Bishops pray against embargo

SANCTIONS imposed on Zimbabwe by Western nations were not an attack on Harare alone, but an assault on Africa as a whole, hence the need to collectively call for their unconditional removal, Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi has said.

Speaking at a local hotel here during Zimbabwe Churches’ Sanctions Relief luncheon yesterday, Bishop Mutendi, who is patron of the Zimbabwe Indigenous Interdenominational Council of Churches (ZICC), said sanctions were an evil that was exacerbating the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.

The luncheon organised by ZICC and Faith for the Nation, was held in solidarity with SADC’s Anti-Sanctions Day today.

Bishop Mutendi called on the West to stop suffocating the “hardworking people of Zimbabwe. We want to applaud SADC for setting October 25 as the Anti-Sanctions Day and we plead and pray for the removal of those sanctions.”

It was nothing short of callous, he added, for the West to maintain sanctions at a time when the whole world is grappling with the fallout from both climate change and the coronavirus.

“All the countries in this world are also fighting natural disasters caused by climate change, and Zimbabwe is also no exception, but the country is on top of that burdened by illegal sanctions. Zimbabweans are a peace-loving people who have hope. We are a nation of hope and the illegal sanctions are not doing us any good,” he said.

Addressing the same event, ZICC and Faith for The Nation campaign chair Reverend Andrew Wutawunashe commended President Mnangagwa’s administration for developmental programmes that are meant to grow the economy and improve people’s living standards, notwithstanding the sanctions. Rev Wutawunashe also read an appreciative letter addressed to SADC chairperson, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, by ZICC bishops thanking the region for its fraternal support to the people of Zimbabwe.