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Elliot Ziwira Senior Writer
The so-called pastoral letter from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), which interestingly eulogises an American politician, purporting to speak to the Zimbabwean situation, follows a trail that can be tracked to the period before and after the harmonised elections of July 30, 2018.
Even before the plebiscite, it has to be recalled that President Mnangagwa had extended an open hand to the opposition, the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance included.
The President could never tire of preaching peace, unity and harmony, even in the face of brickbats from some quarters of the opposition, who construed everything as political grandstanding.
On the other hand, Chamisa declared that whatever was short of his victory, could only pass for “electoral theft”.
Refusing to accept the outcome of the July 30, 2018 elections, Chamisa declared that it was a “coup against the people’s will”.
Which people now?
Speaking at a Press conference, after Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s announcement of presidential elections results on August 2, 2018, President Mnangagwa said Chamisa would have “a crucial role to play in Zimbabwe’s present and its unfolding future”.
Promising that people’s liberties would be protected, the President called on the opposition leader to join him in calling for peace and unity for the good of the nation, but Chamisa scoffed at such overtures, preferring instead, to throw spanners in the works.
Curiously, the Church appeared to have a standpoint, for on August 6, 2018, Father Frederick Chiromba, the the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) secretary-general, told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Harare: “We have offered to mediate any election disputes as well as broader concerns.”
And the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), through its secretary-general Dr Kenneth Mtata, said in a 2019 New Year statement that it was ready to provide the framework for dialogue between President Mnangagwa and MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa.
Said Dr Mtata: “We can choose the route of engagement or the route of conflict, the route of individual solutions or that of a shared vision, the route that entrenches greed or one that leads to the common good. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we serve as a sign of hope by being truthful in looking at the current challenges and their root causes.”
True, Zimbabweans can choose the road to destruction or the route to construction. It is laudable that the Church is eager to foster dialogue, but there should be a clear line to follow in such a dialogue.
If the people overwhelmingly articulated their voice through elections, by giving President Mnangagwa and his party ZANU PF a five-year mandate to lead them, a fact that was withheld by the Constitutional Court, why should the Church so early after the results call for dialogue?
The “current challenges and their root causes”, as Dr Mtata put it in 2019, emanate from the Church’s persistent call for talks without first accepting that Chamisa lost to President Mnangagwa in the Presidential elections of July 30, 2018. Isn’t it what “being truthful” means?
Even after losing a Constitutional Court challenge against the electoral result, Chamisa remained adamant that he had won, and refused to join any dialogue that put him at par with leaders of other opposition parties; believing himself to be above them.
Now, are the people being turned against themselves, by the same individuals, who in the first place do not respect their constitutional rights?
The Church should not be seen to be siding with one party.
As the prophetic voice of truth, the Church should preach the politics of love — forgiveness and reconciliation. Love is the politics of peace, for the Bible is awash with politics, the politics of nations.
Human government is not independent of the influence of the Church, which is why most universal laws have a religious foundation.
However, as Castaneda and Vizcarrondo (2016) write in “Truth and Christianity”: “The Church must not meddle in partisan politics. The Church must not tell people whom or what party to vote for, unless the party in question has an intrinsically evil ideology . . . The Church may neither support a particular candidate nor a party.”
The Church should not impose its “own ecclesiastical laws on the rest of society that is not Catholic.”
Castaneda and Vizcarrondo (2016) contend that the Church “does have the authority to teach about its moral dimension. That moral dimension is present in all important aspects of human life, including politics.
“This is due to the fact that morality refers to the respect and the promotion of human rights and values, the attainment of which is guided by principles, laws and norms of conduct.”
It stands to reason that the Church and the State are separate and distinct, therefore, any dialogue or talk of dialogue should consider the universal truth and not party truth.
It is in this vein that the Church should outline the constitutional rights of the electorate, vis-à-vis the common good. It is mind-boggling that even before the election results were announced, and the Constitutional Court was still to make a ruling on Chamisa’s petition, the Church was ready to mediate dialogue.
Father Chiromba told Catholic News Service on August 6, 2018: “There is still a lack of trust between the people and Government” and that churches have “a big role to play in restoring that trust”.
Who is to be trusted, the one constitutionally declared the winner, and the one who uses hearsay to claim victory?
Chamisa is touted as the Holy Grail that the nation needs to move forward, but one wonders if indeed he has that capacity alone.
What exactly is that sentiment premised on? After all, his political fortunes are on the wane.
At this point in time, it is only unity of purpose that can help us navigate out of the challenges we are enmeshed in, and not tall talk or political grandstanding.
Losers cannot claim legitimacy through intimidation, or questioning the legitimacy of others.
Promotion of peace should begin by all citizens accepting the reality that gouging out each other’s eyes only makes us all blind.
If there is a time we needed each other more, it is now, and the Church should be shining a proper light!
Online Reporter