Pretoria — President Robert Mugabe, clinging illegitimately to power, is perpetrating genocide, the Catholic bishops of southern Africa have said.
He should leave now. "We, the Catholic bishops of southern Africa, call on Mugabe to step down immediately."
Regional leaders should immediately cut links with Mugabe, or they will be guilty of complicity in the "passive genocide", the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) said in its most damning statement on the Zimbabwe regime yet.
The statement was issued on Tuesday by SACBC president Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and the bishops of Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland after a meeting in Pretoria.
The appalling tragedy means that the time of talking is over. Six months of talks have resulted only in a stalemate, the bishops said, adding that it is clear the present mediation and negotiations have failed.
The 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), which opened yet another summit on Zimbabwe in Pretoria on Monday, should stop supporting and giving credibility to the illegitimate regime with immediate effect.
"Failing this, SADC leaders accept complicity in creating the conditions that have resulted in starvation, displacement, disease and death for ordinary Zimbabweans. This is nothing short of passive genocide," the bishops said.
Mugabe should step down to allow the formation of a coalition interim government of national recovery and preparations for internationally supervised and credible presidential elections as soon as possible.
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I'm all for African solutions to African problems. But when those 'solutions'= support a decrepit, senile leader with his illegitement, incompetent, corrupt gov't and ignore the peoples only chance at rescuing the country from total collapse; it makes me think the SADC leaders are not from Africa but another planet. Their fear of 'western' solutions is merely paranoia. They talk of African pride when there is only shame. They strut with boosted egos when there is only embarrassment. I'm sure they think their vanity will shine throughout Zimbabwe and provide nourishment to a starving people. Those SADC leaders who are propping up Mugabe's regime should be brought before the International Criminal Court for aiding criminals and complicity in genocide.
First, AGAINST THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS, how many batallions does the papacy have?
Second, AGAINST THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS, the concept of "passive genocide" can only be found in the dusty, arid, and contentless lexicography of the DOCTRINE OF RHODISM. A consistent and principled application of the 'concept' would make every government in Africa a perpetrator of genocide. Accordingly, the Bishops from Nairobi should be calling for the head of the Western tail who calls the shots there.
Dare they?
We suppose everyone, including Bishops, want to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die.
Third, AGAINST THE BISHOPS, the jurisdiction of the Church does not extend to profane matters of politics; and certainly, it cannot obviate the legitimate jurisdiction of SADC, which has spoken, and has spoken clearly and firmly.
While the representatives of the head of the Western Roman Catholic Church may pass on the policies of SADC, their views are not worth one dime more than the views of the poorest African in the poorest slum in Nairobi.
Fourth, we have found a startling revelation: the DOCTRINE OF RHODISM in Southern Africa is FORMALLY AND MATERIALLY CONSISTENT with DOCTRINE OF [ONE] SOUPISM in West Africa. (On the Doctrine of Soupism, see the explication of the doctrine in several West African sites of allafrica.com by the REVOLUTIONARY WEST AFRICAN ANTI-SOUPIST MOVEMENT.)
Accordingly, we have now have a unified theory of the INVADERS in Africa entire.
Hello Jallohlaw, Thanks for the response. First, the Bishops are simply taking a moral stance against injustice. No batallions are required for this.
Second, I agree with you about the term 'passive genocide'. But the SADC leaders are fully aware of what ZANU PF is doing and therefore are complicitly endorsing them. The only 'Western tail' involved in Africa is the $Billions in aid we keep pouring in there every year and expect nothing in return.
Third, the church has a moral imperative to speak out. Even as an atheist I would agree that is within their jurisdiction.
Fourth, I've never heard of the Doctrine of Soupism or Rhodism. Can you please explain or provide direction to the definitions?
Thanks
The Church, catholic or nay, has no moral authority in political matters, first.
Second, we don't recognize the concept of 'aid'. We recognize the prudential judgment of the INVADERS that what they have STOLEN, they must, willy knilly, return to the victims of their felonious theft.
If you choose to call that "aid," then your choice is as wise as your choice of atheism as your RELIGION.
The Doctrines of SOUPISM AND RHODISM are sufficently explicated in the West African and Southern African sites of this entity.
Jallowlaw, how does it feel to know that everyone here with something sensible to say thinks you're idiot, that no one takes you seriously and that everyone pretty much skips over anything you have to say because there is never any substance to you.
You fail to realise that Mugabe is now on his way out, having been forced by the west and the SADC to give up some of his power to Tsvangirai. This is only the beginning. He wont be able to rig the next election, and finally the people of Zimbabwe will be able to be heard.
All you ever do is critisize anyone who is anti-mugabe, by calling their posts nonsense, by critisizing their spelling or grammer or by calling them childish names. You have nothing more to say. No input of substance, merely childish rhetoric.
You think you are Mr Clever by making up words while raping the English language, but the truth is that stringing large words together just makes you look like a fool, because people realise that your intellect behind these words is severely lacking. Soupist is not a word, and will never be a word no matter how many times you use it!
At the same time you love American sports, crave American money, love American sayings and think you are an expert at the English language. If the west is so bad, why dont you stick to your own culture.
Meanwhile you celebrate the fact that Mugabe no longer has the lions share of power, that through his governance, many thousands of your brothers and sisters are dying of Cholera, your currency is extinct, 1/3 of your brothers and sisters have left for neighbouring countries, none of your schools are open, your hospitals are closed and that 7 million people are reliant on food aid to survive. As julman says, is this the Total Empowerment you should be craving?
You seriously have to be messed up in the head to be supportive of these things and continually post the nonsense you do.
You do the good people of Zimbabwe no favours by portraying them as the person you try to be. They would be ashamed of themselves if they knew what you wrote.
So how does it feel to know that no one here takes you seriously, that everyone thinks you're an idiot and no one even bothers to read your posts due to their childish content? I would be embarrased!
Now people, watch Jellyhead go and do exactly what I say he's going to do. He has NOTHING!
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