|
|||||||||||||||||
| Zimbabwe's first 24 hour internet radio news channel: Breakings news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year | |||||||||||||||||
|
Church leader appeals for peace in Zimbabwe |
|
|||||||||||||||
13 April 2007 In a sermon delivered at an ecumenical
service on Wednesday evening at Trinity Church, Dandala said what is
happening in Zimbabwe is a blight on the conscience of all Africans, and
no one could derive pleasure from the continued misery of the country's
citizens. He said while the anger about skewed land distribution in Zimbabwe could be understandable, and even if Britain's sin against its former colony was great, there could be no justification for the Zimbabwean government to unleash terror against its own people. He said the government's actions were not harming the British, but innocent Zimbabweans. Dandala said the state of affairs in Zimbabwe was a reflection of what was happening throughout the continent. He said the use of child soldiers by Uganda's rebel group the Lord Resistance Army's, and genocide in Sudan were some of the indicators of things gone seriously wrong on the continent. "Fifty years back, Ghana became free. The mothers ululated. The fathers sang and danced. Like the prophet Isaiah, they said, 'No longer shall we build houses and not live in them. No longer shall we plant and not reap. Today, we shall plant, hoe, and harvest'. What do the bones of those people say when they see what is happening on the continent today? Where did Africa go wrong in those 50 years?" Dandala asked to thunderous applause from the packed inter-denominational congregation, which included former First Lady, Olebile Masire and former cabinet minister, Dr. Gaositwe Chiepe. He said greed and corruption were the
source of the continent's problems. Dandala decried the tendency to see
leadership positions as an opportunity for self-enrichment, and not
service to the community. He pleaded with those in leadership positions
to have a change of heart and serve "the refugees, widows, orphans, and
the weak". He asked leaders to live up to the example of Jesus Christ
who, despite hunger after going for 40 days without food in the desert,
refused to use his power to feed himself, which he could have easily
done had he listened to the voice of temptation to turn stones into
bread. Earlier, a minister of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) and Principal of Kgolagano College, Rev Rupert Hambira, warned against keeping quiet in the face of human suffering in Zimbabwe. He quoted Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem "First they came...", which speaks about the indifference of German intellectuals after the Nazi rise to power and the purging of Hitler's chosen targets, group after group. "It takes a good person to keep quiet for evil to thrive. The evil we see next door is not too far from us," Hambira sent a chilling warning. Dandala, the immediate past Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, celebrated Easter at the Methodist Church in Gaborone, where he preached on Friday and Sunday. In his Sunday message, he urged the youth to stand up against dictatorship. On Saturday Dandala, who was on a four-day visit to Botswana at the invitation of Botswana Council of Churches (BCC), went to pay his respects and pray at the grave of Botswana's founding president Seretse Khama, whom he described as one of Africa's giants. He also paid a courtesy call on President Festus Mogae at the State House. (FPN) Related articles
Do you have a story? Then e-mail news@nehandaradio.com . If its a good one you might earn yourself money for the effort. For general comments and feedback e-mail: editor@nehandaradio.com
|
|||||||||||||||||