Harare — "The foundation of good government must be established on the sound basis of laws which protect the rights and define the obligations of the citizens.

"I must note with great sadness that many African nations still labour under the authoritarian and oppressive regimes which deny their subjects personal freedom and fundamental human rights, especially the freedom of association and of political expression, as well as the right to choose their governments by free and honest elections.

"Such political injustices provoke tensions which often degenerate into armed conflicts and internal wars, bringing with them serious consequences such as famine, epidemics and destruction, not to mention massacres and the scandal and tragedy of refugees."

This is how Pope John Paul II, a frequent visitor of African countries, summed up the deliberations by the bishops of Africa on good governance at their first synod in 1994.

Politicians make many thoughtless remarks in the heat of the battle, but one of the most shallow is to say that "you must not mix religion with politics", or "the church must not meddle in politics".

Political statements

Teaching a child the 10 commandments in Sunday school ("You must not kill, you must not steal, you must not give false witness"), you make eminently political statements because killing, stealing and lying are precisely what many politicians are guilty of.

No one can deny the profound humanity of the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). The priest and the Levite pass by the bleeding helpless victim of banditry while the Samaritan, despised as heretical, comes to the aid of his fellow man.

It is a warning that religion must not be separated from public morality, or else it becomes a meaningless ritual.

Die unattended

The church cannot pass by as more and more people fail to get basic health care and are left to die unattended. Offering health care has always been a concern of the church, certainly in Africa, ever since it established itself on the continent.

This gives it some authority in speaking on health policy, which is eminently political: overspending on the military, made worse by the fatal decision to send troops to the Congo, is the direct cause of our inadequate health budget.

Unprincipled politicians rarely remember what they said yesterday. Having reprimanded the church for meddling in politics yesterday, they ridicule it for being "up in the clouds" today and give themselves divine attributes to justify their claim to political immortality tomorrow.

Memory subversive

Political speech is not meant to state the truth. It is a function of political convenience and part of political management. It changes and often contradicts itself from day to day. Memory, therefore, is subversive. The refusal to forget is seditious.

The church has a very good memory and does not easily forget. It is built on principles and sticks to them consistently. (Though sometimes in its long history it has failed to do so, as the Pope acknowledged last year).

The Catholic Church documented the atrocities of the Rhodesian forces against civilians in the 1970s (The Man in the Middle, and Civil War in Rhodesia, 1975, republished in 1999) and then again the reign of terror of "Gukurahundi" in the 1980s.

For partisan politicians this is a contradiction, but not for the church, since the same moral principle was violated - the human right to life and personal freedom and integrity.

In official pronouncements by its leadership, the church endeavours to stay party-politically neutral where this is possible. But the church cannot stay neutral towards sheer injustice and inhumanity.

The priest and the Levite passing by the victim of violence stand roundly condemned.

In Africa, men and women of the church have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and killed time and again for speaking up on behalf of victims, incurring the displeasure of violent leaders.

There must be some distance between church and state, precisely to safeguard the freedom of the prophet to speak up.

Secular society

In traditional society there is no separation of the spiritual and the public sphere: the svikiro (spirit medium) does not normally take an independent stance in relation to the mambo (chief).

Islamic society is unitary: ideally, religion is fully integrated into the state, and all citizens are Muslim. Which is the reason why Muslims wish the state to apply their penal Shariah code in their judicial system. They have no notion of a secular society, though they have learnt to live in one where they are in the minority.

On the level of the law as enshrined in our present constitution, there are no particular problems in Zimbabwe between church and state. The Catholic bishops defined the relationship in their independence declaration (April 17 1980).

They call Zimbabwe a "plural society" and say that "the church is not identified with any political community . . . her function is to be the moral conscience of the nation".

Church and state are independent of each other, but not completely separate. "While the state and the church are independent and autonomous in their own spheres, both are at the service of man. The duty is to help man fulfil his personal and social vocation. The more they cooperate, the more effectively will they serve the good of all citizens. In this respect the church and the state are at the service of the country" (Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference statement, April 17 1980).

When the people of Zimbabwe finally manage to produce a constitution of their choice, the church will want to be part of the process; it will want to have human dignity and human rights protected and its own role properly defined.

State and government

Zimbabweans have a problem being able to tell the difference between the state and the government of the day. "Governments come and go, the state remains. Let no one confuse constructive criticism of the government with enmity towards the state as such" (Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe, in Peace and Unity and Freedom, January 1985).

Ministers declaring that civil servants supporting opposition parties have no business working for the government clearly fail to make this vital distinction: civil (or public) servants are at the service of the state, not just the government of the day.

The present relationship between the church and the government is characterised by an absence of dialogue. Even the church's tendency not to provoke the government publicly has failed to open the way for face- to-face dialogue.

Too many unpleasant topics would be on the agenda, especially political violence, only recently deplored by Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa, speaking to a congregation of 6 000 (Sunday, January 7, Harare Sports Centre), racial hatred and human rights violations.

A deplorable lack of unity between Christian churches is exploited by the government and its media: the latter never seem to have a problem finding some pastor, presented as "speaking for the church" (which one?), who will support government positions and denounce truly Christian voices as "spiritually misguided". Politicians do not hesitate to "meddle in religion" if that promises them some political mileage.

Unbiblical slogan

Religion has become the only growth industry in this country, and founding a church, ministry or freak cult has become a source of income for the unemployed: "Have a Bible, start a church is the very unbiblical slogan."

This undermines the moral authority of the church. Ecumenical cooperation needs to be streamlined for Christians in this country to be able to speak with one voice.

The church leadership tries to steer clear of party politics, while encouraging lay Catholics to be part of the political process. However, it strongly urges politicians of all parties to accept the principles of good governance so rarely found on our continent. The church does not back this or that leader, but insists on a peaceful and non-violent transfer of power from one leader to the next.

Against hopelessness and cynicism, "the church has the duty to affirm vigorously that these difficulties can be overcome and strengthen in all Africans hope of genuine liberation" (Pope John Paul II).

* Father Oskar Wermter SJ is social communications secretary of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference.