Doc:        Ref. 07-0329
Date:       04 April 2007

STATEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS'
CONFERENCE ON THE CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE

The people of Zimbabwe are suffering. They are frustrated and hungry. An elite of their own people is oppressing them and denying them the most basic human rights. The majority of the population is living in abject poverty. Unemployment is over 80%. The public health, education and transport systems are falling apart.   Several million have fled their homes in Zimbabwe for neighbouring Southern African Countries further robbing their own country of important skills and social cohesion.  

Frustration and hunger coupled with a sense of powerlessness to do anything about it forms a very dangerous situation and undermines the stability of the country further.  Any signs of a mass uprising by the people engender new fears in the ruling elite and these fears lead to ever-increasing oppression and to state-sanctioned violence. When public demonstrations are brutally suppressed there is a distinct danger that those who suffer will see violence as the only resource left to them. This will inevitably result in the loss of life and destruction of property.   

We, the Bishops of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, believe in Zimbabwe.  We believe in its people and their potential. We believe that this potential can still be realised by those in authority sitting down in the same room with representatives of all sectors of Zimbabwean society to develop a new constitution. This Constitution will form the basis for a new democracy. Totally free and transparently fair elections will then be possible. We strongly support the efforts of the Church Leaders in Zimbabwe to bring about dialogue, negotiation and reconciliation.

If this is to happen there needs to be a radical change of heart in the leaders of Zimbabwe.  We recall what God said through the Prophet Ezekiel: "I shall remove the heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh" (Ez. 11.19). We ask our God to work this wonder for his people in Zimbabwe.

Therefore, we plead with all Catholics and people of Goodwill to make this their special prayer during the Easter season so that the joy of Easter may be shared by all the people of Zimbabwe. We ask that St. Francis' Prayer for Peace be recited at the conclusion of the Prayers of the Faithful at every Mass during the month of April.  We did this in the final years of apartheid and we know how God worked a miracle for us.  He will work a similar miracle for Zimbabwe in answer to the millions of voices raised up to Him in humility and in faith. 

We also request that charity, tolerance and compassion be extended to all Zimbabweans who have sought refuge in neighbouring Southern African Countries – many in South Africa were political refugees and were welcomed, comforted and supported by the people of the region.

Prayer for Peace in Southern Africa 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy; 

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be
consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. 

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale OMI
President
Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference

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