In a number of districts, Church hospitals have taken and fulfilled the role of District hospitals. The same also goes for certain Church schools. As Government, we are looking at ways of assisting such Church-run institutions so they grow in scope so they can expand the repertoire of services to our people.
Beyond the material, the Second Republic recognises the prophetic role which the Church has always played in society, and in history. The Church is the conscience of Society; it must be listened to, while its wise counsel must be heeded. It propagates peace, amity and unity at all levels. At no time will such a role become more crucial than now as we drift towards our Harmonised General Elections which fall due sometime next year.
The Church should preach peace and calmness in our communities and our Nation so our elections take place in an environment of non-violence and tolerance. It has always been the Church’s view that durable peace comes from justice. The State, too, shares that view. This is why we have several Constitutional Commissions working towards that end.
Any peace which avoids justice, or which seek to abort or to sidestep basic rights, can never endure. It is with this persuasion that I have personally made it my singular mission to settle deep hurts from past conflicts, principally those to do with disturbances which occurred in the early part of our Independence.
The Church must help Government protect that delicate process which can easily be wrecked by those seeking to profit from frozen animosities. Above all, it must help us avoid the recurrence of such conflicts in future.
It is also with the same persuasion that the Second Republic insists on peace built on full accomplishment of all processes provided for by our Supreme Law. We cannot carve genuine peace by deferring, let alone defeating those processes which our Constitution makes mandatory. That includes elections.
Once we begin to go down that dangerous route, we rest our peace on selfish whims, on expediency and on false morality. It is our firm view that genuine Peace cannot disenfranchise; it cannot abridge fundamental human rights enshrined in our Constitution.
I am happy that after several meetings, the Churches now understand why Government is working on the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill. That Bill does not seek to curtail humanitarian work by Churches and genuine Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). What the Bill seeks to do is to stop mischief which has often sought to take advantage of the poor and situations of need in the country. Additionally, it seeks to flush out dirty money which is often laundered through some PVOs.
Such a law makes us compliant with international protocols. Above all, it seeks to stop the subversion of national processes by foreign actors who often front political NGOs.
Electoral processes are solely for citizens; they should never come under the undue influence of outsiders who hold no legitimate stake in our country. To allow that to happen undermines our sovereignty, and the integrity of those processes.
We are aware that in this era of scarce resources, resource-rich countries like our Zimbabwe become attractive targets. Negative foreign interests will always seek to exploit every conduit in our society to exert undue influence. We must all be wary of this, including Churches.
We already have reports of foreign Embassies which seek to abuse their purpose and status here by mobilising religious organisations for political ends. That must be resisted, lest we are back to the Victorian ethos of western expansionism under different guises.
We continue to celebrate the good work which the Church is doing. Above all, we celebrate the fact that for the first time in history we are well on the road to having a Zimbabwean Church which is led by Zimbabweans; not just a Church in Zimbabwe run from afar.
Indeed, let God manifest Himself and His Will to us through us.
By President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the Sunday Mail
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