Loughty Dube
30 September 2002
The Roman Catholic Church has once again spurned government attempts to take over St Luke's Mission Hospital in Lupane despite earlier threats by President Mugabe over the issue. The government has in the past indicated its desire to take over the health institution and turn it into a provincial referral hospital for Matabeleland North, but the church has constantly turned down the request fearing that the hospital might deteriorate like other government controlled health institutions countrywide
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Bulawayo, Archbishop Pius Ncube, in a letter written to the provincial medical director for Matabeleland North, Gibson Mhlanga, last month refused to have the hospital handed over to the government
"I am not in favour of handing over St Luke's so it can become a provincial hospital because this would disadvantage the people of Matabeleland North. We would welcome the government's upgrading of our infrastructure, but we would like the control and management of St Luke's to remain in the hands of the mission," reads part of the letter dated 18 July 2002
President Mugabe has in the past castigated Ncube, accusing him of frustrating government efforts to take over St Luke's hospital for political reasons
Addressing a rally in Lupane on the eve of the hotly disputed presidential election, President Mugabe, using combative language, said Ncube was behaving like a politician and urged him to step down from his position if he persisted with his refusal to hand over the hospital
Mugabe, himself a Catholic, has had no kind words for the Roman Catholic Church since the church published a report outlining atrocities committed by his forces in Matabeleland during the 80's disturbances
Government has vowed it will go ahead with the upgrading of the hospital despite resistance from the church. In his letter, Ncube said the church was grateful for the support the government had offered the church in the past decades but encouraged the government to build a new provincial hospital so that St Luke's could serve as a district hospital
"St Luke's hospital is the church's service to the people and as part of the healing ministry of Christ, we emphasise the evangelical side bringing Christ to the patient and the humanitarian side assisting the poor to obtain treatment," reads Ncube's letter
St Luke's is now the only hospital owned by the Catholic Church after St Paul's and Fatima Mission hospitals were closed during the war of liberation.
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