Harare — RELIGIOUS leaders in Zimbabwe have been investing considerable time and effort of late into cultivating a cozy and evidently mutually beneficial relationship with the government of President Robert Mugabe.

A few months ago, some church leaders were said to be spearheading efforts to help build bridges between the Zimbabwean government and Britain, the European Union and their allies.

In June, the men of the cloth were said to be working towards brokering a truce between President Mugabe, the EU and the United states after many years of a one-sided war of words in which most of the verbal waterfall emanated from Zimbabwe. These efforts however, fizzled out when diplomats from the countries regarded as Zimbabwe's enemies questioned whose interests the clergymen represented. To make matters worse, Britain, which has been cast as the villain responsible for all this country's problems, denied the existence of a bilateral dispute between it and its former colony. British officials pointed out that the ball was in Zimbabwe's court and that the problems bedevilling this country could only be solved by Zimbabweans themselves.

Undaunted, the church leaders embarked on another initiative in July when Reverend Peter Nemapare who was at that time president of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) and Bishop Trevor Manhanga of the Evangelical Fellowship in Zimbabwe led a pilgrimage to State House to assure the President of their support. This does not seem to have endeared the clergymen to the generality of suffering Zimbabweans.

Nemapare lived to rue the day he was shown on television laughing exuberantly after the head of state had taken a swipe at the man who must be his least favourite cleric, Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Matabeleland Diocese of the Roman Church. Nemapare was voted out of office soon after the State House meeting after ordinary ZCC members complained about not being consulted on the moves the church leaders were taking.

In August we had the equally questionable spectacle of churchmen from the north who were guests of their Zimbabwean religious counterparts, descending on Harare to make a grovelling but meaningless apology for the sins committed by their ancestors during colonialism. Earlier Nemapare had led the way in organising a highly politicised ZANU PF-backed National Day of Prayer during which President Mugabe nevertheless ordered the church leaders to leave politics to politicians and concentrate on saving souls.

Last weekend, Zimbabwean church leaders unveiled their most ambitious project so far when they launched what is being touted as the "National Vision Document" which calls on Zimbabweans to debate issues such as land reform, human rights, governance, reconciliation, the economy and the constitution. The church leaders seem oblivious to the preposterousness of imposing their initiative on the electorate when it is a product of their collaboration with the ruling party. The document, which is a godsend to the propaganda-propped government, cannot be regarded as a national blueprint simply because it is the exclusive work of church leaders who are sympathetic to ZANU PF and are most likely beneficiaries of its extensive patronage system. There is no way an authentic document embodying the aspirations of all Zimbabweans can be produced without exhaustive consultations with all stakeholders.

The church leaders involved in this subterfuge should ask themselves why the government of Zimbabwe is prepared to listen only to them when it has done everything under the sun to close democratic space and crush dissent in all other respects. These clergymen must surely be aware of the heavy-handed manner in which the government has dealt with opposition party and civil rights activists who have tried to promote the ideals the nation is now being urged to focus on in the church-initiated blueprint.

Have these church leaders ever heard of the National Constitutional Assembly and its campaign for a new democratic constitution? If they are genuinely interested in the welfare and interests of all Zimbabweans, why have they never thrown their weight behind such efforts? Why have they maintained a deafening silence and passed by on the other side when leaders of opposition parties, the trade union movement, the NCA and other civil society groups have been subjected to harassment, unjustified arrest and police brutality for trying to draw attention to the same issues underscored in the so-called national vision document?

As I write this, all believers in genuine democracy and fair play must once again be enduring a frustrating sense of déjà vu as the ruling party grandstands and gloats about its victory in "free, fair and peaceful" local government elections last weekend that were anything but free, fair and peaceful. In the run-up to elections to elect a mayor for Kadoma for example, suspected ruling party supporters reportedly stoned the residence of the Movement for Democratic Change candidate, Jonas Ndenda. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network has condemned the violence. If these church leaders are genuinely interested in promoting democratic governance, human rights and reconciliation, for the benefit of all Zimbabweans, why do they not speak out when such flagrant abuses of the electoral process designed to tilt the scales in favour of the ruling party are reported?

Electoral irregularities were not limited to Kadoma during last weekend's elections. Widespread abuses including intimidation, vote-buying and the placing of obstacles in the way of opposition parties were reported in other districts. The ruling party allegedly used chiefs and headmen to do some of its dirty work. In many instances, the opposition party was prevented from holding campaign rallies either through the withholding of police authorisation or other subterfuge. Some opposition candidates were reported to have been hauled before kangaroo courts for violating traditional customs before being told they could not hold rallies.

In spite of all these irregularities, however, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officials and ruling party apologists have not missed an opportunity to pronounce the elections free and fair. They are quick to claim that ZANU PF has regained ground in former MDC strongholds supposedly because the people have realised the opposition party can not do anything for them, never mind the fact that only the government has access to tax revenues to enable it to implement development projects.

The Bible says, "The truth shall make you free" but these church leaders have consistently chosen dishonestly to cast their lot with the government rather than the oppressed, poor and downtrodden. It is clear that by deliberately turning a blind eye on unfairness, injustice and human anguish in favour of a scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours relationship with the ruling party and government, these churchmen are looking out only for their own material interests. Being so seriously compromised, they have neither the mandate nor the moral authority to formulate a vision for the nation. The document they have produced can only be a propaganda tool for ZANU PF and should accordingly be referred to as such.