Zimbabwe churches differ on ANC visit

THE visit by a delegation from South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has divided churches with some saying they must investigate human rights abuses, while others feel they must unearth the funders of government critics.

This comes as Zanu-PF has welcomed the trip and said that it is ready to engage the visitors, who were set to arrived in the country last night for talks aimed at assisting Zimbabwe end its decades-old political and economic crises.

Destiny for Afrika Network founder Obadiah Musindo said the ANC delegation must investigate and expose countries which want to destabilise Zimbabwe.

"What I want from the ANC is that they must first check the real causes of the so-called crisis in Zimbabwe. This is a funded crisis, and who is behind the issue of trying to create a false crisis? I don't deny that we have economic hardships, but to say these hardships in Zimbabwe are a crisis, no. What I want the ANC to look at are the major funders of possible insurgency in Zimbabwe," said Musindo, a renowned Zanu-PF sympathiser.

"They need to check if these so-called human rights groups are genuine human rights groups, before they meet with these people, be it an opposition party or a civil society group, they should look at the real culprits behind or the funders behind these groups. What happened in Chivhu over the weekend shows they were trying to augment their position that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe."

Musindo said opposition parties and civil society want to cause anarchy in the country.

"That's how the insurgency in Mozambique started. … ANC should rebuke and condemn American-funded activities in Zimbabwe that are designed to destabilise this country. A family may have a problem, but pushing the family into fights is something else. There are some people who want to destabilise this country through the so-called human rights. The failed protest that was thwarted by the security forces was meant to do what happened in Chivhu. If you have two people who attack army officers at a police camp, eventually they were killed because they were resisting arrest. It means if they were allowed to march on July 31, worse than what happened in Chivhu was going to happen in this country."

He said there were no human rights abuses in the country.

 "The issue of human rights abuses and abductions, these are stage-managed things. The ANC must investigate before they engage, otherwise they won't deal with the cause of all these problems. They must look into real issues. … There is an agenda"

However, Musindo added that there was need for Zimbabweans to sit down and talk.

"Chamisa as a Zimbabwean, not representing anyone, and President Emmerson Mnangagwa must be able to engage each other. The brothers should not talk to appease outsiders. What the ANC can do is to facilitate talks between Chamisa and ED without the US and the EU. With this, the country can move forward."

But Divine Destiny Church leader Ancelimo Magaya said the ANC delegation must address the alleged human rights abuses in the country.

"What we just hope is that the ANC reaches out to civil society and other parties. It is a very difficult situation because these are two parties in power.

"They must look at human rights abuses, the way the law has been selectively applied. We have corrupt people who are walking free, but those who fight corruption are being arrested.

"There are some elements in the ANC who want Zanu-PF to reform like Lindiwe Zulu. My advice is that they must push the Zimbabwe government to respect human rights. People must be able to speak and they must make sure that the Zimbabwe government upholds democracy. They must not sacrifice their conscience in order to keep their relationship with Zanu-PF. Their relationship with Zanu-PF must be based on principles."