Oppression in Zimbabwe SARAH MAC DONALD
The bishops urged the country’s political par- ties to engage in a “serious discussion” about the state of the nation, warning that the alter- native was to allow Zimbabwe to “continue to be dogged by violence, political intolerance, injustice, rigging of elections, fear, deception”. For messages such as this the Church is
Fear in the pulpit I
Catholic priests face arrest and torture by Robert Mugabe’s secret police masquerading as Massgoers as the dictator’s instruments of repression turn their attention to the Church, branding it an enemy of the state
n a pastoral letter at the beginning of this year the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Zimbabwe said “corrup- tion is a cancer destroying our nation”.
Church,” Fr B explains. These political agita- tors try to blame the Church for the country’s ills and play the loyalty of the Apostolic churches off against the “treachery” of the Catholic Church. Pastors who try to resist their propaganda have found their congre- gations divided as those willing to support Mugabe are offered the means to start new churches and given land to do so. Of President Mugabe’s much publicised
currently paying a heavy price, with the Government of Zimbabwe now treating it as one of its major internal enemies. Just what that means for ordinary priests ministering to a million or so Catholics is revealed in chill- ing detail by one of their number who describes how intimidation of celebrants at Mass has become the norm through the pres- ence in their congregations of secret police loyal to the dictator Robert Mugabe and his party, the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front, better known as Zanu-PF. Speaking anonymously to The Tablet for fear of arrest and torture, Fr B said: “The whole Catholic Church has become an enemy of the state.” He gave the example of a peace service at the Church of the Nazarene in the high-density Glen Norah suburb of Harare (the capital’s suburbs are divided into the for- merly white “low-density” suburbs and the old “high-density” African townships) that was broken up by riot police. A week later Fr Mark Mkandla was arrested in Lupane in Matabeleland by police unhappy with the content of his homily. Fr B said that priests are today routinely
subjected to arbitrary arrest and questioning. He himself feels hindered and censored by the constant presence of secret service per- sonnel in his congregation who report back on his homilies. “There’s no freedom of speech. You preach that people are hungry and the moment you say people are hungry those in authority feel attacked. So you are an enemy,” he said. “Zimbabwe has become a police state.” As a result, priests in Zimbabwe “don’t have
any freedom to preach the Word as we would want to even within the Church because you never know what kind of visit you may get after Mass. You know that the secret police are attending and the moment you finish, things happen.” This might mean a telephone call telling the priest to come to the police station where he is interrogated. “If you are
4 | THE TABLET | 25 June 2011
President Mugabe and his wife, Grace, leave St Peter’s Basilica after paying their respects at the coffin of Blessed Pope John Paul II on May 1. Photo: CNS/Reuters, Alessandro Bianchi
lucky you are interviewed and let go; if you are not so lucky you are tortured a little bit,” he states matter-of-factly, before adding: “Our phones are tapped. When you talk you can actually hear someone interfering! We know our internet lines are tapped all the time and so sending messages outside is very danger- ous.” Even wearing a Roman collar is extremely dangerous, says Fr B, because “the moment the authorities know you are a priest you are labelled an enemy”. A few weeks ago two priests were imprisoned and were humiliated by being forced to undress before female police officers, he said. Fr B himself had a close escape recently when he was stopped in the road by armed police.
“I was almost killed. I had to humble myself,” he said of the pleading that helped save his life. “They had guns and told me: ‘We can make you disappear in a moment and you will never be found.’ Then someone said: ‘Let him go.’ I was shaking.” He underlines that threats to “disappear” people are not idly made. “People are disappearing day in and day out. After some time their bodies are found in some disused mine or dam.” It is government policy, he says, to foment divisions between Christians by courting indigenous or “Apostolic” churches that have sprung up in villages and suburbs under self- appointed pastors. Supporters of Zanu-PF visit these churches campaigning for votes. “Their language is to attack the Catholic
attendance at the late John Paul II’s beatifi- cation, Fr B said: “Just the week before he was attacking us publicly and the next week he is in Rome for the beatification!” Though he accepts that the Vatican did not issue a personal invitation to the tyrant, he added: “Mugabe being Mugabe – whatever chance arises he takes advantage of because he can’t go to another European country because of the sanctions.” “We live in fear,” said Fr B, adding of the
87-year-old President: “The old man is no longer in charge: it is the army and the police intelligence who are actually running the affairs of the country and they decide whatever they want.” For that reason, Zimbabweans also know that the departure or death of Robert Mugabe won’t solve their problems. Mugabe, who has dominated the political scene in Zimbabwe for more than three decades, now wants national elections brought forward, a move church leaders and opposi- tion parties are against. Early elections would undermine, they say, the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that was agreed between Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, in September 2008. The GPA came about as a result of the refusal of Zanu-PF to concede that the MDC had secured a parliamentary majority in that year’s election. A brutal cam- paign of violence rained down on MDC members until Tsvangirai opted to withdraw rather than expose his followers to further violence. Under the agreement Mugabe was allowed to retain the presidency and Tsvangirai became Prime Minister. But as the history of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 shows, Zanu-PF has no intention of ced- ing power. “We were hoping that in forming the Global Political Agreement things would go OK. But that hope has faded now because we know that even if the opposition wins, they won’t get into government because of the army,” said Fr B, adding that he believes
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36