Hans Pienaar
18 July 2008
Southern African church leaders are discussing a resolution demanding sanctions against Zimbabwe and a declaration on the illegitimacy of president Robert Mugabe's government. They plan to deliver the resolution to President Thabo Mbeki.
Led by Dr Allan Boesak, the church leaders began meeting in Benoni on Thursday to discuss the Zimbabwean crisis. Some of them were members of an observer mission that failed to get accreditation to monitor the March 29 and June 27 elections. Some of them went anyway, in their private capacity.
On Thursday the clerics expressed "overwhelming" support for targeted economic sanctions as a practical strategy to loosen Mugabe's "illegitimate" grip on power and to promote a "negotiated political settlement", according to a statement issued by the SA Council of Churches.
On Friday they will discuss putting these demands into a petition to Mbeki after having received feedback from their respective church bodies.
In the statement, Boesak urged delegates not to allow a lack of unity to silence the church.
He said there were similar debates during apartheid, when churches were divided on how to respond to the system of oppression.
"Those divisions are inevitable. There is a line that is drawn, not by us, but by our obedience to the Gospel. Our main job is not to keep the church together. Our main job is to do the will of God," Boesak said.
Churches were also urged to play an active role by giving sanctuary to displaced Zimbabweans.
Professor John Makumbe, associate professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe, was quoted as saying churches were ignoring hardships endured by Zimbabweans. He described them as a "largely silent onlooker" that was "weak" and "sadly uninformed".
They rarely allowed people to take shelter in their buildings for fear they might "dirty the carpets".
Makumbe, giving a report on the situation in Zimbabwe, said nearly 4 300 people had been victims of politically motivated violence between March 1 and June 15, while 100 opposition activists had been murdered and 5 000 party and election workers were missing.
Community activist Joyce Dube was quoted as saying many Zimbabweans had died trying to flee to South Africa.
"An alarming number of people die trying to get across the border. There are many cases where parents think that their children have rejected them and don't wish to contact them, only to find that they have died trying to jump the border or even died in Lindela Repatriation Centre," read the statement.
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All is very laudable but beleive me they are not the "church".