Zimbabwean churches lead Zimbabwean Lives Matter protest against abuse, corruption

An online protest image.

HARARE–  A hastily prepared conference of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations is expected to come up with a Christian position regarding the worsening situation in Zimbabwe which has seen the government attack church leaders for speaking out against poverty, corruption and human rights abuses.

The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) has called for an “urgent convening” of the National Episcopal Conference of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations to “deliberate on the state of the nation and agree on the appropriate ecumenical” actions going forward, it said.

Zimbabwean human rights, democracy and Christian groups are rallying behind Catholic bishops in the southern African country after leaders were attacked over the weekend by the government. Government authorities labelled the bishops “evil” after they voiced their concerns over the country’s worsening economic and human rights crisis in a pastoral letter that has given new life to the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter online protest.

In their pastoral letter of Aug. 14, the Zimbabwean bishops criticized the government of President Mnangagwa for the country’s economic collapse, deepening poverty, food insecurity, corruption and human rights abuses. The bishops believe that this crisis calls for urgent resolution but blamed it on the government’s approach which focuses more on stifling dissent and criticism. The Catholic Church runs schools, hospitals and relief programs during economic inflation that rose above 840% this weekend. Everyday Zimbabweans struggle to buy basic commodities and have seen their savings wiped out.

“The call for demonstrations is the expression of growing frustration and aggravation caused by the conditions that the majority of Zimbabweans find themselves in,” said the Catholic bishops in their letter. They added: “Suppression of people’s anger can only serve to deepen the crisis and take the nation into deeper crisis.”

Zimbabweans have painfully watched the government under President Emerson Mnangagwa close down on democratic spaces such as rights to protest and to criticize the government, say activists and rights groups. The state has allegedly used COVID-19 lockdown measures to quell protestors, arresting organizers on subversion charges.

The ZCC Aug. 16 demanded that Mnangagwa retract “the personal attacks on Archbishop Ndlovu and church leaders,” also encouraging the Zimbabwean leader to set up the framework for a national dialogue in mapping the way forward. Zimbabwe has previously had a government of national unity when former leader, the late Robert Mugabe, joined hands with the late opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai in 2009 following disputed polls in 2008.

The #ZimbabweanLivesMatter online protest is an offshoot of the #BlackLivesMatter global protest highlighting mistreatment of Black Americans. Zimbabweans have opted to use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to voice their anger and experiences at the hands of the Mnangagwa administration after government security forces cracked down on planned July 31 protests. 

The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), a grouping of 845 Christian churches in Zimbabwe with more than 4.5 million members, said on Aug. 17 that “true democracy is not built on threatening and criticizing those who speak up or speak out” against rulers. It further said “feet and bodies may have stopped on July 31 [the day of planned protest] but the truth still marches on,” adding that “harsh criticism on the church and its leaders” will not change the situation on the ground. 

Monica Mutsvangwa, Minister of Information for Zimbabwe, labelled Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare “errant and evil,” a description that has been criticized by Zimbabweans on social media and by Catholic and other Christian church associations.

The bishops’ criticism followed an explosive online protest under the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter social media campaign over the past two weeks which drew the attention of the African Union, the United Nations and leaders across African, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. South Africa has since dispatched an envoy to engage the Zimbabwean leader although opposition parties in Zimbabwe are pressing on Ramaphosa to do more.

The Catholic Church was also expecting the South African envoys to meet its leaders. According to Archbishop Ndlovu and other leaders of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe, the failure by Ramaphosa’s envoys to Zimbabwe to meet church leaders is a “missed opportunity” in mapping the way forward for the country. 

“Their failure to make inroad consultations with the Church and civic society at this most tempestuous time was most regrettable. Was this not an opportunity missed?” reads the bishops’ pastoral letter.

Further worsening the situation have been arrests and victimization of opposition leaders, corruption whistleblowers and journalists for speaking out against government corruption and human rights abuses. Prominent journalist and corruption whistle-blower Hopewell Chin’ono has successively been denied bail in the past few weeks while Jacob Ngarivhume, the lead organizer of the planned July 31 street protests against Mnangagwa’s administration, has also not been granted bail. The two were arrested for tweets that the state alleges were aimed at pushing the populace to violently revolt against the government.

This is a situation that the Catholic bishops also voiced their concern over, saying “some of our people continue to live in hideouts, with some incarcerated while others are on the run” with fear running “down the spine of many of our people today” as the government’s crackdown on dissent reaches “unprecedented” levels.

Despite the pastoral letter by the Zimbabwean Catholic bishops resonating with many Zimbabweans through their experiences, the government has called on Catholic congregants in the country “to ignore” it, arguing that the letter “is full of generalized accusations” against the state. Other Zimbabwean groups have however also criticized the government, including opposition groups and human rights groups.

Added Mutsvangwa: “And behold Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference of 14th August 2020 does not bother to invoke the repeated Papal calls for a global ceasefire in regions of war and strive.”

It is against this backdrop that the EFZ said on Aug. 17 that is stands in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference. Other groups that have stood in solidarity with the conference include the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, NGO Forum, Zimights, Catholic Lawyers Guild Zimbabwe and the Catholic Professionals Network of Zimbabwe, among others. They said the government has to backtrack on its attacks on the church, which has continued to play a key role through providing assistance for vulnerable Zimbabwean groups.

Tawanda Karombo is a Zimbabwe-based journalist covering development, religion, business and finance across Southern Africa. He has more than 10 years experience covering the region for local and international publications, including National Catholic Reporter and America Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @tawakarombo.