have dismissed the letter by the
Catholic Bishops as “ungodly, biased and disrespectful” and the Politburo also
asked why the bishops have been silent each time the civil society groups and
the MDC Alliance embark on violent protests, burning shops and police vehicles,
looting and harassing citizens.
“Does the Bible they read teach them to preach violence or
glorify it? We have never seen anywhere in the world where opposition groups
have a right to express themselves violently. They have remained mum on the
impact of sanctions on this economy and only themselves know why they have
chosen that route,” said Cde Chinamasa.
Cde Chinamasa said the Politburo noted the “coordinated and
systematic social media attacks of the nation by faceless social media robots
and ghost accounts meant to spread falsehoods against the situation in our
country. The Politburo assured people to never lose sleep over those falsehoods
and attacks, knowing fully well that the party and Government are very vigilant
and focused on fulfilling the 2018 Manifesto despite the harsh conditions.
There is no crisis in Zimbabwe. Covid-19 is all over”.
The Politburo resolved to intensify the fight against
sanctions and welcomed the stance taken by SADC, at its recently concluded
summit, to continue calling for the removal of the illegal economic sanctions
affecting, not only Zimbabwe, but the region as a whole.
Later this year on October 25, the region will stand up
against sanctions and Cde Chinamasa said preparations for the day are in the
offing. Herald
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