|
|
Zimbabwe: Police Beat Up And Evict Anglican Parishioners
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
SW Radio Africa (London)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Lance Guma
State sponsored violence against members of the Anglican Church reached new levels over the weekend as police in different parts of Harare gatecrashed church services and beat up parishioners loyal to new bishop Sebastian Bakare.
At the St Francis parish in Waterfalls riot police interrupted the service during 'holy communion' and told parishioners to leave. Witnesses said the parishioners assumed it was the usual police over-zealousness and some of them remained seated. The police then began beating up people, including women, in the church.
On Monday, Newsreel spoke to Bishop Bakare who confirmed that similar scenes were witnessed in Borrowdale, Budiriro, Dzivarasekwa and other parishes. The Christ Church parish in Borrowdale was raided by police who arrested the warden there, a Mr Murombedzi. He was taken to Borrowdale police station but after several hours of stalling over a charge they eventually released him. A furious Bakare said what was happening was a 'national scandal' adding, 'even Ian Smith (former Rhodesian leader) allowed us to worship.'
Sources told Newsreel that the ousted Bishop and Mugabe supporter, Nolbert Kunonga, has branded new bishop Bakare an MDC supporter who is receiving money from Britain. The accusation has provided an excuse for a crackdown on Bakare's followers, with instructions being given to the police force that all parishioners loyal to him be barred from using any of the church buildings in Harare. A High Court order that divided time for church services between Bakare and Kunonga was suspended, following the granting of an appeal to Kunonga by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.
On becoming Bishop, Kunonga plunged the Anglican Church into disarray after pledging his support for Mugabe's violent land-grab policy. He targeted priests who disagreed with him by posting them to remote areas, while members of the CIO threatened some with death. An attempt by Kunonga to withdraw the Harare diocese from the Province of Central Africa backfired as the province later dismissed him. Kunonga continues to defy the dismissal and has relied on state security to beat up and intimidate his opponents.
|
Out of some 69 vicars in the church 59 support Bakare, while 10 have remained loyal to Kunonga. Coincidentally and not surprising those 10 were ordained by Kunonga. Frustrated that the majority of parishioners also deserted him Kunonga has used state security operatives to keep the doors of St Mary's cathedral shut. Every Sunday Kunonga and a small group of supporters open up the cathedral for their service, then lock it up again.
Rachel Quinn University of Oregon rquinn@uoregon.edu
SW Radio Africa (London) 12 May 2008 Posted to the web 12 May 2008 Lance Guma Zimbabwe: Police Beat Up And Evict Anglican Parishioners I am dumb founded at the idea that police would interrogate people within a church. It is very surreal, but proves to be very true in the U.S as well, especially during the civil rights era. As Martin Luther King and his followers were interrogated in similar ways... [Read Full Text]
rachel, I am not sure where you are from but I agree this is very bad that the so called police are beating on people within the church but whether they are inside the church or outside well this shows that Mugabe has no love or care of the country of Zimbabwe. They know that once they leave office they are out of a job and maybe headed to prison so they are doing all they can to stay in office. This election was a joke and so will the run off election will be the same thing... [Read Full Text]
Rachel, I'm a former Duck too (never graduated from the U of O though). I've been following the Zim story for a long time, and it's gotten more and more surreal until now I can hardly believe what's been going on. Unfortunately, much worse has happened in the Cathedral of St Mary; on one Sunday, former Bishop Kunonga disrupted the service himself and threw the communion vessels to the floor and sat, glaring at the parishioners. He's been squatting there ever since.
It's a sad story, but there's hope too. There are a number of expatrriate activists who are using... [Read Full Text]
THE ZIMBABWEAN SITUATION SHOULD BE CONTROLLED NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zimbabweans need to petition emabssies of the AU and SADC wherever they are to let peace keepers get into the country NOW. With all this intimidation, torture maimimg killing how will these thugs be disarmed if not by external neutral forces?
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 SW Radio Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
