Mugabe regime pulling back from Dr Kunonga?: The Church of England Newspaper, May 27, 2011 p 7. May 29, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa.trackback
Dr. Nolbert Kunonga
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
British agents are out gunning for him the breakaway bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga, told his supporters last week, seeking to kill him in retaliation for his support for Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe.
However, the government may be tiring of the controversial bishop, as an article in the state-run Sunday Mail printed on May 22 predicted a rapprochement between Dr. Kunonga and the Anglican Church may be in hand, a sign Zimbabwe-watchers note, that some in the ruling party believe that their continued support for the breakaway bishop may be inexpedient.
Speaking at an ordination service at St Mary and All Saints Cathedral on May 14 in Harare, Dr. Kunonga told the congregation that threats had been made against his life. In an interview with Sunday Mail, Dr. Kunonga said “my family and I have been receiving death threats over the telephone from unknown elements that, I believe, to be among those calling for my ouster from the church.”
He believed the threats arose from his support for the government and were made by those “calling for me to tone down my stance against homosexuality and sanctions or risk being ‘silenced’.”
“The very same people who have been attempting to resist the indigenisation of our industries and churches are behind these heinous acts,” he told the government newspaper.
“I understand that Britain and her Western allies are behind this campaign,” he said, adding that he would not be silenced by those “unscrupulous elements that are bent on reversing the gains we have made as a country and as a church.”
However, the breakaway bishop had not filed a formal complaint with the police, as “I have nothing to fear because it has never been in me to bow to empty threats.”
Dr. Kunonga’s report of death threats appears to be the first reported by the state press against a leading clergy supporter of the regime. But a week after publishing Dr. Kunonga’s protestations of support and his courting death on behalf of the regime, the Sunday Mail published an unsigned article undercutting the bishop. It announced that the “warring Anglican Church factions are on the brink of crucial reconciliation talks.”
According to unnamed sources “privy to the long-running squabble, there is renewed impetus for the faction leaders to re-engage,” the Mail reported, noting that a “high-ranking official close” to Dr. Kunonga stated there “are even muffled calls for an amicable solution to be reached. Talk of reunification abounds within the corridors of power and I think there maybe an arrangement on the horizon.”
The source further commented that “there is fear that the much-anticipated reunification could suffer a stillbirth as the feuding factions have set preconditions as a prelude to any meaningful engagement”—a statement indicating the government wants this issue out of the way before the September 2011 constitutional referendum, speculated a source in Harare in an email to the CEN.
