welcome

The Real Situation – Bishop Nicholas Baines report on his recent visit to Zimbabwe – “where it is a challenge to find truth”.

Posted Friday 4^th May 2007

Bishop Nicholas Baines, Area Bishop of Croydon, diocese of Southwark linked with Zimbabwe, led a group of 20 people for two weeks to Zimbabwe in April this year.

Bishop Baines writing today 4th May, in the U.K. Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper about the dire situation in Zimbabwe, begins his article in the Church Times with a quote from a priest in the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe “You see us walking, but we are dead already.”

Baines goes on to describe a country in ruins with world record inflation, malnutrition everywhere, lack of essential supplies, HIV/AIDS ravaged, once the breadbasket of Africa now with failure of the maize harvest unproductive and drought devastated.

He is critical of Archbishop Bernard Malango, Archbishop of the Central African Province, for his unquestioning support of the Mugabe regime and Bishop Nolbert Kunonga of Harare. Malango not least for his dropping of 38 serious charges including financial fraud and incitement murder brought against Kunonga. He goes on Bishop Kunonga ‘makes it impossible for the Anglican Bishops in Zimbabwe to speak with one voice – the only voice that will be heard is that of Bishop Kunonga. This means that the other bishops keep silent publicly while doing their business on the ground with their people’

‘Archbishop Malango has announced that he is to retire at the end of the year. There is no doubt that Bishop Kunonga would like to replace him. But it is equally unlikely that he will get the requisite two-thirds majority from the bishops. It is doubtful whether he could get a majority in Zimbabwe, if Zimbabwe were to for a separate Province – But Bishop Kunonga is not to be underestimated, he could be creative in engineering a situation that would give him what he wants.’

‘In this context the pastoral statement by the Bishops (recently issued in full by ANGLICAN-INFORMATION) is sharper than it appears at first.’ says Baines.

In the Church of England Newspaper report Baines begins by saying ‘Any critical account of life in Zimbabwe is written off by the government sponsored media as ‘propaganda’ or ‘UK media lies’.*

He describes the Anglican Church as ‘struggling to keep hope alive. The worship in the churches we visited was vibrant and life-changing – people know how to celebrate – but whilst celebrating their faith and their God, they are not celebrating their circumstances’. ………….. ‘Priests and people are trying to encourage one another to remain faithful under pressure and to have the courage to do what is necessary to bring about change.

We met some very brave and good people’

As with his article in the Church Times he goes on ‘However, the Anglican Church is also hindered in its witness. The scandalous Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, dominates the Church and makes it impossible for the Church to speak with one voice. He is a Mugabe man and is supported by Bernard Malango, Primate of the Province of Central Africa. Archbishop Malango (who has announced his retirement from the end of 2007) is a “conservative” Primate who sees sexuality as a moral issue, but appears to see little problem with (presumably non-moral) matters of financial fraud, incitement to murder (by Kunonga) and corruption. Kunonga has his support.’

It is in this situation, as previously reported by ANGLICAN-INFORMATION, that the Bishops of the Province of Central Africa, meeting in Harare recently must have felt quite intimidated. Their resultant Pastoral Statement looks weak and pro Mugabe but does call for change, although it has taken the oratorical and interpretive skills of the new Dean of the Province Bishop Trevor Mwamba to assert this publicly.

What a mess – the Province of Central Africa is beset with a catalogue of ills and injustices from Lake Malawi to Harare. There are, however, good and capable Bishops in between with loyal Christians everywhere and the appointment of the new Dean of the Province, a man of the calibre of Bishop Trevor Mwamba, is the first hopeful sign of a new dawn.

It is clear that the replacement of the current regime in Zimbabwe is the silent prayer of most in the Province, probably followed by a serious reassessment of its coherence and future. A dividing of the Province into its constituent countries or a new alignment of member countries (currently Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Malawi) has been considered for some time and preliminary plans are in the making for presentation to the Anglican Consultative Council. The quicker these come to the fore the better – it would help resolve many problems.

*Bearing in mind the previous ANGLICAN-INFORMATION release regarding misreporting about the so-called ‘poisons’ and the late Canon Rodney Hunter, in the Times newspaper by Ruth Gledhill, there has been something of an own goal by part of the British Press.