The Call For Demonstrations Is The Expression Of Growing Frustration & Aggravation - Catholics Bishops Write To ED

Catholics Bishops that include Robert Ndlovu, Archbishop of Harare, Alex Thomas, Archbishop of Bulawayo, Paul Horan and Bishop of Mutare, who are the conference’s president, vice-president and secretary respectively, Michael Bhasera (Bishop Masvingo), Albert Serrano (Bishop Hwange), Rudolf Nyandoro (Bishop Gokwe) and Raymond Mupandasekwa (Bishop Chinhoyi), have called President Mnangagwa to order by demanding that he resolve the human rights issues bedevilling the country.

In a letter seen by the publication, signed by the bishops listed above, the Bishops told the president that suppression of people’s anger can only lead to a deeper crisis:

The struggle in Zimbabwe, between those who think they have arrived and those on the march, has resulted in a multi-layered crisis of the convergence of economic collapse, deepening poverty, food insecurity, corruption and human rights abuses among other crises in urgent need of resolution

The call for demonstrations is the expression of growing frustration and aggravation caused by the conditions that the majority of Zimbabweans themselves are in. Suppression of people’s anger can only serve to deepen the crisis and take the nation into deeper crisis.

The voices of various governments, the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations on the desperate situation in Zimbabwe have not only confirmed the seriousness of human rights breaches by government agents but the need to rally behind #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.

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Their failure to make broad consultations with the church and civic society at this most tempestuous time was most regrettable. Was this not an opportunity missed.

In the meantime, some of our people continue to live in hideouts, with some incarcerated, while others are on the run. Fear runs down the spine of many of our people today. The crackdown on dissent is unprecedented. Is this the Zimbabwe we want? To have a different opinion does not mean to be an enemy,

It is precisely from the contrast of opinions that the light comes. Our government automatically labels anyone thinking differently as an enemy of the country: That is an abuse. We want our politics to build a united nation and not to divide us, turning the military who ought to continue the memory of the late heroes against the people who fed them and clothed them and who gathered intelligence at great risk and saved many of our fighters from peril.

As your bishops, we feel that this described situation is true of Zimbabwe. It feels as though the poor have no one to defend them. They don’t seem to feature on the national agenda. Their cries for an improved health system go unheeded. Their plea for a transport system that meets their transport blues are met with promises and more promises and no action.

The only time we see real action is when our leaders are jostling for power. The clerics said while some fellow African countries were strengthening their democratic institutions, Zimbabwe was busy weakening
Refusal to listen to the people has led us to where we are today.

The Bishops are among the first church leaders to publicly condemn human rights abuses in the country with the international community and CSOs making unending calls to the president to stop the crackdown on opposition party members and members of the press.

More: Newday