As all hopes of economic and political salvation fade, President Robert Mugabe’s Cabinet members are turning to God.
Six years into the country’s worst economic recession, six key members of the ruling Zanu-PF party are now messengers of God. But what is not clear is whether this latest development is coming from the heart or is driven by politics.
Zimbabwe Anglican Archbishop Nolbert Kunonga recently made Vice-President Joseph Msika a lay priest of the Anglican diocese of Harare.
Kunonga said the honour mandated Msika to ”preach, officiate and perform other duties as he may be directed by the bishop” and was bestowed on him after ”realising the sterling work he had done for both the church and the country”.
Msika acknowledged the honour and said he ”prayed regularly for God’s guidance”. He challenged other ministers to do ”God’s will to avoid the devil’s guidance”.
Msika is following in the footsteps of Zimbabwe’s other Vice-President, Joice Mujuru, who was elevated in the Salvation Army to captaincy. Mujuru has long been an active member of the Salvation Army, but her quick rise in status follows Zimbabwe’s recent hosting of the All Africa Congress of the Army.
The venue for the politicians’ turnaround has been the prestigious Trinity Methodist Church, located behind Harare’s High Court and a few metres from the Munhumuta building where Mugabe holds his weekly Cabinet meetings.
Minister for Policy Implementation Webster Shamu and Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa have applied to train as priests. Shamu’s wife, who has never been an active member of the Methodist Church, is already wearing its red and white uniform.
Murerwa is already performing layman’s duties after getting the nod from church elders last year. ”Murerwa has been an active member of the church since his late father, Bishop Murerwa, played a key role in the church,” said an insider.
”Murerwa’s amazing appetite for whiskey was initially a drawback, but the issue was settled.
”We debated Shamu’s application at length, but no decision has been made as yet. He is likely to get the nod, considering the amount of presents he donates to the church every Sunday,” the insider said.
In the Midlands, former vice-presidential aspirant and Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities Emmerson Mnangagwa has confessed to being ”born again”. He has already preached at several funerals.
Mnangagwa told journalists he repented in August last year. ”I feel I was called to the Christian world by God,” he said.
Former Zanu-PF provincial chairman for Mashonaland West, Philip Chiyangwa, who survived espionage charges but was later fired from the party, has also turned to God. He is now an active member of the Faith Ministries, which is part of the Pentecostal churches.
In a response to questions put to him by a local daily after his trials and tribulations with the law and Zanu-PF, Chiyangwa quoted the Bible extensively and has already donated a building to his church at Murombedzi Growth Point, close to Mugabe’s rural Zvimba home.
”Are they intending to use the pulpit for politics?” asked Jonah Gokova, coordinator of the Zim-babwe National Pastors Conference and director of the National Ecumenical Services.
”It could be a desire to seek God, but when you have prominent politicians assuming positions of leadership, you begin to wonder if they understand the implications of the link between the political podium and the pulpit.”
Gokova said there have been instances when the church has been ”infiltrated by politicians”.
”We have seen church leaders supporting state-sponsored violence and one wonders if it’s not an extension of that strategy to pacify the church. Church institutions should openly challenge repression,” he said.