Police action disturbs Bishop

By Staff Reporter
Saturday, 29 January 2011 17:53


HARARE - Bishop Chad Gandiya, head of the Church Province of Central Africa (CPCA) has expressed deep concern over a fresh order that gives the police power to restrict CPCA members from within a 200 metre radius of any of their Anglican church buildings. In his latest pastoral letter dated January 21 to the Anglican congregation , Bishop Gandiya, whose church is at war with the faction led by Bishop Nolbert Kunonga said he is “deeply disturbed by the prolonged suffering of our people at the hands of the police who continue to claim to be receiving orders ‘from above’ to prevent us from using our church buildings.”The Bishop said he was disturbed that on 16 January this year, police accompanied by two priests from Bishop Kunonga’s faction harassed CPCA parishioners who were attending a church service at the St Andrews Church in Chipadze, Bindura.He said the priests claimed that they had court orders to evict the CPCA church members from the church buildings but they could not produce them.

Bishop Kunonga’s faction, which defected from the main church a few years ago, continues to defy a High Court ruling that the two factions should share the church properties.An interim High Court order was issued on 4 June 2010 by High Court Judge Justice Mavangira saying the two factions must share the church properties pending the resolution of the matter in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is yet to make its ruling.Members of the Bishop Gandiya faction continue to be harassed by members of the Bishop Kunonga faction and many are attending church services in buildings belonging to other churches like the Catholic and Methodist for fear of being beaten up.Bishop Kunonga is a strong Zanu PF supporter who has benefitted from the land reform programme.

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/news/34-news/1553-police-action-disturbs-bishop.html

Biti sounds warning over Zim elections

JOSHUA HOWAT BERGER JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jan 20 2011 07:08

Zimbabwe's finance minister warned on Wednesday that his country could face a "bloodbath" at elections this year and urged the international community to do more to prevent crises in Africa.

Tendai Biti, a former opposition stalwart who has helped bring Zimbabwe's economy back from the brink of collapse, warned of "disastrous, debilitating consequences" if there is a repeat of the violent, contested elections of 2008."The tell-tale signs are already there that you could have another bloodbath," he told Agence France-Press (AFP) on the margins of a global poverty forum in Johannesburg."What is required is pro-activeness to prevent quite clearly a foreseeable situation," he said, alluding to the need for foreign states to step in.Stand-offPresident Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since 1980, has called for new elections this year, saying the tense power-sharing government formed after the 2008 vote is no longer working.

Biti's party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Mugabe's Zanu-PF formed a coalition government in 2009 after a violent presidential poll that saw MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdraw from the race, citing violence against his supporters.The stand-off ground the country to a halt and sparked an economic crisis that saw hyperinflation reach world record levels of billions of percent.Biti, who told AFP he inherited "the worst job in the world" as finance minister, oversaw an economic overhaul in which the country ditched its inflation-ravaged currency and adopted the US dollar.The move helped bring inflation down to a figure of 3,2% last month.However, Biti warned of a return to economic crisis if new elections unleash fresh violence or if Zimbabweans see them as unfair."If citizens feel that this is not an election, this is a sham and an excuse for assaulting us or torturing us, of killing us, of destroying our livestock, there will be capital flight, there will be physical flight across the border," he said."If that is the case, yes, there will be disastrous, debilitating consequences. All the work we have done, all the construction we have done, will dissipate ... in seconds."'International institutions have failed Africa'

Biti also criticised the international community for reacting late to developing crises in Africa, and urged the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to prepare for the possibility of a fresh crisis in Zimbabwe."International institutions have failed Africa. They are reactive. They wait for crises to happen," he said, citing the current political stand-off in Côte d'Ivoire as an example."

What is required is pro-activeness to prevent quite clearly a foreseeable situation," he said.A poll published on January 5 showed that 70% of Zimbabweans want elections this year, but less than half the electorate believed such polls would be free and fair.One in seven also feared election campaign intimidation or violence, which characterised the 2008 vote, amid slipping confidence in the unity government.The Afrobarometer survey questioned 1 192 citizens across Zimbabwe in October last year. --

Sapa-AFP
Source: Mail & Guardian OnlineWeb Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-01-20-biti-sounds-warning-over-zim-elections

Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference 2011

Click here to read Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference 2011

courtesy (www.zimbabwesituation.com )