AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - “With its lies the government is pushing half of the population towards poverty!” says Archbishop Pius Ncube Bulawayo, second largest town in Zimbabwe

Harare (Fides Service)- “People have nothing to eat. People are dying because the government is lying ” Archbishop Pius Ncube, Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest town said in his discourse for the World Day for Victims of Torture, on 27 June. This was reported by a local Catholic magazine “In Touch with Church & Faith”, published by Jesuit Communications in Zimbabwe.
The Archbishop was speaking at Bulawayo cathedral to a gathering of more than 2,000 people. “Many people in our country were tortured to death” the Archbishop said. “As Christians we must oppose torture”. Several Opposition groups and NGOs have accused supporters of President Robert Mugabe of torturing people who oppose the President. During the two hour liturgy people lit candles in memory of the victims of torture, and the Archdiocesan choir sang hymns in Shona, Ndebele and English
Besides political violence the Archbishop denounced a serious food shortage which is affecting the people and reawakening the threat of famine: “People have hardly any food. This past week I visited the southern areas of Lupane, Tsholotsho, Plumtree Beitbridge and everywhere people told me that the food they have will last only to the end of August”.
The government continues to say that that the next harvest will bring 2.4 million tonnes of maize sufficient, according to the authorities, for the needs of the people. The government says the country does not need foreign aid like least year when more than 6 million citizens of Zimbabwe relied on international aid. However the optimistic forecasts made by the government are not shared by independent experts who warn that unless the country accepts international aid there will be a humanitarian tragedy.
In an interview with Fides last year Archbishop Ncube described the explosive situation in his country: “The policies of President Robert Mugabe have brought the country to ruin. For the past three years, since he began to feel he was losing power, the President imposed harsh control on society. His land policies in particular destroyed the farming sector, once flourishing, with the result that each week in Zimbabwe 40 people di of hunger. More than 6 are threatened with starvation (out of a total 12 million), 80 % of the people live below the poverty line, there is no fuel, banks have frozen accounts…it is easy to see that the situation is explosive.” (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 7/7/2004, righe 37 parole 476)