Conger

The former Bishop of Harare’s claim that he pulled his diocese out of the Church of the Province of Central Africa in protest to its alleged support of homosexuality was a ruse to gain favor with the government of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe, Bishop Sebastian Bakare claimed in a newspaper interview last week.

Speaking to the Zimbabwe Independent, Dr. Bakare, the acting bishop of the diocese, said Dr. Kunonga “told the world that homosexuality was high in church, but no one accepts homosexuality. This is an issue which is not acceptable in our church.”

Dr. Kunonga “came up with the issue to draw the support of the president (Robert Mugabe) who has spoken out against the practice,” Dr. Bakare said in the Jan 25 interview.

President Mugabe, who has described homosexuals as being lower than “dogs and pigs,” has frequently spoken on the issue of the threat faced by Zimbabwe by the gay movement. At a political rally celebrating his birthday in 2006, President Mugabe told supporters that homosexuality was a malign legacy of the colonialist past and a “white” disease.

Supporters of gay marriage were a threat to African culture and those who promoted or performed gay marriage ceremonies would be jailed, he said.

The former bishop of Harare had successfully manipulated President Mugabe, using the ‘gay card’ to strengthen his ties to the regime so as to consolidate his hold over the diocese’s property, Dr. Bakare said.

On Jan 12 the Harare district police commissioner issued an order forbidding Anglican Churches from gathering to worship unless they aligned themselves with Dr. Kunonga. Police broke up loyalist services the next day, arresting three priests and a number of lay leaders, in a move that provoked protests by the Archbishop of Canterbury.