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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| British churchmen back Mugabe |
| 2003-05-22 |
| Lightly EFL. It is remarkable for Britain to be visited by a saint. But that was surely our good fortune last week, when Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, passed through London. In a country where churchmen have kept quiet, Ncube has consistently spoken out with extraordinary courage and firmness against the near-genocide that Robert Mugabe is visiting upon the Zimbabwean people. I'm surprised he is still alive, since Bob has the morals of a Salvadoran paramilitary rightist thug. Week after week, from the pulpit of Bulawayo Cathedral, Ncube uses his sermons to make a Christian protest against the torture, intimidation, rape, murders and forced starvation that are part of the daily rigours of Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF regime. The response from Mugabe has been predictable. Ncube has been subject to death threats, abuse and threatening visits from the authorities. His phone is tapped, and he is followed everywhere by secret police. He is painted as an ogre figure in the government-controlled press. Every action he takes is wilfully misinterpreted. When he made a pastoral visit to Khami Prison in his diocese, the Bulawayo Chronicle claimed that afterwards there was a ‘surprising increase in homosexual pornography’ at the penitentiary. Any smear will do, eh Bob? His stand is made more extraordinary by the contrast with the inertia of most Zimbabwean churchmen. Both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic churches have preferred either to remain silent or to work within the Zanu-PF framework. Indeed, some of the most prominent churchmen are active cheerleaders of Robert Mugabe. "We are only following orders!" One notable case in point is Nolbert Kunonga, the Anglican Bishop of Harare. It is not simply that Kunonga has refused to condemn the outrages of Zanu-PF Zimbabwe. He uses his pulpit to Actually, I might be able to believe that. He endorsed Mugabe ahead of the presidential election in March last year. Then, once the election was won, he attended Mugabe’s inauguration ceremony. There he informed guests that the election result represented Yes, a godly man. Kunonga’s sycophancy towards the Zimbabwean despot affronted several of his fellow clergy. He recently secured a court order banning more than a dozen churchwardens and members of the congregation from worshipping at the cathedral after they complained noisily about his pro-Mugabe sermons. Last April the United States added Kunonga to the list of corrupt public officials and villainous policemen who are banned from travelling to the United States. He can still shop in Paris, though. It is one thing to remain quiet about Kunonga in Harare, where it takes real courage to speak out against the Zanu-PF regime. The bigger mystery is the silence from Lambeth Palace. In the wake of the US ban, George Carey wrote a private letter to Bishop Nolbert in which he declared, ‘I am more than a little concerned of [sic] how less than circumspect you have been about your affiliation with the regime you appear so keen to support.’ But neither George Carey nor his successor Rowan Williams have publicly condemned the Harare prelate. Piers McGrandle of the Tablet asked Lambeth Palace back in February whether it planned to distance itself from the Bishop of Harare. He was informed that ‘there are no plans to issue a statement for the time being’. The private excuse from Lambeth Palace seems to be that work is being done behind closed doors to bring the wretched Kunonga into line. The Carey letter was written more than a year ago, and it is plain that his policy of private persuasion has failed to work. Taking the side of the brutalized just might lift the moral spirit of Anglicans in Zim-Bob-We. Sadly, the Roman Catholic Church is just as timorous as the Anglican. Robert Mugabe’s second marriage to his wife Gracie was officiated by Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe. Chakaipa’s attendance caused offence in some strait-laced Zimbabwean circles, since the President had enjoyed an adulterous relationship with Gracie before the death of his first wife, and two children were born out of wedlock. He's like an 11th Century Pope! When the archbishop died three weeks ago, the President sought to declare him a ‘national hero’. Pius Ncube spoke out against this move, declaring that ‘national hero status is political and the archbishop was not a politician’. Robert Mugabe gave an oration at the funeral. Pius Ncube approached him during the Peace and shook his hand ‘just to show that I have nothing personal against him’. "Michael, it's business." Ncube is an astonishing man, fighting a private battle against despotism and murder. Ncube is estranged not just from the ruling regime but from much of the Church that he serves, since its leading members have preferred to collaborate with the regime. When the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust, the US-based group which fights for freedom and human rights in Zimbabwe, proposed that Pius Ncube should visit London, the news was greeted with dismay. The Catholic bishops did not show delight and gratification at the chance to give moral support to a fellow Christian in his lonely battle against terror. Incredibly, it seems that Ncube was asked to reconsider his plan. At the time of the Bishops’ Conference, the Catholic establishment looked set to block the visit. It is still unclear why Westminster Cathedral felt so uneasy about Ncube, though sources say that David Konstant, the Bishop of Leeds who has responsibility for international affairs, came under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe. There are also intriguing suggestions that No. 10 Downing Street was putting steady pressure on the Catholic Church to play down the event. This would be a knock against Blair if true. Moves to block the visit altogether were stymied at a party given by the Bishops’ Conference on 29 April, when the shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, a prominent Catholic, made it known that he would cause a public fuss if Ncube was stopped. In the end, a deal of sorts was hammered out. Ncube would come to Britain, but a publicity ban would be put on the visit. In the end, the Catholic Church, rather than celebrating their remarkable guest, hustled him through Britain as if he were an escaped convict. The British government treated him with equal distance. Attempts for a meeting with Tony Blair — normally ready to join forces with any transient pop-star or footballer — were rebuffed. This week Ncube travelled to Washington, where he has been granted a series of high-profile meetings with senior administration officials, including the secretary of state Colin Powell. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and Primate of All England, has got off to a shaky start. But the Ncube episode will put a permanent stain on his term of office. He has just one comfort. His Church of England counterpart, Rowan Williams, has behaved just as shamefully by allowing the Anglican Bishop of Harare to rant unchecked on behalf of Robert Mugabe. The behaviour of both archbishops, and both churches, is incomprehensible. They are sanctifying evil. That's about right. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 "Organized Religion" has been on a roll lately... Unfortunately, most of it's been downhill through a well-used cowpasture, with the expected outcome. It's about time for another Paul - bad news is, I don't see one emerging at the moment. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-05-22 19:22:52 |
| #3 The Catholic Church continues on it's hot streak. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-05-22 15:04:48 |
| #2 Yet another reason to justify my movement away from the church of my birth and upbringing. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-22 14:57:15 |
| #1 I wish I could say that I'm shocked by the way my church (Catholic) behaved. Unfortunately, this just seems all too typical lately. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-05-22 14:48:11 |