Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) - The roots of the crisis in Zimbabwe were the main topic for discussion at a special meeting of local Bishops last week. According to CISA new service in Nairobi, the bishops listened to various reports delivered by members of the Church and the academic world. Participants included Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu, of Lusaka Zambia, Archbishop Tarcisius Gervazio Ziyaye of Blantyre in Malawi and Bishop Patrick Zithulele Mvemve of Klerksdorp in South Africa.
The vice rector of the University of Zimbabwe, Professor Walter Kamba, gave a paper on “Constitutionalism and social changes in Zimbabwe”, a careful analysis of the roots of the nation's crisis. Professor Kamba said he was in total agreement with the Bishops pastoral letter “God listens to the cry of the oppressed ” (see Fides 29 and 30 MARCH 2007), in which they affirm that the crisis in Zimbabwe is essentially a crisis in governance.
Professor Kamba said the present evils in the country, high inflation, collapse of the economy and public services, are the result of bad government and faulty constitutional bases. He explained “The Constitutions of independence were to guide the new governments but they did not stop the latter from exercising power in an arbitrary manner and to commit violations against human rights”. He said Zimbabwe's present “Lancaster House Constitution”, was not inspired by the instances of the people. The Lancaster House Constitution derives its name from the fact that it was adopted on the basis of agreements of Lancaster House in Great Britain which marked the passage from colonial Rhodesia to the present day Zimbabwe. The Constitution is the result of a compromise and the political and diplomatic level and it does not reflect the real needs of the country, all the more 28 years after its adoption. In their pastoral letter the Bishops underline the need for a new Constitution (see Fides 29 March 2007).
Another speaker Dr. David Kaulemu, Coordinator the African Forum Catholic Social Teaching (AFCAST) for east and south African said the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe must intensify its teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine and so help improve society and the country as a whole. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 39/5/2007 righe 32 parole 395)
