Heads of Christian denominations, who have released a communique titled ‘The Zimbabwe we want - Taking the process forward’ chronicling the deteriorating situation in the country, have set up a committee to meet President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders to address the deepening political, economic and social crisis tearing the country apart.
The hard-hitting communique calls for “leadership renewal across the board and for increased political accountability.”
The communique further says, “Deficiency in leadership, governance and leadership succession issues have resulted in lack of direction, policy inconsistencies, stagnation, and absence of political will to tackle current challenges.”
The churches that authored the communique are the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (FZ), the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC), and Union for development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe (UDACIZA).
The last such communique was released by the same churches in 2006. The four church mother bodies, vowed that they “commit to be more audible, visible and consistent on national issues.”
Human rights groups have welcomed the communique saying politicians can ignore church leaders at their own peril.
Father Fredrick Chiromba, who is also the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, tells Studio 7 that the churches have been motivated to release the communique by the country’s worsening crisis.
