CATHOLIC organisations were yesterday outraged after
government described its leaders as “genocidal and evil-minded” for calling it
out on its increasing human rights violations and demanded an apology.
Information minister Monicah Mutsvangwa (pictured) accused
the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference president Bishop Robert Christopher
Ndlovu of “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.”
The attack by Mutsvangwa reverberated around the world,
appearing in the Vatican News bulletin and leading to Pope Francis’s Apostolic
Nuncio to Zimbabwe, Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, paying a solidarity visit on
Archbishop Ndlovu yesterday.
The Vatican noted that the Archbishop of Harare had been
singled out for a “scorching personal attack by the Zimbabwe government” and
said the Apostolic Nuncio’s visit was also a symbolic act of solidarity with
all the bishops of Zimbabwe.
The Vatican reporter, however, noted that the government
skirted the issues raised in the pastoral letter.
Catholic Lawyers Guild of Zimbabwe and Catholic
Professionals Network of Zimbabwe (CPNZ) described the government statement as
an “unwarranted vitriolic attack” and said they were concerned by the attempt
to divide the bishops.
“We Catholic Lawyers Guild are deeply concerned by the
government of Zimbabwe’s unwarranted vitriolic attack on a Pastoral letter
issued by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference. We are also concerned by
the attempt by Minister of Information, Monica Mutsvangwa to divide the bishops
by targeting Archbishop of Harare and president of the Zimbabwe Catholic
Bishops Conference Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu,” the lawyers said in a
statement.
They said it was not a secret that there was a crisis in
Zimbabwe, adding that the crisis comes on the backdrop of unresolved past hurts
such as Gukurahundi.
“The bishops acknowledged the seriousness of human rights
breaches by the government agents and noted that various voices including the
European Union, the African Union and the United Nations have voiced concern
over deteriorating human rights situation in the country,” the lawyers said.
The association said the health delivery system had
virtually collapsed after government failed to address health workers
legitimate concerns.
Public health workers have been on strike for almost two
months demanding personal protective equipment, better working conditions and
salaries in United States dollars.
The lawyers demanded that the government issues an apology
and retraction of Mutsvangwa’s statement.
“As the Catholic Lawyers Guild, we demand the following
from the government: an apology and retraction of the vitriolic response given
to the pastoral letter by the ZCBC. An assurance that no harm will befall the
bishops on account of the pastoral letter and any future communication, that as
true shepherds, they will release and an acknowledgement that Zimbabwe is in
crisis,” they said.
“We call upon the government to cease or desist from any
and all retributive actions against ordinary citizens, journalists, political
activists, political parties, civil society and the church,” CPNZ said.
Over 60 opposition members were abducted and tortured in
the run-up to the July 31 protests, while more than 30 are in hiding.
Outspoken pastor Shingi Munyeza described the Zanu PF
administration as “evil, brutal, oppressive and corrupt” and applauded Catholic
bishops for bringing the issues to the fore.
“For the past five months, I have incessantly castigated
our government leaders for being oppressive, brutal, evil and corrupt. I’m glad
the Catholic bishops have started saying the same and I fully support their
statement,” he said.
“We need to find each other before it’s too late. The
Church will always be the prophetic voice of God to the nation and must always
be found on the side of the poor, oppressed and suffering as clearly
articulated in Jesus’s mandate as He began His mission to redeem mankind in
Luke 4:18-19. I, therefore, call upon everyone to a nationally inclusive,
genuine and unconditional dialogue.”
National Patriotic Front spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire
said Mutsvangwa’s attack on the bishops was regrettable.
“I reiterate that the savage attack on Archbishop Ndlovu by
Monica Mutsvangwa is regrettable. The attempt to portray Archbishop Ndlovu as
fanning tribal hate in the form we saw in Rwanda is ironic, especially when
Zimbabweans know that one leader in the current regime. We refuse to be divided
by a rogue regime. We are one Zimbabwe and we have freedom, enshrined in our
Constitution, to criticise government policy, whether one is Ndebele, Zezuru,
Karanga, white, yellow or blue, that right is for us all,” he said.
Government has attracted widespread condemnation over the
worsening human rights situation in the country, leading to South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa dispatching envoys to the country in an attempt to
address the situation.
The Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA) also called for
national dialogue to end challenges facing the nation.
“We believe that there is an urgent need for the nation to
return to implementing the Constitution fully. If the Constitution is
implemented as the people of Zimbabwe wrote it in 2013, it will bring necessary
political, social and economic reforms and renewal that the nation desperately
needs,” the ZCA board of trustees said.
“However, the agenda on national dialogue should be from
the communities and not a political elite settlement. In that regard, we are
seized with community dialogues that are agenda setting on key issues for
ordinary Zimbabweans.
“Parts of these include outstanding issues to deal with the
nation’s violent past. We need to create a platform of dialogue that will
acknowledge the past, apologise and work on new beginnings based on
reconciliation.”
The Zimbabwe Law Society (LSZ) in a statement yesterday
also called on the government to stop the attacks on legal practitioners and
innocent citizens.
“It is unacceptable that remand prisoners such as
journalists Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume should have to incur legal
expense in order to enforce respect by the state of simple and obvious rights
such as private counsel with their lawyers, access to clothing and food and not
being subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment in prison” LSZ executive
secretary Edward Mapara said.
Mapara also condemned the arrest of ZimLive editor Mdudusi
Mathuthu’s sister, Nomagugu Mathuthu and the abduction of his relative Tawanda
Muchehiwa.
Muchehiwa was abducted, tortured and only produced at court
after the intervention of the High Court following a petition by the lawyers
for human rights. Newsday
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