Bishop Bakare rejects claims he is an ‘enemy’ of Zimbabwe regime

THE FORMER Bishop of Harare, the Rt Rev Sebastian Bakare, has denounced claims in Zimbabwe’s governmentbacked newspapers that he is a tool of the US government and an enemy of the regime.

In an interview published last week with NewsDay, Dr Bakare, rejected charges levelled Bulawayo24 — a government media outlet station in the country’s second city.

The TV and radio station claimed that the former bishop was involved in a plot funded by the US Embassy.

This plot was intended to bring opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and former Vice-President Joice Mujuru together to form a coalition to oust President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party in the 2018 elections.

Dr Bakare, who heads up the nonpartisan National Convergence Platform (NCP) — a civic group that seeks to bring the business, trade union, religious, political and social groups together to engage in a national dialogue on the future of the country — denounced the stories as a smear campaign to derail the NCP.

He said next month’s opening meeting of the NCP would be nonpartisan and invitations would be extended to “everybody who is concerned at the meltdown of our economy, including all political parties, with no special treatment extended to any.”

He added: “To associate me with the American Embassy, which I know may not have a very good rapport or relationship with the government, is trying to say to the nation: ‘This is your bishop associating himself with the enemy of the nation’.

“I resent this to the very core of my being.”

The accusations against him were from those seeking to protect their economic interests at the expense of the nation.

“Such kind of maliciousness comes from those who are benefiting from the system that has denied Zimbabweans a peaceful and happy life,” he said.