June 15 declared day of prayer
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday proclaimed June 15 as a national day of prayer to fight COVID-19 that has killed four people in Zimbabwe and infected more than 320.
“As your President, during this difficult season in which our nation and indeed the world face the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am humbled to invite you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to take time in prayer and fasting as a nation before the Almighty God, to seek his mercy, wisdom, help and healing to overcome this deadly pandemic,” Mnangagwa said yesterday.
Mnangagwa said there would be a live broadcast of a church service between 10am to 12pm and people were free to engage in small groups as families and churches in prayer.
“In doing so, we, however, diligently continue to observe every precaution necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” he said before opening scriptures in the book of Second Chronicles.
Mnangagwa is not the only leader who has turned to God in the face of COVID-19, Tanzania President John Magufuli turned to God for divine intervention in the face of the deadly virus that has brought the world to its knees.
But former Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni said he would not take part in Mnangagwa’s prayer sessions, accusing him and his party of causing untold suffering to millions of Zimbabweans.
Zanu PF, Manyenyeni said, must reform first before seeking divine intervention.
“As a citizen, I will not participate in the national day of prayer which the President has called for,” Manyenyeni told NewsDay.
“Tisatambena Mwari (let us not play games with God); I will actually look for anything diametrically different from the pronounced activity of that very fasting day — three daytime meals, no doubt and no less.”
He added: “On this national prayer request, he should go to God when he is trying or has tried without success as President. He cannot ask us to beg the Almighty when he has refused to do what is required by God. Prayer cannot be a substitute performance.
Manyenyeni said the only genuine prayer that Mnangagwa should invite the citizens to was for new leadership.
Zimbabwe is facing a myriad of economic and political challenges which observers say are a result of corruption, bad governance and Zanu PF’s failure to lead political reforms that will end the country’s international isolation and enable lending institutions to open up lines of credit for economic revival.