17 August 2020
ZDD Press Statement on Catholic Bishops
By Bishop Ancelimo Mgaya- The Zimbabwe Divine Destiny ZDD notes with grave concern the unpalatable and unwelcome remarks by the Zimbabwe government towards the ZCBC statement in which the Church was simply playing its role of speaking truth to power, advising and admonishing national leaders.
Central to the letter were complains against gross human rights violations that are currently being perpetrated against innocent civilians in Zimbabwe. This continues to happen despite the recommendations made by the Mothlante Commission, which unfortunately remain unfulfilled.
The perpetual freefall of the economy, exacerbated by unbridled corruption especially in high offices calls for any right thinking Zimbabwean to castigate the behavior of the state. There is nothing that the ZCBC statement manufactured nor exaggerated. The issues of Gukurahundi are still outstanding. Victims are crying for redress and it cannot be wished away simply because of the 1987 Unity accord.
Truth telling and justice must precede forgiveness and unity. The perpetrators of Gukurahundi are still alive and some are still in power. We therefore buttress the ZCBC position, that the nation is told who did what to who if we are to realize sustainable peace and forgiveness.
ZDD has warned in the past and we reiterate that No government can subsist through intimidation, murder, torture and arbitrary arrests of citizens who hold contrary views which characterizes modern day Zimbabwe. Anyone who holds contrary views to those of the political leadership in office is vilified, harangued and persecuted. Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngaribvume are examples of the myriad uncountable Zimbabweans who are either maimed or wrongfully arrested at the hands of the state.
This is what the church is lamenting and to imagine the ferocity with which the state has responded, is ridiculous. It has no national nuance. It is hedonistic. It is barbaric and cannot move a nation forward.
What was even more alarming was the temerity of the Information Minster Monica Mutsvangwa to quote Bishop Lamont and even attempt to celebrate him when he stood against the brutal regime of Smith as if the present government is any better. The same crime and injustice Lamont stood against is what the church is up against today, surprisingly.
In his own words President Mnangagwa said ‘this catch and release must stop’. ZCBC simply alluded to alarming levels of corruption without the corresponding justice. Hopewell, Ngarivhume and the nation are crying for the same.
We conclude by warning President Mnangagwa’s government that, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall’, (Proverbs 16:18). Ecclessiates 4:13 says, ‘Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive counsel’.
The government of Zimbabwe has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that no one is important not even God as they have blasphemed times without number but be warned, God is not mocked.