INFORMATION, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister
Monica Mutsvangwa has come out guns blazing against the Zimbabwe Catholic
Bishops Conference (ZCBC), describing the bishops as genocidal and evil-minded
for publishing a Pastoral Letter that incites the public and makes
unsubstantiated allegations against Government.
The controversial Pastoral Letter, which was signed by ZCBC
president Archbishop Charles Ndlovu, Archbishop Alex Thomas (ZCBC deputy
president), and bishops Paul Horan (ZCBC secretary and treasurer), Michael
Bhasera (Masvingo), Albert Serrano (Hwange), Rudolf Nyandoro (Gokwe) and
Raymond Mupandasekwa (Chinhoyi), was published on Friday and is ridden with
political undercurrents.
In the letter, the bishops accuse the Government of human
rights violations, while repeating fatigued and unproven allegations against
President Mnangagwa’s administration. The letter also appears to incite
Catholics and other peace-loving Zimbabweans to overthrow the Government, as it
makes reference to a famous statement by the late American politician and civil
rights leader John Robert Lewis “that the march is not over”, in what appears
to be a reference to the failed 31 July protests. In a hard-hitting address at
her offices in Harare yesterday, Minister Mutsvangwa said the Pastoral Letter
seeks to sow seeds of war.
“The Government of Zimbabwe calls upon the Catholic
congregation to ignore the specious Pastoral Letter. Bishop Christopher Ndlovu
is leading a coterie of Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops along the wrong path of
bygone petty tribalism, narrow regionalism and the debunked and defeated racial
antagonism. Its evil message reeks with all the vices that have perennially
hobbled the progress of Africa. It trumpets petty tribal feuds and narrow
regionalist agendas. That he (Archbishop Ndlovu) hopes to sow seeds of
internecine strife as a prelude to civil war and national disintegration.”
Minister Mutsvangwa likened Archbishop Ndlovu to Rwandan
bishop Athanase Seromba, the infamous Rwandese Catholic Archbishop who was
tried and sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda for inciting genocide.
“Such was the horrendous and abominable conduct of the
Rwanda Catholic Church that Pope Francis, the global head of the worldwide
Catholic Church had to make a formal Papal visit to Kigali in 2017. The reason
was to offer a contrite apology for the heinous crimes of the Rwanda Catholic
Clergy. With nefarious cynicism to history, Archbishop Robert Christopher
Ndlovu is inching to lead the Zimbabwe Catholic congregation into the darkest
dungeons of Rwanda-type genocide.”
She castigated the bishops for relying on unsubstantiated
claims against Government, noting that there is neither evidence nor named
victims to back-up the claims of human rights abuses.
“The letter is full of generalised accusations. By way of
contrast, the meticulous Catholic Peace and Justice Commission of the
anti-colonial, anti-racist epoch collated, compiled and published dossiers of
specific crimes committed by the colonial settler minority regime. The
Archbishop and his flock of misled Catholic bishops have none of that
diligence. Instead they wallow in generalised and baseless accusations.
Absolutely no shred of reported evidence of so-called victims.”
In the letter the bishops attempted to stir up emotions and
divisions by making reference to the Matabeleland disturbances of the 1980s.
Minister Mutsvangwa castigated the bishops for attempting to abuse the
disturbances for their own ends while ignoring the 1987 Unity Accord that
brought an end to the period after the unification of Zanu and PF-Zapu to form
Zanu-PF.
“He (Archbishop Ndlovu) wants to posit as the leader of the
righteous Ndebele minority by fanning the psychosis of tribal victimisation.
Concurrently, he sows sins of collective guilt on the Shona majority. That way
he seeks to numb the spirit of collective national vigilance against the known
and proven enemies of the populace of Zimbabwe. His transgressions acquire a
geopolitical dimension as the chief priest of the agenda of regime change that
is the hallmark of the post-imperial major Western powers for the last two
decades.”
Addressing Zimbabweans directly, Minister Mutsvangwa said:
“Fellow Zimbabweans, Gukurahundi is indeed a dark spot in the tortuous task of
nation building by Zimbabwe. The two parties of that needless chapter of
history need to be hailed for seeking peace and unity as they avoided the abyss
that could have been a full-blown civil war. Happily, we ended up with the 1987
Unity Accord.” She also accused the bishops of having a warped view of history.
“The letter seeks the revival and continuation of the
perennial vices of division. It has a selective and warp-sided reading of
history. The errant and evil bishop has a nauseating mental amnesia of the
blight of minority settler rule and its baggage of exploitative racism against
the totality of the black majority of Zimbabwe. The levity of his mental
amnesia is worsened by the fact that he tears off pages of the progressive
crusade for justice and democracy that has hitherto been the shining virtue of
the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe.”
Minister Mutsvangwa said the bishops chose to ignore risks
posed by Covid-19 to incite people to demonstrate yet the World Health
Organisation daily announces strictures to assist national Governments to fight
and contain the pandemic.
“In the face of all that, our narrow-minded bishop
pontificates against Covid-19 rules. Even when America, his much-admired
paragon of democracy and justice is complying. Recently President Trump had to
call off the National Convention of his Republican Party slated for Jacksonville,
Florida,” she said. It was unfortunate that in the eyes of the “reckless
Archbishop”, pride of place was accorded to the crusade against the governing
and ruling party of Zimbabwe.
“The cause of national health in face of a pandemic is of
no consequence. By calling people to march in the midst of the pandemic the
bishop relishes the prospect of mass deaths. To him maybe that speeds up the
ascent of the populace of Zimbabwe to their biblical judgement of heaven or
hell. And behold, Pastoral Letter Bishops Conference of 14th August 2020 does
not bother to invoke the repeated Papal calls for a global ceasefire in regions
of war and strive.”
The minister said the Pastoral Letter goes against the
Pope’s call on nations to concentrate effort and resources to the fight against
global pandemic. Pope Francis recently implored the United Nations Security
Council to pass a resolution 5 July 2020. “This noble aspiration of the Pope as
head of the global Catholic Church is cited nowhere in the offending Pastoral
Letter of the hate-mongering Archbishop Christopher Ndlovu. For God’s sake, why
ignore the letter and spirit of the supreme Archbishop in the Vatican? If wars
and strife can be wished away, how about a mere political uprising under the
guise of an ill-fated mass demonstration?”
She said during the liberation struggle, Catholic bishops
gained fame for protecting people’s rights unlike the ZCBC which is pushing
political interests.
“Who can forget the venerable Bishop Lamont of Mutare and
his brave defiance of the illegal and racist rule of Ian Smith and his 1965
Unilateral Declaration of Independence?
“How Bishop Lamont of the Carmelite Missionary Order in
Zimbabwe went on to be a victim of a probably contrived car accident, his
incarceration and eventual deportation. Yes, that brave man of the cloth could
only return to Zimbabwe after 1980 in the wake of the victory of the National
Liberation Movement.”
She challenged Zimbabweans not to be fooled by the call
that “The march is not ended”.
“No No No! His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo
Mnangagwa will have none of that. He will strive to dutifully protect the
well-being and health of the people of Zimbabwe,” she said. Sunday Mail
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