Election set for new Bishop of Harare: CEN 4.09.09 p 8.

The Diocese of Harare has set April 25 as the date of the election for a successor to its interim bishop Dr. Sebastian Bakare. Three of the four candidates come from outside the country, driven from Zimbabwe by its former bishop Dr. Nolbert Kunonga.

The Archdeacon of Northern Botswana, Dr. Archford Musodza; the priest-in-charge of St Alban’s Church in Tattenhall, Cheshire, Fr. Lameck Mutate; the Africa Desk Officer for the USPG, Canon Chad Gandiya; and the rector of Mbare parish, Harare, Canon David Manyau have been nominated to stand for election.

In 2001 Dr. Nolbert Kunonga was elected Bishop of Harare, in an election, critic’s charged, engineered by the CIO—Zimbabwe’s secret police. During his tumultuous tenure, Dr. Kunonga was accused of soliciting the murder of clergy and lay opponents within the diocese, and tied himself closely to the regime of strongman Robert Mugabe. An ecclesiastical trial for his alleged crimes collapsed after witnesses declined to return to Zimbabwe in fear of their safety.

The Church of the Province of Central Africa excommunicated Dr. Kunonga after he attempted to pull the diocese out of the province, and on Nov 7, 2007 appointed the retired Bishop of Manicaland, Dr. Sebastian Bakare to serve as interim bishop.

The slate of four candidates includes the former Dean of Bishop Gaul Theological College in Harare, Dr. Archford Musodza, who also served as a Lecturer at the College of the Transfiguration in South Africa. Driven from the diocese by Dr. Kunonga, the government backed Harare Herald last year denounced Dr. Musodza, saying he was a tool of foreign interests that sought to bring down the regime.

The former Archdeacon of Harare East and vicar of St Paul’s in Highfield, Harare, Fr. Mutate also ran afoul of Dr. Kunonga and the regime, and was granted asylum in the UK in 2005 where he serves as a vicar in the Diocese of Chester.

A former Dean of Bishop Gaul Theological College, Canon Gandiya oversees the USPG’s Africa operations, and last month was appointed by Dr. Rowan Williams to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pastoral Visitor team.

A seminary classmate of former bishop Nolbert Kunonga, Canon Manyau worked with the bishop until Dr. Kunonga’s break with the Province of Central Africa. A canon of the Cathedral of St. Mary and All Saints in Harare, he serves as rector of Mbare within the diocese.

Bishops in the Province of Central Africa are elected by a 21 member elective assembly. Twelve of the members: six clergy and six lay, are drawn from the diocese, and nine from the province: three bishops, three clergy, and three lay members. A two-thirds majority is required to elect a bishop. If the assembly is unable to elect a bishop, it may delegate the appointment to the Episcopal Synod or to the Archbishop of Canterbury.