Churches warn political parties on violence
CHURCHES have called on political parties to desist from causing superfluous tensions and using people to massage their political egos and heighten their aspirations.
Association of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe (AACZ) president Bishop Tsungai Vushe said the country’s political parties should refrain from any forms of violence as this was detrimental to the country’s economy and in most occasions leads to the destruction of property and loss of innocent lives.
“Over the past two years we have witnessed numerous politically motivated violence and this has seen lots of properties being destroyed and left scores of people injured while in some cases lives have been lost. It is our call as churches that political parties should not use people as shields to perpetrate violence,” he said.
MDC-Alliance has over the past two years orchestrated a number of political motivated demonstrations with the latest being the one in which its supporters refused an order from the police to move out of the streets and house themselves at the party’s headquarters during a “hope of the nation” event.
Bishop Vushe said political parties should complement each other in efforts of reviving the country’s economy instead of throwing spanners at one another.
“We are seeing a lot of political bickering among political parties and this won’t take us anyway as a nation in our efforts to revive the country’s economy. Our wishes as different apostolic sects are to see the country prospering economically, having peace and tranquillity. Our leaders should also be God-fearing and that way the Lord will listen to our pleas and all the calamities befalling us will end. As churches we can only be mediators in the event of conflicts and pray for peace and prosperity in our country,” he said.
Bishop Vushe warned churches should be non-partisan and guard against being affiliated to any political party but instead strive on providing Godly counselling to all parties.
“We have noted a growing number of churches that affiliate themselves to certain political parties, such tendencies are uncalled for. Churches should remain apolitical and stick to their mandate of preaching the Word of God across all political divide.
“As indigenous churches we support the Government of the day regardless of the leader as written in Deuteronomy 29 verse 29 (The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law),” he said.
He applauded the Government for ensuring freedom of religion and worshipping, which is a fundamental human right that protects the conscience of all people.
“As churches we celebrate the freedom of worship, which we are accorded in this country as this is not prevalent in other countries, so we praise the Government as well as its support to indigenous churches,” said Bishop Vushe.