Amen, My Brother …
It was a relatively small, but significant, show of defiance. Today, a group of Christian Pastors, accompanied by members of their congregations, staged a peaceful march and prayer service in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo - our City of Kings.
Originally banned by the police, the event went ahead after the High Court granted them a last-minute go-ahead yesterday. And go ahead they did - despite the presence of baton weilding police patrolling the route of the march. It was estimated that, in all, about three hundred people took part.
So - what of it? Well - in the first place - it was to mark the first anniversary of mugabe’s horrific “Operation Murambatsvina“. Secondly, it was to show solidarity with the victims of this inhuman abuse of Zimbabwe’s poorest, and to remind the world of thier continued sufferings. I can almost hear so many people around the world saying, “So what? Dry your eyes!”. Lets face it - most of the world has heard of Murambatsvina, and what has been done by the international community? The plight of it’s victims has largely been ignored by the world, so why bother doing re-runs of re-runs? It’s just a case of another African dictator flexing his muscles isn’t it? No ways - it isn’t! Not to anyone who has a heart it isn’t! These are people that are being abused - our people! We will see justice restored, and we will see justice done!
So what was really significant about this march? Firstly, it says to mugabe and his pitiful followers that the people of Zimbabwe are not afraid to stand up to them - even though we stand defenceless against thier tear gas, their batons and their guns! Secondly, personally, I see it as a wake-up call for mugabe and his overfed band of theives. He has pushed the freedoms of the Zimbabwean people to the limit. The one freedom that he has not directly legislated against is the one fredom that will be his downfall - the freedom of worship. True - he has tried to silence the churches by using and abusing POSA. But he hasn’t been able to, has he? While many have been silent, for some time the spotlight has been on the Catholics and, in particular Archbishop Pius Ncube, in their condemnation of the excesses of the mugabe regime. But all that has ended today. The regime tried to deny the right of Zimbabweans to exercise their constitutional freedom to prayer, and once again - they failed! This marks a turning point in the unity of Christians in Zimbabwe - today many of the other Christian churches closed ranks against mugabe and his abuse of power!
Many pastors addressed the crowd today, many sad stories of victims were told, and many words of wisdom were spoken, but it was the words of a poet who addressed the crowd that were reported by a friend of mine:
“My brothers and sisters, our country’s salvation will not come from the West, nor will it come from the East. It will not come from the North, nor the South. It will come from above! Pray my people, pray Zimbabwe!”
Amen, my Brother … Amen!
May 21st, 2006 08:19
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