From the editor’s desk

The oppressed still cry out

Pius Ncube has been Robert Mugabe's most outspoken critic, condemning the injustices of the regime that has brought Zimbabwe to its knees and its people to the brink of starvation. Now he has stepped down as Archbishop of Bulawayo, two months after allegations emerged of an affair with a church employee whose husband has brought a case against him. By the time he resigned the scandal had already damaged Archbishop Ncube's standing in Zimbabwe, with wide coverage of the accusations, including publication of grainy photographs. This was patently useful to the Mugabe regime, prompting speculation that the security services may have been involved in producing the pictures.

In standing down, Bishop Ncube acknowledges that the forthcoming court case could both tarnish the Church and risk distracting attention from the injustices perpetrated by Mugabe and his Government. Bishop Ncube has, however, pledged to continue to speak out, albeit not from Archbishop's House. His courage has been remarkable, as he has been consistently prepared to expose the excesses of Mugabe's regime. To see such a man of fortitude brought down by human frailty is a tragedy. But even more calamitous is that, however much he desires to continue combating Mugabe's injustices, his voice has become, if not entirely stilled, at least muted.

The vacuum he leaves needs to be filled, and urgently. Zimbabwe's economy is collapsing, inflation is at 7,600 per cent, four-fifths of the people are unemployed, more than a million are expected to need food aid by the end of the year, and dissidents are punished. Yet Mugabe's Zanu-PF maintains its grip on power. Who will now bring attention to the plight of the Zimbabwean people? So far most other African nations have been noticeable in their failure to address the problem of Zimbabwe. Rather, it has been left to churchmen both within and outside Zimbabwe to denounce its Government. When Zimbabwe's own bishops' conference, in its Easter message "God hears the cry of the oppressed", described a country gripped by catastrophic collapse, it was left to the pan-African Catholic body, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, to call on the Government of Robert Mugabe to halt the violence against its own people. Africa's governments stayed silent, putting solidarity with a fellow politician above solidarity with the victims of a tyrannical regime.

Last week Pope Benedict spoke to politicians in Vienna of the need for those in Europe to make their political clout felt over the challenges in Africa. He is right that European governments should speak out, particularly on Zimbabwe. And at a time when Mugabe may be feeling satisfied with what he and his henchmen perceive to be the crushing of Pius Ncube, another powerful voice needs to be heard. It took time for the Vatican to understand the situation in Zimbabwe; last year the Pope spoke of the country's elections being an opportunity for a new beginning. That has not happened. For the Pope to speak out now against a dictator who purports to be a Catholic would be entirely appropriate. That is a voice the President could not silence and the world could not ignore.