The Bishop of Harare, in Zimbabwe, has issued a heart-felt plea for justice after worshippers were harassed by riot police yesterday – Sunday.
St Andrew’s congregation, in Bindura,in Zimbabwe, was meeting in its rectory grounds because an ex-communicated bishop, Dr Norbert Kunonga, has taken charge of Anglican buildings in the diocese – and banned services from being held.
Without producing any documentation, the riot police claimed to be acting on directives that congregations should not gather within a 200 metre radius of an Anglican church.
The Rt Revd Chad Gandiya, Bishop of Harare and a former USPG desk officer, reported: ‘Our congregation was harassed by Dr Kunonga’s priest and two chief police inspectors, buttressed by a truck load of fully-armed riot police.’
Kunonga, a supporter of President Mugabe, left the Anglican Province of Central Africa (CPCA) in 2007 to set up a rival province – and he is trying to take charge of all CPCA buildings, some of which are being used for profiteering ventures, including shops, colleges and, even, brothels.
‘Priests harassed in the middle of the night’
Bishop Chad said: ‘Several of our priests were harassed in the middle of the night last week by people claiming to be acting on behalf of Dr Kunonga. The police seem to believe everything they are told by Dr Kunonga’s people without checking with the courts.
‘What happened to our human and constitutional right to freedom of religion? As far as we are concerned… the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has not yet made a determination on the matter of our church properties.’
Other denominations have opened their churches for Anglicans to hold services, but some churches subsequently withdrew their hospitality after receiving threats. Bishop Chad commented: ‘We understand the gravity of those threats and we would not want any denomination to go through what we are currently going through.’
The bishop urged his fellow Anglicans to ‘stand firm in the faith’ and called on the Christian community in Zimbabwe to ‘speak out against the unlawful arrests of our people, the beatings and tear-gassing of our congregations, the disruptions of church services’.
The church in Zimbabwe features in USPG’s Lent study course for 2011: Growing the Church. In it, Bishop Chad says: ‘There are all kinds of pressures on us, but God always provides a way out. God is worshipped every day in spite of the afflictions we face.’
USPG