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Bishop defends honours for Robert Mugabe: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 8. September 30, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Dr. Walter Crespo, the head of the Anglican Church of Ecuador, has denied accusations that he supplied arms to Colombian FARC rebel groups, and has defended his church’s recognition of Robert Mugabe as one of the leading progressive anti-imperialist leaders on the world stage today.

“[I] was, [am], and will remain a man of leftist political convictions” the controversial cleric told The Church of England Newspaper, adding that his “public recognition of the moral leadership of Dr. Mugabe as the legitimate President of Zimbabwe, and a worldwide leader is in perfect line with his historical trajectory.”

The fiery prelate added he “was not, is not, and will never be a puppet of political imperialism or of degenerated ‘official Anglicanism’ as it is practiced by ‘Lambeth’ and ‘815’.”  [815 is a slang expression for the US Episcopal Church, whose offices are located at 815 Second Avenue in New York City.]

Last month Dr. Crespo, joined by former Anglican bishops Nolbert Kunonga and Elson Jakazi, invited President Mugabe to Quito to receive an honorary Degree of Doctor of Civil Laws.  “The conferment of the honorary doctorate to the Head of State is in honour of and recognition of Comrade Mugabe’s outstanding leadership of not only Zimbabwe but of the rest of the world including Latin America,” the bishop said.

On Sept 26, President Robert Mugabe returned to Harare after attending the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.  The Zimbabwe strongman had been scheduled to travel to fly to Quito to pick up his honorary degree.

A government spokesman said “time constraints” had prevented President Mugabe from traveling to Quito.   Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu said the president would be traveling to Mexico in December for the 17^th Climate Change Convention and “will then fulfill that commitment.”

However, press reports detailing Dr. Crespo’s alleged ties to arms dealings, may have played a part in the postponing the ceremony, émigré Zimbabwean newspapers have reported.  SW Radio Africa news stated “it’s thought the revelations about Bishop Crespo’s shady life have diminished the propaganda value of the doctorate.”

The Anglican Diocese of Harare led by Bishop Chad Gandiya and the Church of the Province of Central Africa stated they too “dissociate themselves from any activities associated with Dr. Crespo and the ‘Anglican’ Province of Ecuador.”

The Diocese of Harare stated it was “not at all surprised by this apparent solidarity between Dr. Kunonga and Dr. Crespo, they are both rebels fighting for a nonexistent cause.”

Dr. Crespo told CEN his denomination was not tied to the US Episcopal Church or to the Anglican Communion, but was descended from a Church of England congregation established in Guayaquil in 1821, that in 1957 was incorporated as an independent denomination under Ecuadorian law.

The Ecuadorian bishop stated that he was a man of the left, and that his incarceration in 2001 and imprisonment for three years while awaiting trial for gun running had been engineered by right wing paramilitary groups tied to corrupt elements within the Ecuadorian and Colombian government.

Dr. Crespo stated his leftist credentials were beyond reproach.  He was first jailed at age 16 in 1966 by Ecuador’s military junta for his involvement with the High School Students National Federation (FESE) and in 1970 went into exile in Spain.

The bishop told CEN he was jailed a second time by the Franco regime while working as a school teacher.  And in 1998 was jailed a third time when he attempted to take his seat as an elected member of Ecuador’s National Assembly.

Ecuador’s anti-clerical laws forbade clergyman from holding civil office, and he was jailed for 231 days for contempt.  His jailing led to a revision of the country’s constitution, he said, that now permits clergymen to serve in government office.

The allegations that he was “involved in gun running were false,” he said, adding that in 2001 he was arrested “under dirty charges of supporting FARC.”

Far from being an ally of FARC, Bishop Crespo said, he and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, a German national, were seeking “the freedom of several European citizens kidnapped by the Colombian insurgency.”

His involvement in hostage negotiations with FARC prompted the “conspiracy” by the head of the Colombian security services, Jorge Noguera, and the chief of the Ecuadoran police, which the bishop said led to his jailing and the expulsion of the German bishop from Ecuador.

Jorge Noguera served as chief of the DAS (the Colombian Administrative Department of Security) from 2002 to 2006.  In 2007 he was accused of being a member of the AUC, a right-wing paramilitary group, and in 2008, Noguera was arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy for his AUC work while serving as chief of the security services.

Dr. Crespo told CEN he “defeated eight indictments, the last one issued on Dec. 24, 2009” brought by his opponents, while his persecutors were now in jail.

“Where is Noguera now a days?  He is in jail in Colombia, arrested by his own accomplices,” the bishop said.

Kunonga grabs two more churches: The Church of England Newspaper, Sept 24, 2010 p 8. September 29, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Zimbabwe’s church property battle heated up last week as police evicted Anglicans loyal to Bishop Chad Gandiya and the Church of the Province of Central Africa from their church.

However, the Zimbabwe Standard reports the latest eviction by police on behalf of breakaway Bishop Nolbert Kunonga was from a church built by a congregation in Chitungwiza after they had been evicted from their original church home.

In 2007, the Anglican congregation in Chitungwiza, a suburban township south of the capital near the city’s airport, was evicted from their church in the township’s Unit K ward after they refused to back a priest installed by Dr. Kunonga.  The congregation began building a new church in the township’s Unit M ward, with construction completed earlier this month.

On Sept 18 The Standard reported that two weeks ago a police inspector came to the church and told the congregation and parish workers to leave.  He had “orders from above” to turn the building over to Dr. Kunonga.  A Kunonga priest soon took up physical residence in the church, with the vestry room turned into a bedroom.

Dr. Kunonga’s claim upon the church rests with his recognition by the security services as the Anglican bishop in Harare, sources in Zimbabwe tell CEN.

The seizure of the Unit M church follows the confiscation earlier this month of a second church in Chitungwiza by Dr. Kunonga.  On Sept 1 The Zimbabwean reported the congregation of a church in the Zengeza 2 section of the township was evicted to make way for a fee paying pre-school.

Members of the congregation have denounced Dr. Kunonga for driving the congregation out of their building to worship in the open air during the Southern African winter, while he has enriched himself by turning their church into a for-profit school.

Questions over Anglican honours claim for Robert Mugabe: The Church of England Newspaper, Sept 3, 2010 p 7. September 4, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is to be honored by the Anglican Church of Ecuador with an honorary doctorate, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reported on Aug 28.

The state broadcaster reported that at a meeting at State house in Harare on Saturday, Anglican Bishop Walter Crespo of Ecuador lauded the Zimbabwe strongman as a political and spiritual leader, who had led the fight against Anglo-American imperialism in the developing world.

However, church leaders in the South American republic note the controversial Dr. Crespo is not affiliated with the Episcopal Church’s Dioceses of Litoral and Central Ecuador, but is head of his own self-styled Anglican Province of Ecuador, linked to former Bishop of Harare Dr. Nolbert Kunonga’s Anglican Province of Zimbabwe.

Dr. Crespo has cut a curious clerical swath across the religious landscape of South America, having been arrested for allegedly supplying arms to the FARC guerrilla movement in Colombia.

Last week Dr. Crespo invited President Mugabe to Quito to receive an honorary Degree of Doctor of Civil Laws.  “The conferment of the honorary doctorate to the Head of State is in honour of and recognition of Comrade Mugabe’s outstanding leadership of not only Zimbabwe but of the rest of the world including Latin America,” the bishop said.

President Mugabe thanked Dr. Crespo and his hosts, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga and the former Bishop of Manicaland Elson Jakazi, stating he would pick up the degree in Quito after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month.  The Zimbabwe strongman stated he and Dr. Kunonga shared a “common stand” with Dr. Crespo on “certain basic principles: Christian, cultural, and humanitarian.”

Procreation, President Mugabe said, was God’s purpose of sexual relations.  “When God created Adam he also created Eve so there can be that harmony, family harmony between men and women between the children of Adam and Eve and God made it that way to be for multiplication.” The octogenarian strongman said.

In 2000, Dr. Crespo was arrested by the Ecuadorian police in conjunction with the sale of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the principle rebel group in neighboring Colombia.

El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language edition of the Miami Herald reported in October 2000, that Dr. Crespo brokered the deal to supply the rebels with weapons purchased from the Ecuadorean Air Force, ostensively bound for the Mugabe regime.

The Herald reported that the weapons, M-72-A2 rockets and cluster bombs, had been purchased by Ecuador in 1977, and were decommissioned in 2000 by Admiral Hugo Unda, the country’s minister of defence.  The “obsolete” weapons, valued at $3 million were sold to the Zimbabwean government for $240,000 via a Brazilian corporation.  The weapons left Ecuador on a chartered Russian Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, which filed a flight plan from the air base in Taura, Ecuador to Harare via Chile, Brazil and Angola.

The Herald reported that once the plane touched down in Chile the arms were disembarked and transshipped via a fleet of small planes to FARC bases in the Colombian jungle.

Dr. Crespo, who was held for almost three years in prison until the charges were dropped for lack of evidence, said a confession he had given to the Ecuadorian police, admitting to organizing the scheme, had been obtained unlawfully after police drugged his food.  The bishop has since denied any involvement with the arms deal.

Police cancel Zimbabwe pilgrimage: The Church of England Newspaper, July 2, 2010 p 6. July 8, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have broken up a pilgrimage to the shrine of Bernard Mizeki in Marondera by Bishop Chad Gandiya and members of the Diocese of Harare. On June 25, the ZRP blocked the road to the shrine, forcing Anglicans to worship in a field near the memorial to the Nineteenth century African catechist and martyr.

The police intervention comes after the government promised that Anglicans loyal to Bishop Gandiya would be permitted to worship at the shrine over the weekend of June 25-27, after supporters of former bishop Nolbert Kunonga used the shrine the previous weekend.

In a statement printed in the government-backed Harare Herald Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said “people have freedom of worship as enshrined in the Constitution and as a ministry what we can only do is to ensure that there is no violence.

“If anyone tries to disturb them we will intervene. The other group was allowed and they did it peacefully, so why should we not allow the other group to do the same?” the minister said.

However in an email to supporters in the West, Bishop Gandiya stated the ZRP had blocked access to the shrine “in spite of the assurances we were given by the government that we would not be disturbed or harassed by anyone.”

The Minister of Home Affairs was “on television” and assured “people that they would not be disturbed and that they would be protected,” Bishop Gandiya said.

But “all this is far from the reality on the ground in Marondera,” he noted, adding that he had been “given the rare opportunity to encourage pilgrims on television to come to the shrine and that they would be protected, but the assurances have not been honored.”

But on June 19, Dr. Kunonga said that he would ask the ZRP to block Bishop Gandiya and his supporters from visiting the shrine. “If you are not here today we will see you next year not on the 25th as scheduled by the [Church of the Province of Central Africa] because I will make sure that you will not be allowed on these premises. I will be there myself to see that they are not allowed in since they have refused to unite with us today,” Dr. Kunonga told local reporters.

Speaking to the Zimbabwe Sunday Standard, Bishop Gandiya said he hoped the government would explain the contradiction between its words and ZRP action.  “I don’t know whether we are going to get any explanation, but would really appreciate it.  It’s embarrassing to us.  It’s embarrassing to all the pilgrims and its embarrassing to our government,” he said.

The Mizeki shrine was not the private property of Dr. Kunonga he said. “The shrine is not only important for Zimbabwean Anglicans bur for the whole Anglican Communion and even beyond, non-Anglicans too,” he said.

“For us the shrine as a provincial one.  It does not belong to one diocese.  It does not belong to Zimbabwe alone; even international pilgrims are welcome,” the bishop said.

No surrender to Dr. Kunonga says Harare bishop: The Church of England Newspaper, May 14, 2010 p 6. May 22, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Dr. Nolbert Kunonga has called upon the Diocese of Harare to concede defeat and join his breakaway Anglican Church of Zimbabwe.

On May 7, the government-backed Harare Herald published a statement by the controversial former bishop saying that in light of the Supreme Court decision finding that he was the lawful Bishop of Harare, Anglicans should put aside their quarrels and unite under him.

“I humbly call on Anglicans in this diocese to now reflect on the issues that have occurred in the church since 2007 and use this opportunity to focus on the future. This is an opportunity for all Anglicans from the different persuasions in the diocese to come together as one,” he said.

Dr. Kunonga told the Herald that he would reopen the churches of the diocese to all Anglicans—they have been closed by the police on the instructions of Dr. Kunonga since Christmas—providing an accommodation could be reached.

“Where differences still remain, let the differences be dealt with internally, as a family,” he said.

“I will be communicating with those I have differences with, with the hope that if we see issues in the same way, we will forge ahead with fortitude,” Dr Kunonga’s statement to the Herald said.

However, the Bishop of Harare, Dr. Chad Gandiya said that he had not been contacted by Dr. Kunonga, nor was he of a mind to concede.

Speaking the Sunday Times of South Africa, Dr. Gandiya—the Bishop of Harare elected by the Church of the Province of Central Africa—said the diocese’s attorneys would contest last week’s court decision.

“We are puzzled and baffled by the court decision, but our lawyers are handling it,” he said, noting that the diocese would “launch a constitutional challenge. Something must certainly be done,” he said, noting the underlying dispute was still before the Harare High Court, awaiting adjudication.

Dr. Gandiya was not impressed by Dr. Kunonga’s offer of an olive branch.  “The dispute is not between me and Kunonga but between him and the province, which excommunicated him over their sharp differences,” Dr. Gandiya said.

Zimbabwe Supreme Court upholds Dr. Kunonga as Bishop of Harare: The Church of England Newspaper, May 7, 2010 p 8. May 14, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Zimbabwe Supreme Court has handed down an order that effectively declares Dr. Nolbert Kunonga to be the lawful bishop of Harare.

On May 2, Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba ruled the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) had not followed proper legal procedures in appealing a July 2009 decision by High Court Justice Ben Hlatshwayo which recognized Dr. Kunonga as the Bishop of Harare.

The effect of the ruling is unclear. While Justice Hlatshwayo ruled in favour of Dr. Kunonga in July 2009, Judge President Rita Makarau held last year the two sides should share the properties pending a final disposition of the dispute. This view was upheld on March 3, 2010 on appeal by Justice Chinembiri Bhunu.

Dr. Kunonga and the CPCA’s Bishop of Harare, Dr. Chad Gandiya, are agreed that Dr. Kunonga leads a separate entity, the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe. (ACZ). However, the effect of the Supreme Court ruling is to confirm Dr. Kunonga as the CPCA Bishop of Harare, and it is in this capacity as CPCA Bishop, not in his new role as archbishop of the ACZ, that allows the breakaway bishop to control the diocese’s property.

However, Justice Malaba stated in his opinion that fairness or the underlying ecclesiastical dispute was not at issue. The question before the court was whether the attorneys for the province had filed a proper petition for appeal.

According to extracts from the ruling published in the state-controlled Harare Herald, Justice Malaba held the CPCA had not provided a bond for the costs of the appeal within the prescribed time and had failed to ask for a waiver of this requirement. The court had no recourse but to quash the province’s appeal, he said.

In his view the CPCA’s appeal was a legal stratagem designed to suspend the lower court’s order while it consecrated a new bishop for the diocese, thereby presenting the court with a fait accompli.

“When a party abuses the legal process in this way, he should not expect protection from the court when the other party seeks redress of his conduct,” the judge said.

“Without an application for condonation [a request for forgiveness from the court for omitting a required pleading] it proceeded to claim relief as if non-compliance with rules of court was an inconsequential matter.”

“One cannot consider absolving the [CPCA] from the consequences of lack of diligence committed by its legal practitioners, when there is no suggestion in its papers that the ‘oversight’ was that of a legal practitioner,” Justice Malaba ruled.

The attorney for the CPCA, Happious Zhou, told Newsreel his client was reviewing the ruling and would likely file a new petition, asking the court to clarify who was the lawful Bishop of Harare.

Bishop’s Zimbabwe appeal: The Church of England Newspaper, May 6, 2010 May 7, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The persecution of Anglicans at the hands of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has intensified in recent weeks, the Bishop of Harare, Dr Chad Gandiya, reported on April 28, with the police breaking up worship services at the orders of breakaway bishop Dr Nolbert Kunonga.

Writing in NewZimbabwe.com, Dr Gandiya reported the situation was grim, but Anglicans would not be cowed by police persecution. He said the government had requested Vice President John Nkomo along with two Cabinet ministers to mediate the dispute between Dr Kunonga and the Diocese of Harare.

But Dr Gandiya stated that “we continue to be amazed that while these talks have begun and Cabinet’s wish and message to us to worship in peace, the very opposite is happening. Our experience over the last two weeks is that the persecution seems to have intensified. Police are openly telling our people to attend Dr Kunonga’s services only, and continue to prohibit them from worshipping in their churches.”

The bishop said he was “baffled” by the behaviour of the police. His questions for an explanation of their conduct had so far been met with silence, he said.

“Who will police the police? Have they officially become a law unto themselves? To whom can we turn for help? Who will listen to our plight?” the bishop asked.

He cited several incidents of police misconduct. On April 11 the ZRP went to “St Mark’s Church, Ruwa, and drove our members away from both the church and church premises. When the congregation decided to meet at the priest’s house, the police prohibited them from doing so.”

The vicar of St Mark’s then received a text message from a priest loyal to Dr Kunonga warning “what [the police] did at St Faith’s Church (Budiriro) will happen” to you. At St Faith’s, the ZRP used tear-gas to clear the church during Sunday services and attacked a meeting of the Mothers’ Union held outside the church.

“This is further proof that Dr Kunonga’s priests are working in cahoots with the police,” the bishop said, adding that “our Cathedral congregation was told by the police not to meet anywhere near the Cathedral next week, or else they will face the wrath of law enforcement.”

At St. Alban’s Church, Chiweshe, Dr Gandiya reported that when he arrived to lead a Confirmation Service, he found the door’s welded shut. “We only managed to remove a pin on one of the hinges but could not go in. As a result, we had our service in the open air.”

However, the police arrested six people, including two priests, and charged them with breaking into the church. “No charges were brought against them but we reported the damage that was caused to our church building by the welding of doors, and other devices used to prevent us from going in,” the bishop said.

Despite the legal and physical obstacles being placed in the way of Anglicans in Harare, Dr Gandiya said his people had not lost heart. Anglicans were meeting in borrowed churches and “in the open air” and the “we don’t lose heart in spite of all the challenges we are facing.”

Mugabe calls upon Anglicans to end “un-Christian” land dispute: The Church of England Newspaper, April 23, 2010 p 8. April 30, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Robert Mugabe has condemned the violent dispute between Dr. Nolbert Kunonga and the Church of the Province of Central Africa, urging church leaders to end the “un-Christian” split that has embarrassed the nation.

In a speech on April 18 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare marking the 30^th anniversary of black majority rule, President Mugabe condemned Britain, the US, Germany and other western countries for imposing economic sanctions. He also denounced the political, religious and criminal violence plaguing his country.

However, the president’s peace plea is not expected to halt the breakdown of law and order in Zimbabwe, as Robert Mugabe has made similar pleas in the past, and then has unleashed the security services on his political opponents in violent campaigns of repression.

A political ally of the Zimbabwean-strongman, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga’s hold on church property in Harare rests solely upon the armed might of the police.  Attracting less than ten per cent of Anglican worshippers to his breakaway Anglican Church of Zimbabwe, Dr. Kunonga has been propped up by the police, who have ignored orders from the country’s courts and the Minister for Home Affairs to back off from the dispute.

“As Zimbabweans, we need to foster an environment of tolerance and treat each other with dignity and respect irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, tribe, political or religious affiliation,” President Mugabe told the crowd in the newly rebuilt stadium—a gift to the regime from the Chinese government.

“Your leadership in the inclusive Government urges you to desist from any acts of violence that will cause harm to others and becomes a blight on our society,” he said.

Mr. Mugabe chastised Dr. Kunonga and the Bishop of Harare Dr. Chad Gandiya for fighting for control of church property in the city, saying their behaviour was un-Christian.  He also called for an end to domestic violence, urging men to stop abusing their wives and girlfriends.

Dr Kunonga rejects government mediation in Harare split: The Church of England Newspaper, April 9, 2010 p 7. April 16, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Attempts at mediation in the Harare church split by the Vice President of Zimbabwe have been rebuffed by Dr. Nolbert Kunonga.

On Easter Sunday the former Bishop of Harare led services for 100 worshippers under heavy police guard at St Mary’s and All Saints Cathedral, while outside the cathedral over a 1000 Anglicans loyal to Bishop Chad Gandiya celebrated Easter.

On April 5, the government-backed Harare Sunday Mail reported that the cabinet had asked Vice-President John Nkoma to mediate the dispute between Dr. Kunonga and Bishop Gandiya.

The Mail quoted co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa as stating the dispute had been discussed at two recent meetings of the cabinet.

“This infighting between the two factions has tarnished the image of the country’s police force and the Ministry of Home Affairs,” Mr. Mutsekwa said, adding the “cabinet has now agreed that Vice President John Nkomo leads the process to bring normalcy and sanity to the Anglican family.”

Comrade Nkomo “will soon summon both faction leaders in the Anglican Church and will discuss with them a raft of measures that will bring reconciliation between the two factions in the church,” the minister said, adding that he hoped the “intervention of a fatherly figure” like the 75-year old vice president “will make the parishioners united.”

However, in an April 6 interview with SW Radio Africa, Bishop Gandiya reported that the first meeting of the vice president with Dr. Kunonga and Bishop Gandiya had achieved little.

The bishop said “Vice President John Nkomo tried to talk to both of us together and asked us if we could just work in peace, obviously observing Justice Makarau’s judgement.”

Justice Makarau in 2008 had ordered the parties to share the diocese’s buildings until a final determination had been made by the courts over the ownership of the churches. However, with the backing of the police, Dr. Kunonga has refused to obey the court orders and has locked out Anglicans from their churches.

Bishop Gandiya noted that it was his belief that “the thinking of most people in government was that the law should be upheld, but to our surprise it wasn’t and again as is always the case, the police were prohibiting us” from entering Harare’s churches.

Details of the meeting were not disclosed. However Bishop Gandiya stated that the request to share the buildings was rejected by Dr. Kunonga.

Police defy government minister to back Dr. Kunonga: The Church of England Newspaper, April 1, 2010 p 8. April 11, 2010

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Zimbabwe’s security services have been ordered to back the former bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga in his battle with the Church of the Province of Central Africa.

The decision has political ramifications within Zimbabwe, as it overrules orders issued by the Minister of Home Affairs directing the police to comply with the court rulings in the Kunonga affair.

On Palm Sunday the security services broke up an open air worship service held outside the Cathedral of St Mary’s and All Angels. Blocked from entering their churches by the police, Anglicans had been worshipping in the streets and public squares, however sources in Harare tell The Church of England Newspaper that Sunday’s services outside the Cathedral were blocked by the police.

An émigré Zimbabwe newspaper The Zimbabwe Times, which is published on the internet from the United States and edited by expatriate reporters, on March 28 reported that it had been given a copy of a directive ordering the police to permit only those clergy loyal to Dr. Kunonga to conduct services at Anglican churches in Harare.

Operational Order Number 8 of 2010 entitled “Anticipated Defiance of a High Court Order by Gandiya Faction Members” directs senior officers to deploy agents of the Police Internal Security and Intelligence (PISI) detachment to “all Anglican churches for intelligence gathering in their respective areas of policing.”

The “officer in charge” of each station is directed to “engage in dialogue with their local church leaders from both church factions to ensure that one church service is done under Kunonga.”

One station was directed to “deploy one stick of 15” police officers to “St Luke’s Greendale to barricade the entrance and ensure only the Kunonga faction is allowed to enter church.” The detachment was further order to “ensure that no other service is conducted after the Kunonga service has been conducted.”

The Church of England Newspaper could not confirm independently the veracity of the Zimbabwe Times’ report, however, our sources report that the police continue to defy a high court order directing Dr. Kunonga to share the use of church buildings with clergy and parishioners loyal to the Anglican bishop of Harare, Dr. Chad Gandiya.

In January, the Co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa met with senior police officers and asked them to explain their conduct. However Mr. Mutsekwa is a member of the MDC party, a junior partner in the Zimbabwe collation government with ZANU-PF. The security services remain under the control of ZANU-PF and have so far refused to honour the rule of law and obey the courts or the government—reserving its loyalty to President Mugabe and his supporters.

In comments printed by the Zimbabwe Standard on Jan 24 before his meeting with police officials, Mr. Mutsekwa conceded that he was in a weak political position. “Remember, I issued a statement after our meeting last year but it appears nothing changed much so we will be meeting again,” the minister said.

“We are aware and concerned about what is happening,” he told the Standard and “I will be meeting with the Officer Commanding Harare Province to find out why this is still happening and also give him a directive to stop it,” he said in January. As of the end of Palm Sunday, the police have continued to ignore his authority.

Kunonga “will be curbed”: CEN 2.05.10 p 8. February 13, 2010

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The Zimbabwean government will intervene in the battle over church property in Harare, state ministers promised last month, in the wake of the Christmas shuttering of the diocese’s churches by Dr. Nolbert Kunonga.

Co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa pledged to end police support for the schismatic bishop and his violent campaign to evict Anglicans loyal to the Church of the Province of Central Africa and its Bishop of Harare, Dr. Chad Gandiya, from their churches.

The minister’s assurances come amidst a renewed campaign of violence and intimidation to break Anglicans loyal to the province. Dr Kunonga has been relentless in pursuing his claims for the diocese’s property. On Jan 30 baton-wielding police broke up a crèche operated by Karoi Anglican Church, forcing 60 under-fives to vacate the school as their parents were supporters of Dr. Gandiya, the Zim Online news service reported.

On Jan 31, Dr. Gandiya led a service outside the city’s St. Mary’s Cathedral in Africa Unity Square for an estimated 4000 worshippers to protest the campaign of intimidation.

Dr. Gandiya told the crowd the “custodians of the law are the ones denying us access, threatening to arrest us or use teargas to force us out,” according to wire services reports. Police threats would not deter Anglicans from gathering to worship, he said, even if forced to do so on the grass outside their churches.

However, “we support our government in spite of all that is playing on; we are not fighting government,” he told reporters after the service, noting he had invited President Robert Mugabe to attend the service.

The Zimbabwe Standard reported on Jan 24 that Mr. Mutsekwa said will ask senior police officials to explain their conduct and direct them to comply with the law.

However, sources in Harare fear the minister’s intervention will not resolve the dispute. The breakaway bishop has also tied his cause to the fortunes of President Mugabe, and has sought to paint his opponents as either tools of British imperial interests or supporters of the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

Last April, Mr. Mutsekwa, a member of the MDC and his ZANU-PF counterpart, Home Affairs Co-Minister Kembo Mohadi, summoned Dr. Kunonga and Dr. Bakare to a meeting at government house to resolve the dispute between the two groups.

In 2008 a court order granted both Dr. Kunonga and Dr. Bakare joint use of diocesan properties, pending the final adjudication of the dispute over their ownership. However, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), with the backing of leading elements of the ZANU-PF regime refused to honour the order, and have used force to bar Anglicans from worshipping in Harare’s churches.

The creation of a coalition MDC – ZANU-PF government formed in February 2009, however, saw a withdrawal of support from Dr. Kunonga by the ZRP, as the bishop’s allies in the government lost control of the security services, and on Palm Sunday 2009, the ZRP ordered the Kunonga faction to share the church buildings, allowing both groups to hold services.

However the collapse of the coalition government has seen Dr. Kunonga reassert his power, and by Christmas he had succeeded with the support of the ZRP in shuttering the diocese’s churches.

“Remember, I issued a statement after our meeting last year but it appears nothing changed much so we will be meeting again,” Mr. Mutsekwa said.

“We are aware and concerned about what is happening,” he told the Standard and “I will be meeting with the Officer Commanding Harare Province to find out why this is still happening and also give him a directive to stop it.”

From new priest to bishop in just 17 days: CEN 8.14.09 p 7. August 16, 2009

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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Seventeen days after being ordained to the priesthood by the Bishop of Kensington, the curate of the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Hampton of the Diocese of London has been elected Bishop of Manicaland.

On July 24 the electoral synod of the Zimbabwe diocese elected as bishop the Rev. Dr. Julius Makoni to succeed his deposed processor the Rt. Rev. Elson Jakazi. Dr. Makoni’s election must now go the House of Bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) for confirmation.

An ally of former Harare Bishop, on Sept 23, 2007 Bishop Jakazi joined Dr. Nolbert Kunonga in writing to Archbishop Bernard Malango saying their dioceses had withdrawn from Central Africa in protest to what they alleged was a pro-gay bias in the Province.

The dean of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia responded that it “was impossible for them to withdraw the dioceses” and on Oct 19, 2007 the Central African bishops declared the two “were no longer bishops” of the CPCA.

In April 2008 the former Bishop of Harare, the Rt. Rev. Peter Hatendi was appointed interim bishop of Manicaland. However, Bishop Jakazi last year retracted his declaration of independence from the CPCA and had sought to block the election of a new bishop for the diocese, claiming he remained the rightful bishop. Litigation is currently underway between the CPCA and Bishop Jakazi over the trusteeship of the Manicaland church properties.

Dr. Makoni was one of Zimbabwe’s leading bankers until he fled to England in 2004, after the Mugabe regime threatened to arrest him over charges of currency manipulation. Émigré newspapers at the time dismissed the charges as being motivated by political and tribal jealousies, and the government eventually dropped all charges.

Educated at St Ignatius College in Harare, Dr. Makoni earned a BA and PhD in finance from Cambridge University and an MBA from London University. He worked in the City of London for Morgan Grenfell followed by eight years at the World Bank and three years at Bankers Trust before he formed his own bank, NMB Bank which was listed on the London and Zimbabwe stock exchanges.

After fleeing Zimbabwe in 2004, Dr. Makoni studied for holy orders at Westcott House and was ordained a deacon in 2008 by the Bishop of Southwark on behalf of the Bishop Harare, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Paul Williams on July 9.

Dr. Makoni is the son-in-law of Bishop Hatendi, and his father, the Rev. Alban Makoni, was a priest of the Dioceses of Manicaland and Mashonaland.

In 2002, death threats were made by supporters of Dr. Kunonga against Dr. Makoni’s wife, Pauline. A member of the chapter of the Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints in Harare, Mrs. Makoni had opposed Dr. Kunonga’s usurpation of authority within the diocese.

Former Bishop of Harare given ultimatum: CEN 7.31.09 p 6. August 3, 2009

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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The Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) will give Dr. Nolbert Kunonga his day in court, but he must first return control over the assets of the Diocese of Harare to the province, the deputy chancellor of the CPCA said last week.

The offer of a church trial from Chancellor Robert Stumbles is the latest development in the o-going saga of the controversial former Bishop of Harare, who last week mounted a failed legal challenge to block the consecration of his successor.

On July 26, the Rt. Rev. Chad Gandiya was consecrated Bishop of Harare before a congregation of 10,000 gathered at the city’s Sports Centre. Dr. Gandiya was then enthroned at the Cathedral Church of St Mary & All Saints in a ceremony led by the Dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA), Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia and 12 other bishops.

However High Court Judge Ben Hlatshwayo blocked the installation, granting an injunction filed by Dr. Kunonga on behalf of the “Diocesan Trustees for the Diocese of Harare”, which claimed the CPCA was acting in bad faith by proceeding with the consecration.

“I am still the Bishop of Harare,” Dr. Kunonga claimed in the pleading.

Justice Hlatshwayo held the CPCA had not lawfully deposed Dr. Kunonga, writing that the controversial bishop had to “be charged first, tried and removed from office if there is anything against him before another bishop is ordained. Even divorcing a wife has certain procedures that are taken,” the judge ruled.

The Zimbabwe Supreme Court last week overturned the ruling after an emergency appeal was lodged by the CPCA. The Supreme Court ordered that the status quo be restored, with the two factions sharing the use of church properties until litigation over their ownership is concluded.

In a paper outlining the history of the Kunonga schism released on July 23, the Deputy Chancellor of the CPCA, Robert Stumbles reported the split began at the Aug 4, 2007 meeting of the Harare synod.

One of the Notices of Motion presented stated, “the Diocese of Harare does not recognise homosexuality as an acceptable Christian norm and hence does not recognise marriages from such relationships.” Mr. Stumbles noted that such a statement was unremarkable as it had been the formal “stance of the CPCA” on the issue since 1969.

However, on the floor of synod, the motion was amended by supporters of Dr Kunonga into “something unrecognizable and forced this through a somewhat stunned Synod,” Mr. Stumbles said, which the bishop’s supporters believed gave him the authority to “sever Diocesan links with the CPCA.”

On Sept 21, 2007 Dr. Kunonga informed the diocese “we are withdrawing from the Church of the Province of Central Africa,” and at an Extraordinary Synod held on Oct 20 made a “unilateral declaration of independence,” from the CPCA.

Dr. Kunonga formed the “Anglican Church of Zimbabwe” on March 15, 2008, claiming the CPCA was insufficiently firm on the question of homosexuality—a charge consistently denied by the province, which held Dr. Kunonga was engaged in a power grab with the tacit approval of allies within the Mugabe regime.

The province responded by appointing the retired Bishop of Manicaland, Dr. Sebastian Bakare interim bishop of the diocese, and excommunicated Dr. Kunonga after he created the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe.

Litigation over the control of parish properties ensued and the Harare High Court ordered that until it was resolved the two factions share usage of the properties. However, Dr. Kunonga ignored the court’s order, and with the backing of the police mounted a campaign of violent intimidation against supporters of Dr. Bakare.

The creation of a coalition government this year, however, saw an end to active government support for Dr. Kunonga. On March 4, 2009 the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa wrote to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai saying they “disapproved of the actions of Dr Kunonga,” did not “recognise the status” of the breakaway bishop and asked the state to oversee the “full restoration of Anglican property” in Harare to the CPCA.

If he admits that he “erred in trying to withdraw the Diocese from the CPCA,” restores and accounts for the church’s assets, and withdraws “all court actions”, the House of Bishops of the CPCA “will convene to determine what steps should be taken by it concerning Dr. Kunonga,” Mr. Stumbles said.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.

Archbishop of Cantebury’s adviser is elected as the new Bishop of Harare: CEN 5.07.09 p 6. May 12, 2009

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The Rev Canon Chad Gandiya, the USPG’s Africa desk officer, has been elected bishop of the troubled Diocese of Harare.

Originally scheduled for April 25, the election had been postponed to May 2 to allow the Dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA), Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia to attend the meeting following a trip to the United States.

Sharply divided in the wake of the secession of its former bishop, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga, the CPCA appointed Dr. Sebastian Bakare interim bishop on Nov 7, 2007. Aided by the security services, Dr. Kunonga has kept control of the diocese’s properties, using force to drive out clergy and congregations that backed Dr. Bakare.

At its 2008 Diocesan Synod, the diocese began structural reforms to repair the damage left from the Kunonga era. In place of the closed system that critics charge had been susceptible to influence from the CIO—Zimbabwe’s secret police, the diocesan synod elected a six member search committee to screen nominations.

Five names were submitted to the 22-member Elective Assembly, comprised of 6 clergy and 6 lay electors chosen by the diocesan synod, Bishop Chama, and three bishops, three clergy and three lay electors chosen by the CPCA. At a meeting held May 2 at the Arundel School Chapel in Harare Canon Gandiya was elected bishop by secret ballot of the 22-member diocesan Elective Assembly.

A former Dean of Bishop Gaul Theological College, Canon Gandiya oversees the USPG’s Africa operations, and has been appointed by Dr. Rowan Williams to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pastoral Visitor team. The bishop-elect is scheduled to be consecrated on July 25.

Following Canon Gandiya’s election, Dr. Bakarare told reporters he had been appointed Bishop of Harare on a “caretaker basis. I was here on a caretaker basis. I was here because of Kunonga’s behaviour. I was a shepherd looking after its sheep.”

On May 4, Bishop Chama and the new bishop-elect and other church leaders met with Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, briefing the government leader on the situation with the Anglican Church, and to offer condolences for the recent death of his wife and nephew.

The bishops “used the opportunity for the Prime Minister to hear from the horse’s mouth what is happening in the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe where Kunonga and [Bishop] Jakazi are clinging to church property,” Bishop Chama told local reporters.

Bishop Elson Jakazi of Manicaland and Dr. Kunonga were excommunicated by the CPCA on May 16, 2008 for “withdrawing from the Province of Central Africa, forming another Church, and casting aside the Constitution and Canons of the Church of the Province of Central Africa.”

“It was a good opportunity to brief [the prime minister] especially on our two friends that have left the church,” Dr. Chama told Zimonline.

Election of new Zimbabwe bishop postponed unexpectedly: CEN 5.01.09 p 8. April 30, 2009

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The April 25 election of a new bishop in succession to the Rt. Rev. Sebastian Bakare of the Diocese of Harare has been postponed, sources in Zimbabwe tell The Church of England Newspaper.

No explanation or new date for the cancelled election has been offered by the diocese or the Church of the Province of Central Africa. Four candidates had been put forward for election: the USPG’s Africa desk office, the Rev Canon Chad Gandiya; the vicar of Tattenhall, Cheshire the Rev. Lameck Mutate; the Archdeacon of Northern Botswana, Dr. Archford Musodza; and the vicar of Mbare parish in Harare, the Rev. Canon David Manyau.

The last election for a Bishop of Harare in 2001 was marred by the intervention of the CIO—Zimbabwe’s secret police, whom critics charged engineered the election of Dr. Nolbert Kunonga. From the start of his tumultuous episcopate, Dr. Kunonga was closely linked with the regime of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe. Members of the diocese accused Dr. Kunonga with soliciting the murder of clergy and lay opponents, theft and heresy. 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. While losing almost all of the diocese’s members to Dr. Bakare, Dr. Kunonga was able to hold on to the parish properties as he maintained the backing of the ZRP, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, who refused to honor a court ruling that ordered Dr. Kunonga to share the properties.

However, the introduction of a power sharing agreement between the Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition MDC, removed Dr. Kunonga’s protectors from their control of the security services, and earlier this month the government ordered Dr. Kunonga to share the disputed church properties, and directed the ZRP not to interfere further in the split.

While the violence appears to be subsiding in Harare, tensions are still high in the diocese of Manicaland, home to Zimbabawe’s second breakaway bishop. On April 25 the government backed Harare Herald reported that a priest aligned with Bishop Elson Jakazi—who along with Dr. Kunonga was excommunicated on May 16, 2008 for “withdrawing from the Province of Central Africa, forming another Church, and casting aside the Constitution and Canons of the Church of the Province of Central Africa.”

The retired Bishop of Harare, Peter Hatendi was appointed by the province to be the interim bishop of Manicaland following Bishop Jakazi’s ouster. Litigation between the Province and Bishop Jakazi for control of the diocese’s properties is underway, but last week supporters of Bishop Jakazi claim a mob hired by the supporters of Bishop Hatendi, assaulted a Jakazi priest sat St Agnes Church in Chikanga.

Manicaland police Inspector Brian Makomeke told the Harare Herald, the “Rev Matikiti from the Bishop Jakazi faction, who is staying at St Agnes Church in Chikanga high-density suburb, was assaulted by a mob at the church on Sunday. The incident occurred at about 7am when a group of about 100 people” led by a priest loyal to the province attempted to worship.

“A misunderstanding ensued between the two factions, resulting in Rev Matikiti being assaulted,” the Manicaland police spokesman said, and nine men are being held in custody.

Harare bishops agree deal: CEN 4.17.09 p 8. April 22, 2009

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A deal has been reached between the battling bishops of Harare that has allowed Anglicans to return to their churches on Palm Sunday for the first time in almost a year.

On April 1, Home Affairs Co-Minister Giles Mutsekwa, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and his ZANU-PF counterpart, Home Affairs Co-Minister Kembo Mohadi, summoned the breakaway Bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga and the bishop appointed by the Church of the Province of Central Africa, Dr. Sebastian Bakare to a meeting at government house to resolve the dispute between the two groups.

In 2008 a court order granted both Dr. Kunonga and Dr. Bakarer joint use of diocesan properties, pending the final adjudication of the dispute over their ownership. However, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), with the backing of leading elements of the ZANU-PF regime refused to honour the order, and have used force to bar Dr. Bakare’s supporters from worshipping in Harare’s churches.

The coalition MDC – ZANU-PF government formed in February, however, has seen a withdrawal of support from Dr. Kunonga by the ZRP, as the bishop’s allies in the government appear to have lost control of the security services.

On Palm Sunday, the ZRP ordered the Kunonga faction to share the church buildings, allowing both groups to hold services. Dr. Bakare told the government-backed Harare Herald, “Today we are happy that we have been allowed to use our buildings.

“I believe this has happened to all our churches. So far we have received confirmation from leaders at the Cathedral and St Andrews in Glen View that they had worshipped peacefully,” he told the Herald.

Zimbabwe bishops called to meeting: CEN 4.09.09 p 8. April 13, 2009

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Ministers from Zimbabwe’s new coalition government have called in the battling bishops of Harare for talks, and have promised an end to police attacks on Anglicans seeking to worship in their churches.

Speaking in Parliament on April 2, newly appointed Home Affairs Co-Minister Giles Mutsekwa, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) stated that he and his ZANU-PF counterpart, Home Affairs Co-Minister Kembo Mohadi, “had a chance to summon” former Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and Bishop Sebastian Bakare to government house for discussions.

The April 1 meeting with the government ministers marks a further decline in Dr. Kunonga’s hold over the diocese’s properties. The breakaway bishop, who was excommunicated in 2007 after he attempted to pull Harare out of the Church of the Province of Central Africa and create an Anglican Church of Zimbabwe, has been able to control the parish properties and assets only through the active interventions of the Mugabe regime.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has refused to enforce court orders granting Dr. Bakare’s supporters—almost all the diocese’s lay members—use of their churches pending a final adjudication, and through beatings and arrests have kept Dr. Kunonga in control. The statement in Parliament last week, however, marks a further decline in Dr. Kunonga’s fortunes as the coalition government seeks to reinstate the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

“The ministry, indeed Government, is worried there is this disagreement. It has involved the police that we are in charge of and the image of the police has been tarnished,” Mr. Mutsekwa said, according to an account published in the government backed Harare Herald.

The dispute has been referred to the Attorney-General’s Office for review, he said, but noted the police had been instructed to refrain from using force against parishioners.

The government’s statement that police will no longer use violence against Dr. Bakare’s supporters follows last month’s statement by ZRP Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, that he had never ordered his men to disobey the court orders granting both parties use of the buildings, or instructed his men to attack Anglicans.

A long time supporters of President Mugabe, Dr. Kunonga has been banned from travel to the EU or the US due to his complicity in the crimes of the regime. Sources in Harare tell The Church of England Newspaper, Dr. Kunonga’s political connections with Didymus Mutasa, who for the last five years served as the Mugabe regime’s Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, and the number two man in ZANU-PF, have kept him in power.

However, when Zimbabwe’s new coalition government was formed in February, Mutasa lost the National Security portfolio and its control of the secret police, when he was named Minister of State for Presidential Affairs. The return of democracy and the rule of law will ultimately see off Dr. Kunonga, predict sources in Zimbabwe, but the Mugabe regime and ZANU-PF still are clinging to power and it remains to be seen if the coalition government will survive.

Election set for new Bishop of Harare: CEN 4.09.09 p 8. April 13, 2009

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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.

Fight to reclaim churches in Harare: CEN 4.03.09 p 8. April 8, 2009

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Gun fire erupted at a Harare parish last Sunday, with police firing upon parishioners seeking to reclaim their churches from the former Bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga.

According to the official government daily, The Harare Herald, confrontations between Anglicans loyal to the Bishop of Harare and a small faction loyal to Dr. Kunonga, but backed by the police, took place at eight suburban congregations. In Glen Norah, a township southwest of the city, police fired upon protesters and arrested seven, including two priests and the church warden.

The Herald said the police responded with violence only after having been attacked. Inspector James Sabau told the Herald the police were engaged in their duties, “patrolling different places to maintain law and order as usual targeting mostly the crime prone zones [when] some parishioners turned hostile towards them.”

At St Francis Church in Glen Norah, “some members of the church started throwing stones at the officers leading to the arrest of seven parishioners who were charged and paid deposit fines for criminal nuances. Police only used teargas when the rivals turned violent,” he said.

Last month Dr. Kunonga’s grip on the church in Harare began to slip, when Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner Augustine Chihuri publicly withdrew his support for the controversial bishop. Commissioner Chihuri signed an affidavit, stating he had never ordered the ZRP to defy a court order calling for Dr. Kunonga’s faction and the majority group loyal to Bishop Sebastian Bakare to share church properties.

Since 2007, the ZRP have locked out supporters of Bishop Bakare—estimated to be approximately 95 percent of the diocese—from parish churches, and have used violence to keep Dr. Kunonga in power.

However, following the publication of the Chihuri letter, Bishop Bakare asked Anglicans to return to their churches. On the first Sunday for Anglicans back in their churches for over a year, police interrupted a service led by Bishop Bakare at a parish in Mabvuku on March 15, demanding he withdraw. Bishop Bakare declined, and the police pulled back and let him continue the service.

The return of Anglicans to their churches has so far seen mixed results, with some police units backing Dr. Kunonga, while others have stood down—-a state of affairs that matches the ambiguous political atmosphere within Zimbabwe today, analysts note.

According to an interview given to independent journalist John Fernandes by the rector of Glen Norah, the Rev. Vincent Fenga, the congregation decided that “since our colleagues elsewhere had gone back, we should also do the same and start to use the church.”

However, “the police were not having any of that so problems erupted as church members started to tussle with the police,” Fr. Fenga said.

The ZRP’s attempts to clear the area with force were met with a shower of stones. The ZRP retaliated with teargas and gunfire, wounding one man and arresting seven, including Fr. Fenga and his curate.

After the arrest, members of the parish’s Mother’s Union marched to the police station where Fr. Fenga was held and spent the day singing hymns outside the building in protest to the arrest, Fernandes reported.

The ZRP’s continued support for Dr. Kunonga in defiance of a court order and last month’s statement by Commissioner Chijuri, has prompted a lawsuit by the Church of the Province of Central Africa calling for the law to be enforced.

Diocesan Registrar Michael Chingore told the Standard the church had “launched a contempt of court appeal against the police at the High Court,” he said. “The police have only been trying to stop our services instead of maintaining order.”

End in sight for Kunonga? CEN 3.20.09 p 8. March 20, 2009

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The end appears nigh for Dr. Nolbert Kunonga and his stranglehold on the Diocese of Harare, sources in Zimbabwe tell The Church of England Newspaper. Kept in power solely through the support of regime, “Mugabe’s bishop” appears to have lost the support of the security services.

On Sunday, Anglicans were able to worship unmolested inside some of their churches for over a year after the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner Augustine Chihuri publicly withdrew his support for Dr. Kunonga.

Following his split with the Church of the Province of Central Africa in 2007, Dr. Kunonga created the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe. The Province responded by deposing Dr. Kunonga and appointing retired Bishop Sebastian Bakare to the see. Litigation over the control over diocesan properties ensued and last year the Harare High Court issued an order directing Dr. Kunonga and Dr. Bakare to share the use of church facilities pending the outcome of litigation.

Support for Dr. Kunonga is almost non-existent among the lay members of the diocese, and is confined to a handful of family members and clergy supporters. However, he has had the backing of the Mugabe regime, and supported by the security services he has defied the court’s order to share the properties.

Anglicans attempting to worship inside their churches have been met with force, with arrests and beatings at the hands of the police have been reported across the diocese. However, in the wake of last month’s power sharing agreement between President Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, support for Dr. Kunonga appears to have softened in Harare’s corridors of power.

In a letter to his diocesan clergy sent earlier this month, Dr. Bakare reports that Police Commissioner Chihuri has signed an affidavit denying he ordered the ZRP to ignore the high court order. Dr. Bakare has urged his clergy and their congregations to return to their churches, and last Sunday led worship in one parish.

Sources in Zimbabwe tell CEN the security services entered the Sunday service while Dr. Bakare was presiding, but backed away from a confrontation. The Times’ correspondent in Harare reported that when confronted by the riot police—a special shock force used by the regime to quell dissent, Dr. Bakare stated, “If you want to attack me, I am in your hands.”

Confronted with the police commissioner’s affidavit and Dr. Bakare’s stand, the riot police backed down and the service continued.

Bishops’ Mugabe plea: CEN 3.13.09 p 5. March 13, 2009

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The Anglican Bishops of Central Africa have released a statement “cautiously” welcoming Zimbabwe’s national unity government, and have urged strongman Robert Mugabe to honor the accord and release all political prisoners.

 

In a pastoral letter released on March 1 following the consecration of the Bishop of Bulawayo—former Coventry vicar the Rt. Rev. Cleophas Lunga, the Central African bishops prayed that the coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai “will faithfully commit themselves to the fulfilment and spirit of the objectives enshrined in the Global Agreement.”

The settlement comes “after a long period of political polarisation which created immense suffering of the people,” the bishops wrote, adding that the terms of the treaty remained unmet.

“We are concerned about the continued detention of some political and human rights activists which is indicative of business as usual contrary to the spirit and objectives of Global Agreement,” the bishops wrote. “The continued detention of the activists is not conducive to the spirit of reconciliation and to the promotion of peace and justice. Justice delayed is justice denied,” they said.

On March 4, US President Barack Obama voiced his skepticism of President Mugabe’s compliance with the treaty, and announced the US would maintain its sanctions against the leaders of the regime—which include the former Bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga for another year.

A spokesman for the US State Department said his government did not “see a lifting of sanctions at this time as being particularly helpful, because we have not seen any change come out of the coalition government as far as the Mugabe side has concerned. We have not seen a release of political prisoners in as large numbers as there should be. We remain deeply troubled at ZANU-PF’s consistent lack of commitment to the power-sharing agreement, and much remains to be done to gain the confidence of the international community.”

For sanctions to end, Robert Mugabe must “release all political detainees and end politically directed violence and intimidation; repeal repressive legislation; open access for humanitarian groups and NGOs; and have a commitment to macroeconomic reform,” the US spokesman said on March 5.

Coventry vicar is new Bishop of Matabeleland: CEN 1.02.09 p 5. January 6, 2009

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A Coventry vicar has been appointed Bishop of Matabeleland. Meeting at St. John’s Cathedral in Bulawayo on Nov 8, the the Matabeleland diocesan synod elected as bishop the Rev. Cleophas Lunga, rector of the Caludon Team Ministry in Coventry.

Born in Bulawayo, Bishop-elect Lunga worked as a legal clerk before entering Bishop Gaul Theological College in Harare. Ordained deacon in 1993, and priest the following year, Bishop-elect Lunga served as an assistant at St John’s Cathedral and as diocesan youth minister before being appointed rector of the multi-racial parish of All Saints & St Modwen’s in Bulawayo in 1999.

In 2003 he emigrated to the UK taking up the post of team vicar of St Catherine’s in Stoke Aldermoor, then team rector of the Caludon group of parishes with responsibility for Wyken and Stoke Aldermoor. During his time in Coventry, Bishop-elect Lunga earned an MA degree at Coventry University.

“In Coventry I have been welcomed and very much loved. Encouraged to share my African heritage, I have been tremendously blessed by the experience I have gained here. I have learnt to listen to people’s stories with respect and work towards nurturing hope through love.,” the new bishop said.

“As we are praying during this process we are also looking forward to the possibility of returning to my other homeland and journeying with others who have a zeal for the Lord,” he said.

Dr. Christopher Cocksworth, the Bishop of Coventry welcomed the election saying Bishop-elect Lunga was “an excellent priest who has given a great deal to the Diocese of Coventry.”

“Although we are sorry to lose him, I know that he will have so much to contribute to the Diocese of Matabeleland. My prayers are with him and his family as they await the confirmation of his election and prepare for all that lies ahead,” Dr. Cocksworth said.

Praise for Zimbabwe bishop: CEN 11.13.08 November 13, 2008

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has added his voice to the chorus of praise for the Bishop of Harare, Dr. Sebastian Bakare, upon the occasion of his award of the Per Anger Prize from the Swedish government.

On Nov 10, Dr. Rowan Williams stated he wished to offer his “support and congratulations to Bishop Sebastian Bakare in receiving this award. Bishop Bakare is a deeply respected and courageous leader, who has spoken out not only against injustices in his community but also against corruption within his own church.”

The Harare bishop’s “continued integrity, for which he has placed himself at considerable personal risk, has brought hope to countless people in Zimbabwe and internationally,” the archbishop said.

Bishop Bakare said the situation in Zimbabwe was grim. “It is like a war, in the sense that there is total absence of peace.”

The political situation was fraught with danger, he added. He was sanguine about the prospects for success of the coalition government formed by President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. “People need to have a strong government to put the economic situation in a better position, not this wishy-washy kind of argument,” he said.

“People are crying, no food, no water, no medication,” Dr. Bakare told Stockholm’s TV4. “Some are displaced, children are not going to school. I think every aspect of our society you look at is crying.”

The divisions within Zimbabwe are also playing out against the backdrop of the Diocese of Harare, as reports of continued violence by supporters of former bishop Dr. Nolbert Kunonga against Anglicans loyal to Dr. Bakare come in. Sources in Harare report that last month a deaconess loyal to Dr. Bakare was assaulted by a Kunonga faction priest.

Deaconess Mbuya Kadenhe was assaulted by the Rev. Simon Makove, a priest in the Kunonga faction last month when Fr. Makove and a crowd of supporters entered St. Paul’s Highfield, outside of Harare. The Harare High Court had ordered Dr. Kunonga to share the church property with Dr. Bakare’s supporters, but the orders have so far been ignored with impunity by the Kunonga faction. A magistrate later fined Fr. Makove Z$20 for break of peace and assault.

On May 4, three members of St Paul’s Highfield were seriously injured by baton wielding riot police, who entered the church during Sunday services to drive out worshippers loyal to Dr. Bakare. The congregation at first refused to leave the church, singing “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.”
Fifty more riot police entered the building and began to drum their batons on the backs of the pews to drown out the hymn. When parishioners began to take photos of the police with their cellphones, the police charged and drove the congregation from the building.

Located in one of Harare’s oldest black suburban townships, St. Paul’s Highfield had at one time been a bastion of support for Dr. Kunonga. During the 2001 election for bishop, the rector of Highfield, the Rev. Godfrey Tawonezvi circulated a public letter accusing the leading candidate, the Archdeacon of Harare the Ven. Tim Neill of perpetuating racial injustice in the diocese, and wanting to become bishop in order to continue dominating blacks.

Following his election as Bishop of Harare, Dr. Kunonga appointed Fr. Tawonezvi Dean of St Mary & All Saints Cathedral in Harare, and Neill’s successor as Archdeacon of Harare. In 2002 Dean Tawonezvi removed memorial plaques and other monuments to Rhodesia’s war dead from the Cathedral. The cathedral chapter responded by passing two votes of “no confidence” in the new Dean.

In 2003 Dr. Kunonga appointed Fr. Tawonezvi bishop of the newly vacant see of Masvingo in southeastern Zimbabwe, Episcopal News Service reported at the time. However, Bishop Tawonezvi broke with his patron and refused to follow Dr. Kunonga out of the Province of Central Africa into the “Anglican Church of Zimbabwe” with Dr. Kunonga as its Archbishop, causing the government backed Harare Herald last year to attack Bishop Tawonezvi for being part of the “anti-Kunonga lobby” which sought to restore British rule.

Honour for Bishop Bakare: CEN 10.31.08 p 7. November 3, 2008

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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THE SWEDISH government has awarded the Bishop of Harare its Per Anger prize for his “moral courage” in leading the fight for a democratic Zimbabwe. On Oct 28 the Forum för Levada Historia (Forum for Living History) of the Swedish Foreign Ministry announced Dr Bakare had been chosen to receive the award for his “committed work for human rights in a politically unstable Zimbabwe.” Inaugurated by the Swedish government in 2004 in memory of diplomat Per Anger, the prize winner is selected from those work “promotes democracy and humanitarian efforts, is characterized by active measures and initiative, works for no personal gain, takes great personal risks, displays great courage and is a role model for others.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper

Zimbabwe snub to clergy loyal to Kunonga: CEN 8.22.08 p 5. August 25, 2008

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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The Vice President of Zimbabwe has called upon clergy loyal to the former bishop of Harare, Dr Nolbert Kunonga (pictured) to reconcile with the Anglican Communion. Speaking at a memorial service for his late son on Aug 6, Joseph Msika chastised two Anglican clergy officiating at the service, members of the faction backing ousted bishop Dr Nolbert Kunonga, for the divisions within the diocese. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

Archbishop Tutu leads calls for African repudiation of Mugabe: CEN 7.04.08 p 8. July 7, 2008

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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Former Archbishop of Capetown and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has called upon the leaders of the African Union to repudiate Robert Mugabe.

Speaking to the BBC before the start of the June 30 AU meeting in Egypt, Archbishop Tutu urged African government leaders to stop in and resolve the civic and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

Re-elected President on June 27 after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to pull out of the race following the murders of at least 90 members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party at the hand of thugs of the ruling ZANU-PF party and police loyal to the Zimbabwe strongman, Mugabe was hurriedly sworn in as president on June 29.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission asserted he had won 85% of the ballots cast—though its ability to report the outcome within days, rather than the months it took to issue the returns from the March elections—which independent observers widely credit Tsvangirai as having won, is seen as suspect.

On Saturday Prime Minister Gordon Brown rejected the legitimacy of the elections and said Britain would “work with international partners to find a way to close this sickening chapter that has cost so many lives.”

Leaders of the MDC are expected to travel to Egypt to present their case to the AU leaders. However, Tsvangirai will not be among them, as the government has refused to return his passport, effectively banning him from traveling abroad.

“If you were to have a unanimous voice, saying quite clearly to Mr Mugabe, ‘you are illegitimate and we will not recognise your administration in any shape or form,’ I think that would be a very, very powerful signal and would really strengthen the hand of the international community,” Archbishop Tutu said on June 29.

“That crisis has to be resolved sooner rather than later,” he said. “I think that a very good argument can be made for having an international force to restore peace.

“Almost everybody will say that any arrangement after Friday’s charade, that arrangement should be one in which Mr Mugabe certainly does not feature any longer,” Archbishop Tutu said.

In a pastoral letter issued earlier this month, Harare bishop Dr. Sebastian Bakare urged Anglicans to hold fast to their faith in the face of government persecution. The security services have closed Harare’s Anglican churches and assaulted clergy and worshippers, accusing them of being supporters of the MDC. Former Harare bishop Dr. Nolbert Kunonga, has backed the regime and is being rewarded with government support in his campaign to bend the diocese to his will.

Former bishops are excommunicated: CEN 6.06.08 p 7. June 10, 2008

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Central Africa has excommunicated the former bishops of Harare and Manicaland. In letters dated May 16, the Dean of the Province of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia pronounced the “sentence of Greater Excommunication” upon former Bishops Nolbert Kunonga (pictured) and Elson Jakazi. The bishops had separated themselves from the church by “withdrawing from the Province of Central Africa, forming another Church, and casting aside the Constitution and Canons of the Church of the Province of Central Africa.” All Anglicans were asked to pray for “these, our erring brothers” that they may “speedily attain true repentance, for their own souls’ health and the wellbeing of the body of Church.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

Anglican Churches in Harare padlocked: CEN 5.30.08 p 7. May 31, 2008

Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.
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Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Diocese of Harare has issued an appeal for assistance to the Churches of Zimbabwe, saying the security services’ violent intervention into the life of the church was a perversion of justice and a violation of basic human rights.

Police loyal to Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe have backed the former bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga in his battle with the new bishop Dr. Sebastian Bakare over the control of diocesan property. The result has been that Harare’s Anglican churches have been closed, padlocked by order of the police.

Critics charge Dr. Kunonga has been able to exploit Zimbabwe’s political turmoil to his advantage, linking in the eyes of the government the cause of Dr. Bakare with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) political fortunes.
“The police have continued to brutalize our people—which is sad,” said Bishop Albert Chama, Dean of the Province of Central Africa. “This is political interference. I’m sure the police are getting orders from above. They’re protecting Kunonga,” he told the New York Times last week.

On May 12 the Harare High Court rejected an application from Dr. Kunonga seeking to dissolve an order requiring him to share the use of church facilities pending the outcome of litigation with Dr. Bakare and the Province of Central Africa.

Police have ignored the court orders and have ejected all but the handful of Kunonga loyalists from the churches. Arrests and beatings at the hands of the security services have been reported at churches across the diocese by those attempting to worship.

On May 26, approximately 80 women were detained after they sought to enter Christ Church in Borrowdale for a worship service. Later that day independent journalist and author Peter Godwin was arrested by the police at Christ Church when he attempted to take a photograph of his parents’ graves—but was released later that day.

The state-controlled press has also taken up Dr. Kunonga’s banner, reporting on May 5 that he had been given sole custody of the diocese’s property—a statement that was “a gross misrepresentation of the legal position and a distortion of the truth,” Dr. Bakare said.

Dr. Kunonga has also accused Dr. Bakare and the Anglican Church of being a front for the opposition MDC party. Dr. Bakare denied the allegations, saying the church was “not an appendix of any political party in Zimbabwe.”

The allegations that the Anglican Church was “pro homosexual,” that it “supports the MDC,” and that it was an appendage of the Church of England “wanting to re-colonise the country” was false, the bishop said.

Dr. Bakare called upon Zimbabwe’s churches “to join us in prayer as we fight for religious freedom which is being trampled upon.” What was happening to Anglicans in Harare was “indicative of what can happen to any denomination tomorrow. As a Christian body we understand that if one part of the body is suffering and is persecuted the whole body suffers,” he said.