Zimbabwe Bishops: may our country rise to new life

(Vatican Radio) Zimbabwe’s opposition prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai and longtime leader Robert Mugabe continue nationwide campaigning ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls scheduled for July 31st.

Earlier this month Tsvangirai said reforms, urgently needed to ensure a fair and free vote, have not been introduced.

Vatican Radio’s Father Moses Hamungole, is in Kinshasa for the plenary assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences in Africa and Madagascar.

To find out more about the concerns of the Church ahead of the Zimbabwe elections, he spoke with the secretary general of the country’s Catholic Bishops Conference, Fr Frederick Chiromba….

listen to the interview...

Father Chiromba says that Zimbabwe is currently preparing for elections. He points out “it has been preparing for the past 5 years ever since the inconclusive elections of 2008 which produced the Government of National Unity which at least has been able to produce a new National Constitution”

“It was good – he says – “to see Zimbabweans who are generally so polarized, agreeing on something”

And Father Chiromba points out that this was something the Church had been calling for as far back as 2006 in view of the difficulties Zimbabwe was facing at the time.

“The bishops were saying that in order to move things forward we need a common vision, a new National Constitution and fortunately that was delivered earlier this year. The next thing are the elections”. And he says: “the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Zimbabwe has been preparing the nation”.

He speaks at length of the Pastoral letter released by the Conference on March 15 2013 emphasizing the importance of the elections, which were described as a second chance for the nation. In fact, he points out, the title of the Pastoral letter is “Zimbabwe Elections 2013 and the God of second chances”.

Father Chiromba speaks at length of how the 2013 national elections in Zimbabwe are as important in determining the destiny of the nation as the elections at independence in 1980. “In 1980 the country closed the door to colonialism and opened another to independence. In 2013 the country needs to close the door to political intolerance, violence, impunity, lack of transparency and accountability, intimidation, corruption and open another to a true democratic dispensation in conducting free and fair elections that respect the will of the people and uphold human dignity”

In that same Pastoral letter the bishops go on to describe the expectations of the Z people at independence: “At the dawn of independence in 1980, a nation was born out of a protracted armed struggle and many years of pain, suffering and oppression. The ideals of the liberation war, of one person one vote and the yearning for freedom: freedom from oppression, freedom from racism, freedom from human indignity and violation, freedom from poverty and hunger, ignorance and disease coupled with the urgent and pressing need for the recovery and restoration of the land were the driving force behind the fight for liberation”

So he says, the bishops remind the people of their aspirations at independence in 1980. And they describe the hardships the nation has faced since independence and how those expectations were betrayed in the “stark reality of a nation divided, traumatized and impoverished by this political, economic and social crisis”. This has manifested itself in the escalation of violence, corruption, even poverty.

And now the bishops are saying God has offered this opportunity of a new election as a second chance to really redeem itself.

He says they quote the Blessed John Paul II who said “For a stalk to grow or a flower to open there must be time that cannot be forced”. And they say now we have come to the stage in which the nation has to embrace the democratic dispensation.

And in that vein the bishops call for a credible electoral process, for free and fair elections.

And they call forcefully for a peaceful environment before, during and after the elections.

The bishops, Father Chiromba says, conclude their document saying “ We have written this pastoral letter for Easter 2013 when we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May our country rise to new life in the Lord and move forward to the Kingdom future he promises. We invite all Christians and people of good will to commit
themselves to promoting peace in Zimbabwe and overcome the culture of intolerance, intimidation and political violence. As Church we will endeavour to facilitate forgiveness, national healing and reconciliation in the years to come. The country has endured many years of violence and will take many years to heal. In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus, On The Church In Africa In Service To Reconciliation, Justice and Peace, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says, “It is important for the present and for the future to purify memories, so as to build a better society where such tragedies are no longer repeated.”

And finally, quoting the letter Father Chiromba says “We invite you all to pray for our country at all times and during all occasions particularly at this important time in our life as a nation. At the same time it is also very important that all who are eligible to vote must register and exercise their responsibility as citizens by casting their votes on the due date, including Priests and Religious. We thank the God of second chances for bringing us to the elections of 2013. However, we are also fully conscious that the God of second chances has a day of judgement. Second chances are not forever. Let us make the most of the present opportunity to redeem ourselves in faith; there may be no other chance. May God Almighty bless the nation of Zimbabwe and grant it the faith, the vision and the courage to build a Zimbabwe that is free, tolerant, peaceful, prosperous and God fearing".