Church in the World

Bishops challenge Mugabe

Africa

ALL NINE of Zimbabwe?s Catholic bishops have forthrightly condemned their Government?s recent two-week campaign to ?beautify? the country?s urban areas by destroying slums and informal markets.

?We, the members of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops? Conference, hereby register our dismay at the current ?clean up? operation, dubbed ?Operation Restore Order?,? said their statement last week. It continued ?We are surprised that this operation is being carried out without enough warning and without Government offering alternative accommodation and sources of income to the affected huge number of people.?

In the most strongly worded condemnation of President Robert Mugabe?s Government since Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare took over as the country?s most senior Catholic cleric last August, the bishops said they found it ?difficult to understand how the [the] Government could unleash such violence on the population?. In their view, ?a grave crime has been committed against poor and helpless people who are already facing many hardships in the country? and they urged that the brutal police clampdown be stopped immediately.

The government campaign demolished houses and businesses in Harare and around the country, making an estimated 200,000 people homeless. More than 30,000 others were arrested. Mr Mugabe?s Government stated its aim was to get rid of illegal structures that have sprouted around urban centres. It claims they are a haven for illegal traders in foreign currency, drugs and scarce commodities. Opponents suggest that Mr Mugabe has been punishing the urban poor for voting against his ruling Zanu-PF in the March parliamentary elections, and deterring protests as economic catastrophe looms. Another motive could be driving the urban poor back to the countryside where they can be more easily controlled. The bishops point out in their statement that the majority of those left homeless have nowhere else to go and some have been forced back to the cities after trying to depart for rural areas.

Some church and opposition groups will be supporting a strike call for Thursday and Friday from a previously unknown group calling itself the Broad Alliance which includes trade unionists and students.
Ellen Teague