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Sat Feb 2, 7:06 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - The two factions of
Zimbabwe's main opposition held a crucial
meeting Saturday to try to close
ranks and forge a coalition against
President Robert Mugabe in next month's
elections, both sides said.
"Unity is happening. We cannot afford to
go into the elections as pieces,"
an official from the main Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) faction, led
by former trade unionist Morgan
Tsvangirai, told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
"So far it's a
coalition and for logistical purposes we will pool our
resources together
for the elections. We will start building proper
structures after the
elections."
But the other faction led by former student leader Arthur
Mutambara said the
coalition was not yet certain.
"There was
progress, there is progress, perhaps there will be progress,"
faction
spokesman Gabriel Chaibva told AFP.
"We held marathon meetings since
yesterday evening to early hours of this
morning and we agreed in principle
to a coalition but there are still some
sticking points."
He said a
national council comprising representatives from the two sides was
meeting
in the capital.
"These things could have been resolved last year or the
year and we wouldn't
have rushed as we are doing now," he said.
"We
had agreed that each formation would contest not less than 30 percent of
the
seats and (now) Tsvangirai wants 100 percent of the seats in Harare and
Bulawayo."
The two sides are racing against time, with less than a
week before the
deadline to approve election candidates and less than two
months of
campaigning until the polls take place on March 29.
Once a
formidable force posing the stiffest challenge to Mugabe's more than
two-decade stranglehold on power, the MDC was riven by factionalism
following a row over senate elections in 2006.
The factions
temporarily set their differences aside and vowed to launch a
united front
against Mugabe last year after Tsvangirai and several members
of the party
were beaten by security forces breaking up a planning prayer
rally by
several opposition groups.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: February 2,
2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe: A bus veered off a highway and crashed
into a tree in
southern Zimbabwe, killing 14 people and injuring 55, state
radio reported
Saturday.
Nine of the victims died at the scene of the
accident near the southern town
of Masvingo, 400 kilometers (250 miles)
south of Harare, the radio said.
Five died on the way to a nearby mission
hospital and the main Masvingo
hospital.
The bus was carrying 75
people.
Police were investigating the cause of the crash late Thursday,
and appealed
to relatives to come forward to identify the dead, the radio
said. It was
not clear whether the driver was among those killed.
Bus
accidents are common in Zimbabwe, blamed on shortages of replacement
tires
and spare parts. The heaviest seasonal rains since colonial-era
records
began a century ago have also left poorly maintained streets and
highways
pitted by potholes and crumbling asphalt.
IOL
February 02
2008 at 10:41AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Convicted
mercenary Simon Mann was seized from his tiny cell at the
maximum-security
prison Chikurubi in Harare in the early hours of Thursday
and rushed to an
Air Force security base near Harare International Airport.
He was
briefly detained there before being deported to Equatorial
Guinea - the
oil-rich country whose dictatorial leader he was accused of
trying to
overthrow in an aborted coup in March 2004.
President Robert
Mugabe's government delivered him to the potential
horrors of Black Beach
prison in Equatorial Guinea's capital Malabo, while
his lawyers were still
appealing against his deportation.
Well-placed sources said that
Obiang's government sent an aircraft to
Harare to collect Mann hours after
he lost an appeal against his deportation
order in the Harare High court on
Wednesday - and before his lawyers were
able to appeal to the Supreme
Court.
Mann's lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, on Friday accused the
Zimbabwean
authorities of illegally "abducting" Mann. Samkange then lost a
legal bid to
have Mann returned from Equatorial Guinea late on
Friday.
High Court judge Alfas Chitakunye dismissed
Samkange's application for
Mann's extradition to be reversed and for him to
be returned to Harare.
Mann has opposed the deportation order all
along on the grounds that
he would be tortured in Equatorial Guinea as other
members of the coup plot
allegedly have been.
"It is illegal.
He has been abducted," said Jonathan Samkange, his
lawyer.
"Deporting a person at night is not only mischievous but unlawful."
A new wing has been built at Black Beach jail and the regime says that
conditions have improved since Amnesty International reported in 2005 that
prisoners routinely starved to death. Nguema's regime has pledged to refrain
from torturing or executing Mann.
But Equatorial Guinea, an
oil-rich dictatorship formerly ruled by
Spain, has one of Africa's worst
human rights records.
Mann, who served a four-year sentence in
Zimbabwe for trying to buy
weapons, made frantic efforts to avoid
extradition. He once told his lawyer
that if he was ever sent there, "I will
be a dead man".
It is understood that Mann tried to resist being
taken out of his
Chikurubi cell around midnight on Wednesday.
Mann told the officials who had come to collect him that he had an
appeal
against his deportation pending at the Supreme Court. However the
officials
ignored his pleas and bundled Mann out of the prison under heavy
security
and took him to Manyame Air Force base.
He was on a plane to
Equatorial Guinea by about 1am on Thursday
morning.
Mann's
lawyers are insisting that he should be returned to Zimbabwe
because he was
deported in violation of the law.
This was because they had given
notice that they would file an appeal
against High Court judge Rita
Makarau's ruling on Wednesday upholding an
earlier decision to deport
him.
"Once Mann's lawyers had noted their intention to appeal at
the
Supreme Court, his deportation should have been stopped pending a
decision
of the higher courts," said one lawyer, who did not want to be
named. Mann's
lawyers will go to the Supreme Court on Monday to try to
persuade the
country's highest court to have him returned.
But
that appears to be a futile exercise as Zimbabwe's Supreme Court
is stuffed
by Mugabe's cronies. The deal to have Mann deported was
apparently struck
between Mugabe and EG President Teodoro Obiang Nguema when
the two leaders
visited each other in their respective capitals last year.
Some
observers believe that Mugabe has in effect sold Mann for oil as
Equatorial
Guinea has been helping bankrupt Zimbabwe with the precious
commodity.
Nguema is a African leader of the old school. In
power since a coup in
1979, he has built an adulatory personality cult.
State radio has declared
Nguema a "god" who is "in permanent contact with
the Almighty" and "can
decide to kill without anyone calling him to account
and without going to
hell".
Some reports - unproven and
unverifiable - suggest that Nguema might
have been an occasional cannibal,
in the mould of despots like Idi Amin in
Uganda.
Equatorial
Guinea is Africa's third biggest oil producer. Since the
alleged plot was
uncovered, Nguema has become an ally of President Mugabe of
Zimbabwe,
supplying Harare's cash-strapped regime with fuel.
British-born
Mann, a former member of the British special forces and a
mercenary, was
living in Cape Town in 2004 when he allegedly hatched a plot
with others
Britons and South Africans to topple Obiang in a coup and
replace him with
exiled opposition leader Severo Moto.
But SA intelligence sources
apparently got wind of the plan and tipped
off the Zimbabweans.
When a chartered aircraft full of hired mercenaries landed at Harare
airport
in March 2004 to collect a consignment of arms which Mann had
ordered from
the Zimbabwe arms parastatal, Mann and about 70 other men were
arrested.
A little later, in Malabo, the South African
ex-mercenary Nick du Toit
and several other South African and foreign
accomplices, were also arrested.
The Du Toit group was tried in
Malabo and convicted of planning a coup
to be launched when Mann and his men
arrived on the island in their
chartered aircraft loaded with
weapons.
Du Toit was sentenced to 34 years in prison and the others
were given
lesser sentences. Most are still sitting in Black Beach prison
where they
claim to have been tortured.
This article
was originally published on page 3 of Saturday Star on
February 02,
2008
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
01 February
2008
With a deadline for Zimbabweans to register to vote
coming up fast on Feb.
8, observers say the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is
not doing enough to
increase public awareness of the impending closure of
voters lists before
March 20 ballots.
Registration by voters and
changes to existing registrations end next
Friday, while a window for
inspections closes one day earlier.
Candidates for office in the
presidential, general and local elections to be
held March 29 must also
register at nomination courts around the country by
Feb. 8.
The
opposition and civic groups are urging members of public to verify that
they
are registered and, in the case of those who have recently turned 18
years
of age, to register for the first time so they can cast ballots in the
elections.
The government announced, meanwhile, that it has opened
5,000 centers around
the country where the public can inspect the voters
roll, but independent
observers said the arrangement is inadequate to ensure
all voters can
inspect the voters roll.
For insight into the
registration process and the problems which have
arisen, reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to
Jestina Mukoko, national
director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project and a member
of the board of the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network, and McDonald
Lewanika, spokesman for the
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, which has been
staging "Rock the Vote" musical
events across the country to encourage young
people in particular to
register.
Mukoko said would-be voters are facing the same challenges in
registering
were seen before previous elections in attempting to exercise
their
democratic right to vote.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
01 February
2008
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said
Friday that its officers and
members are facing harassment by state security
agents over the strike
teachers are currently pursuing in search of a
starting salary of Z$1.7
billion (US$280) a month.
The union said
organizers in Masvingo were briefly detained by police at
rural Chikato
School on Friday after a headmaster called police. The union
reported
harassment in Matabeleland, Mashonaland Central and Manicaland
provinces as
well.
Earlier this week police in Masvingo summoned PTUZ President
Takavafira Zhou
demanding that he explain his union’s position on the
strike. The union said
80% of state primary and secondary schools have been
hit by the labor
action.
The opposition Movement for Democratic
Change formation led by MDC founder
Morgan Tsvangirai urged the government
to heed complaints by teachers about
poor working conditions or face further
deterioration of the education
system.
Zhou told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the
strike is gaining
momentum despite opposition by the rival Zimbabwe Teachers
Association.
But a spokesman for the Zimbabwe Teachers Association
professed ignorance of
any strike by teachers, saying Zimbabwean teachers do
not need to strike
because negotiations with the government are at an
advanced stage.
Association President Tendai Chikowore told reporter
Jonga Kandemiiri that
the PTUZ has resorted to mudslinging against its rival
labor organization.
Zim Online
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Saturday 02
February 2008
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s government on
Friday rejected criticism by Human
Rights Watch (HRW) that next month’s
elections will not be free and fair,
accusing the United States-based group
of bias against President Robert
Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF
party.
In its report for 2008 released earlier this week, the HWR
said
Zimbabwe was among a group of pseudo-democracies whose rulers used
“outright
fraud and control of electoral machinery” to win
elections.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu accused the
rights group of
attempting to prejudge polls even before a single vote was
cast.
“How can they know of an election that is yet to be held?
That tells
that they have a bias against the ruling party and its
government,” said
Ndlovu.
Zimbabwe holds presidential,
parliamentary and local government
elections on March 29, which analysts
predict will be won by Mugabe and ZANU
PF despite an acute economic crisis
blamed on state mismanagement.
The main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party is
expected to contest polls under protest
after Mugabe ignored calls by the
opposition party to postpone elections and
implement a new constitution that
would level the political
field.
HRW said failure by Mugabe’s government to punish
perpetrators of
political violence raised the fears that the elections will
not free and
fair.
“There are serious concerns over whether the
forthcoming elections
will be free and fair. Impunity that perpetrators of
political violence
enjoy in Zimbabwe conveys the message that violence in
the run-up to and the
aftermath of the 2008 elections will also go
unpunished,” the rights body
said.
HWR said basic freedoms such
as the freedoms of expression, assembly
and the press were constantly being
violated with arbitrary arrests of
perceived government opponents and
criminal prosecution of journalists
common in the crisis-hit southern
African country.
Other countries named by HWR in as rogue
democracies that manipulate
elections are Chad, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria,
Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan,
Bahrain, Malaysia and Thailand.
Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, is in the grip of a severe
economic
crisis seen in the world’s highest inflation of more than 26 000
percent and
shortages of food essential medicines, fuel, electricity, hard
cash and just
about every basic survival commodity.
Mugabe, in power since 1980
and seeking another five-year term in
March, denies mismanaging Zimbabwe,
and in turn accuses his Western enemies
of sabotaging the his country’s once
brilliant economy. - ZimOnline
TravelMag.co.uk
By
Kesse-Sky Buchanan
1 Feb, 2008, 20:30
I walked to
breakfast today with the presence of death on my shoulders. The
son of our
driver had died. It was not so much the sadness of what happened
that
haunted me as deeply as the lack of reaction from anyone who heard the
news,
including the reaction of our driver himself. It told me that in this
rural
area of Mhondoro, really in Zimbabwe itself, death is never far.
I am in
this rural town of Zimbabwe working on a documentary film about
village
life. It seems untouched in some ways, a culture preserved in the
memories
of the elders, resistant to globalization and technology, but the
cruelty of
Mugabe’s regime is far reaching and the village was unable to
escape.
An hour later I found myself in the medical clinic in
Mhondoro. When we
walked up to the building to start our day we were
greeted by cries of the
sick holding their thin, haggard arms in a universal
plea for help. They
had formed a line all the way around the medical hut
and out into the yard.
Wooden carts pulled by oxen continued to bring in
more and even more who
couldn’t find the strength to walk.
I followed
the doctor into the bare room with the stained walls and a
mud-packed
floor. The patient was a woman who had been there, laying on the
single cot
for 4 hours now. She had been here last week too. Like many
others, they
had walked into the night to get here. The lack of medical
clinics in the
area forces most to travel miles to get to any sort of
primitive medical
care.
As the woman was being treated I heard the mooing of cows and
scuttle of
chickens, only separated from us by a thin wall. The room was
empty except
for the cot, a wooden bench, a stethoscope and a thermometer,
the only
medical tools available.
Preschoolers sang next door in
their rhythm of hope, but the closeness of
the preschool to the clinic with
just the mud separating us reminded me how
imminent any sort of illness is
in such a rural area. The preschool
children are all as thin as old women.
They often don’t have food all day
because there isn’t any. Their clothes
hang in tatters, but ironed tatters
nevertheless. I wonder how long the
skin will cling to their bones and they
will be able to play instead of sit
outside the clinic like so many children
already do.
The woman on the
cot had been brought in by her husband who sat nearby.
Behind the mask of
masculinity the culture puts on their men, I saw a
glimpse of sorrow crack
through the edges that any human would recognize,
regardless of where they
grew up. He moved to shift the position of his
wife’s leg that she was too
weak to move by herself.
I never saw the woman’s face and wondered if
that is symbolic to me of the
pain of so many in this rural area in Zimbabwe
who all have death on their
shoulders, binding them together, but who still
have enough hope to iron the
dirty clothes on their children.
Iran Daily
Sun, Feb 03, 2008
Plans to establish a Zimbabwe-Iran tractor assembly plant
have reached an
advanced stage with Iran committing $4 million for the
project.
Iran’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Rasoul Momeni disclosed this on Friday
while
paying a courtesy call on Acting President Cde Joice Mujuru in Harare,
the
Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald reported Saturday.
“I am happy to say
the deal is to be finalized. We are waiting for a
delegation from Iran to
sign a memorandum of understanding. We already have
US$4 million for the
project in our embassy account,“ he said.
Momeni said that the tractors would
be fully assembled in Zimbabwe and that
funds would be committed once the
project was in place.
Iran’s commitment was a confirmation that Zimbabwe’s
economy was agriculture
based, he added.
Cde Mujuru, who said that the
tractor deal included the assembling of
motorbikes, told Momeni that
Zimbabwe needed further support to ensure the
success of its agrarian
reforms.
Commenting on relations with Zimbabwe, Momeni lauded the excellent
friendship between the two countries.
He said his discussions with Cde
Mujuru focused on consolidating
cooperation.
Calling for the lifting of
sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Britain, the
United States and their
allies, Momeni said Zimbabwe did not need sanctions
but help.
Meanwhile,
Iran Khodro Diesel Co. will export 1,400 buses worth $140 million
to Sudan
in the next three years, the company’s managing director said.
Mohammad
Nakhjavani noted that Sudan has a lucrative market and in important
for the
company in East Africa, Fars news agency reported.
“There is stiff
competition between European and Asian companies in that
region, yet the
Sudanese selected Iran Khodro Diesel vehicles because of
their quality and
after-sale services,“ he added.
Iran Khodro Diesel and Sudan trade
partnership began two years ago during
which some 30 buses and several
trucks were sold to that country. The
company’s products are also exported
to Gambia, the Ivory Coast and Senegal.
www.cathybuckle.com/
Saturday 2nd February 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
What is
happening in Kenya is making us very nervous here in Zimbabwe. A
disputed
election result; over 800 people killed; 250 thousand displaced and
a stable
and prosperous country spiralling into chaos in just a single
month. As the
violence and killing has gone on day after day, it soon become
obvious that
this wasn't just about a questionable election result, but
about a number of
past disputes and old grievances that had never been
resolved. Its also
about poverty, unemployment and inequality - all factors
that are
predominant in Zimbabwe's chronic situation.
Everyone is asking if what's
happened in Kenya could be us in two months
time and as fast as we shake our
heads and say, no, that won't happen here -
its hard to find reasons why
not.
For eight years we've been a country in deep turmoil. Opposition MP
David
Coltart wrote recently that of the 39 parliamentary election
challenges
brought after the June 2000 elections, not one had been concluded
by the
courts at the end of that term in 2005. He went on to say that the
2002
legal challenge to Robert Mugabe's election as President was also
nowhere
close to being concluded - and this term ends in just two months
time in
March 2008.
The election challenges are just the beginning.
To this day the perpetrators
of hundreds of cases of rape, murder,
abduction, arson and torture - all
committed in the name of political
violence since 2000 - have yet to be
brought to justice for their
crimes.
Aside from the court challenges, political violence and
oppressive
legislation, it is the day to day things that have bought most
people to the
end of their tether. Everyone has had enough of living like
this: no food in
the shops; negligible production from all those thousands
of farms grabbed
by the State; electricity and water cuts that go on for
days at a time, or
worse; not being able to get drugs when we are sick; not
being able to
afford to send children to school; not even being able to get
our own money
out of the bank. In urban areas we are fed up with
municipalities who take
our money but do nothing about sewers overflowing
onto the streets, dustbins
not collected for many months, drains and
roadside vegetation not cleared,
long grass not cut and roads so littered
with potholes and gullies as to be
almost unusable.
There are plenty
of reasons why one more disputed election may just be one
too many here.
This mayhem began in February 2000 when Zanu PF lost a
referendum. They have
had eight years of chances just as the people have had
eight years of
suffering and decline. Within the next week candidates for
the elections
have to be announced and in them the hope for the future lies
and the
prevention of another Kenya. A daunting task indeed.
Until next time, thanks
for reading, love cathy.
www.cathybuckle.com/
2nd February 2008
Dear Friends.
Is
Zimbabwe the next Kenya? asks a correspondent in this week's Financial
Gazette published in Harare yesterday, Thursday 31.01.08.
With just
fifty-six days to go until Zimbabwe's own elections, it is a
question that
desperately needs to be asked - if only to make us all fully
aware of the
dangers that lie ahead for Zimbabwe. We know that Mugabe's sole
motive is to
remain in power at all costs but it is hard to see how exactly
he or the
ruling party would benefit from the total breakdown of trust
between ethnic
communities and the ensuing violence that Kenya has
experienced following
rigged elections. But we also know that anything is
possible, given the
meglomania of the ruling party and its leader.
This morning comes the
news that the UN Secretary General is himself flying
to Kenya to support
Kofi Annan in his efforts to bring the two warring sides
together. The list
of African luminaries in the country reads like an
African Who's Who; with
such pressure on the Kenyan leaders there must
surely be a solution? If all
these VIP's leave the country with no agreement
in place,' Kenya will be set
on a slippery slope towards a full-scale civil
war' (Sam Akaki). The latest
figures show that some 850 people have died
already and hundreds of
thousands are internally displaced. There has been a
marked decline in the
killings while the negotiations are underway and Kenya
holds its breath
awaiting the outcome of the talks. Kibaki and Odinga hold
their country's
future in their hands; the question is will they have the
vision, the
patriotism to put Kenya first before their own personal
ambitions and
pride?
How can we prevent this catastrophe happening in our own country
when we
know that all the rigging mechanisms for our own elections are
already in
place? In addition, the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy and
the resulting
poverty and desperation of the population make the likelihood
of violent
inter-ethnic clashes even stronger. While western commentators
continue to
describe Kenya's collapse as ethnic in origin, the truth is that
the root of
the problem lies in the political stalemate brought about by
fraudulent
election results. Sam Akaki, quoted earlier, the Director of
Democratic
Institutions for Poverty Reduction in Africa stated this very
clearly in a
Letter to The Guardian on 30.01.08 when he said, ' The only
long-term
solution lies in establishing who actually won the elections. This
can only
be achieved through fresh elections administered by an independent
election
commission and supervised by international observers. It is only
then the
violence will stop.'
We know that Mugabe will do nothing to
prevent an outbreak of violence in
Zimbabwe; on the contrary all his actions
through his surrogate police and
assorted thugs make the prospect of present
and future violence a certainty.
One thing that the democratic forces in
Zimbabwe and in the diaspora could
do without delay is to warn the world
that the very same conditions that
provoked the violence in Kenya already
exist in Zimbabwe. Africa and the
world should be told, not once but
repeatedly of the steps that Mugabe has
already put in place to ensure Zanu
PF's victory. There is a partisan
Electoral Commission, the constitutional
boundaries have been redrawn to the
advantage of the ruling party and the
Electoral roll is full of names of
long dead voters. In addition, there is
already widespread intimidation of
anyone suspected of supporting the
opposition. Chiefs in the rural areas
have been inspanned to ensure their
subjects vote the 'right' way and in an
act of breathtaking inhumanity, even
flood victims and near-starving people
have been denied government support
if they are believed to be MDC
supporters. Democratic forces must make the
world aware of these facts now.
If - or when – widespread post-election
violence erupts in Zimbabwe, it will
not come out of the blue; it will be an
explosion of anger and the burning
injustice of yet another stolen
election.
The words of a newly appointed UN Peace Messenger, one George
Clooney, are
relevant here, 'You hope that somehow…if you just shine a
really bright
light on these things it's harder to get away with
it.'
Yours in the struggle. PH
It is apparent some people in the Diocese are not aware of, or ignore, the law relating to priests in the Church of the Province of Central Africa. Here is the position:
THE CPCA
The Preamble to the Laws of the Province states that dioceses should be associated in provinces. The Anglican Diocese within Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Botswana constitute a provincial union under the title of the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA). The CPCA is a Province of the Catholic Church in full communion with the Church of England and with the Anglican Communion throughout the world.
Thus, any priest or church which does not recognise the CPCA is not recognized as a member of the Anglican Communion anywhere whatsoever.
CLERGY OF THE PROVINCE
All Priests and Deacons who exercise spiritual functions under the authority and spiritual jurisdiction of any Bishop of the Province and, according to the Canons of the Province, are described as "Clergy of the Province". The Bishop of the Province in the Diocese of Harare CPCA is Bishop Sebastian Bakare. Any priest who does not accept this is not a clergyman of the Province or of the Diocese.
PRIEST'S OATH - OATH OF CANONICAL OBEDIENCE
All persons to be admitted to Holy Orders in the Harare Diocese are obliged to sign this Oath and Declaration of Canonical Obedience:
"I, AB, do swear that I will pay due and canonical obedience to the Bishop of Harare and his successors, so help me God.
I assent to the Book of Common Prayer and Fundamental Declaration of the Province and believe the faith they contain to be agreeable to the Word of God. In public worship and use of the Sacraments I promise to use only this book and others permitted by the Bishop or the Provincial Synod. I agree to be bound by the Canons, Acts and other regulations of the Province and the Diocese. I promise to seek to further the proclaiming of the Gospel and the care of God's people in love and faith" (Canon 9).
Any priest who does not pay due canonical obedience to Bishop Bakare and accept the laws of the CPCA or the Diocese is breaking his sacred vows which is scandalous and unbecoming a priest.
PRIEST'S LICENCE
A clergyman may exercise ecclesiastical functions only if he holds a written licence from the Diocesan Bishop.
REVOCATION
The Bishop may revoke or limit the licence of any clergyman resident in the Diocese. The existing licence of a priest is deemed valid only if that priest, in writing, accepts Bishop Bakare as Bishop of the Diocese of Harare. Failing this, the licence is invalid.
PRIEST'S EMPLOYMENT
The employment of a clergyman is conditional upon his holding and continuing to hold an appropriate licence from the Bishop of the Diocese CPCA.
OFFENCES AND EXCOMMUNICATION
A priest or Deacon (as well as a Bishop) may be accused of:
· Publicly, and deliberately, maintaining doctrines or opinions which are contrary to the teaching of the Church;
· Schism - acceptance of membership in a religious body not in communion with the CPCA;
· Willfully refusing to obey a lawful command of the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Superior;
· Conduct giving just cause for scandal or offence, or otherwise unbecoming a Clergyman.
(If found guilty of any of these offences a sentence of excommunication may be imposed.)
SUMMARY
1. A priest of the diocese of Harare is a member of the clergy of the CPCA.
2. He has sworn to pay due canonical obedience to each successive Bishop of the Diocese.
3. He accepts and agrees with the Fundamental Declarations of the CPCA and agrees to be bound by the Canons, Acts and regulations of the CPCA.
4. His licence may be revoked by the Bishop and in such an event his employment as a clergyman is automatically terminated.
5. If he commits any offence including that of disobedience towards the CPCA or the Bishop appointed by the CPCA, he runs the risk of being excommunicated.
A REMINDER OF THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE DIOCESE
Nolbert Kunonga, without the approval of the Diocesan Synod and contrary to the Canons of the CPCA, attempted to withdraw the Diocese of Harare from, and sever all ties with the CPCA from the 4th August 2007. This attempt was unlawful and failed. Having personally disassociated himself and broken away from the CPCA, Dr Kunonga is no longer a bishop and no longer represents or has any authority over the Diocese nor does he in any way represent the CPCA or the Anglican Church. He and any followers of his are no longer in full communion with the Church of England and with the Anglican Communion throughout the world and are no longer held to be priests anywhere in the Anglican Communion.
Dr Kunonga and his followers have committed the offence of schism by becoming members of a separate body not in communion with the CPCA.
The CPCA still has the Diocese of Harare as a member. The CPCA has appointed Bishop Sebastian Bakare as interim Bishop/Vicar General of the Diocese and he assumed his duties on the 7th November 2007. Bishop Bakare is the successor to Nolbert Kunonga and it is he who controls and has authority over the Diocese.
It is to Bishop Bakare that priests now owe Canonical Obedience. It is to the CPCA that priests have sworn to be bound. It is Bishop Bakare who can give and revoke licences and excommunicate priests. He has given a very reasonable time limit for priests to submit written support for him and the CPCA should they so wish.
CONCLUSION
Priests had to decide where their loyalty lies. The choice was simple and did not require much time for reflection. Each priest merely had to decide whether he would keep his promise and remain in the Anglican Communion or break his vow, sever his ties with Anglicanism and the CPCA and follow Dr Kunonga out of the Church (defined in the Acts as the Church of the CPCA.) The time to make a decision has expired. He that is not with the Diocese of Harare CPCA is against it and not part of it or part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Those who have chosen Dr Kunonga's path have thereby ceased to be a priest. Their licences are deemed to have been revoked. They have automatically ceased to be employed by, and are not recognized by, the Diocese. Their stipends have been stopped by the CPCA together with other perquisites. They can no longer appear at the altar to preside or officiate at communion, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, funerals or any other service. A list of their names will soon be circulated for the avoidance of doubt. Members of the laity should note who these persons are and act accordingly should they persist in behaving as if they are licensed priests of the Diocese.
Those priests who have chosen to remain loyal to the CPCA under Bishop Bakare have already notified him in writing. They are to continue as before and are recognized as being fully licenced. There is a duty to look after them at all times. All members of laity are called on to assist wherever possible.
R. A. STUMBLES
Chancellor of Diocese of Harare
Deputy Chancellor of CPCA
The Herald
(Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe
2 February
2008
Posted to the web 2 February 2008
Caesar Zvayi
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
THE African Union has set up a committee of 10 heads of state
and
government, the current AU chairperson and his predecessor to look at
ways
of coming up with a Union government.
The issue has been
elevated from ministerial level to that of heads of state
and government
after the 10-member ministerial committee set up at the 9th
Ordinary Session
in Accra, Ghana, hit a snag on a number of areas of concern
to member
states.
Sources close to deliberations in the closed session said the
ministerial
committee presented its progress report to the assembly
yesterday and asked
for more time to resolve areas of
divergence.
While the assembly concurred that there was need for more
time, it was
decided that the issue should be elevated to the level of heads
of state and
government.
To this end, a 12-member committee,
comprising 10 heads of state and
government -- two from each of the five
regions, plus the AU chairman and
his predecessor -- has been set
up.
"This 12-member committee is going to look at the issue of the union
government and make specific recommendations to summit in July," said a
source.
There were four areas of divergence, the source
said.
The first is to do with the timing of the union government that has
spawned
two schools of thought.
One school of thought advocates a
gradual approach that will see the union
government coming through a
bottom-up approach founded on the regional
economic groupings (REGs) such as
Sadc, Comesa, Ecowas, the East African
Community and the Central African
Community.
This school argues that there is no need to hurry the union
government as
the continent should strive for economic unity first through
the REGs and
then move to political unity.
The second school of
thought, led by Libyan President Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi and comprising
mainly of small West African states, is agitating for
a top-down approach
starting with the formation of a government and election
of its leader as a
matter of urgency.
This school wants a union president in place along
with a small cabinet to
cover key areas such as trade, defence and foreign
policy after which
cabinet would then be expanded between now and
2015.
The second area of divergence is on the model to be followed and
this has
spawned three schools of thought.
The first seeks to
establish a federal model like the United States of
America and the second
is advocating a coalition of states co-operating in
specific areas with
clearly defined state sovereignty along the lines of the
European
Union.
The third wants a gradual approach that will lead to one
government.
The source said the threat by Col Gaddafi that he would
de-link from the AU
and forge synergies with the EU should the AU continue
dragging its feet
over the union government was not repeated in the assembly
and was not
brought up for discussion.
Meanwhile, the Minister of
Industry and International Trade Cde Obert Mpofu
said debate on the summit
theme had dominated proceedings and the assembly
was of the opinion that
most African countries have industrialisation
policies and what was left was
to co-ordinate implementation and mobilise
resources as the situation was
more conducive given the attention Africa is
receiving from co-operating
partners in the East who want to engage on a
win-win basis.
He said
the consensus was Africa should stop exporting primary products and
move
seriously towards value-addition to get maximum returns on its
exports.
The summit winds up today with the consideration of reports on
activities of
the Peace and Security Council, a report of the chairperson of
Nepad heads
of state implementation committee, report on the Aids Africa
Watch; and
adoption of the decisions of the 12th Ordinary Session of the
Executive
Council, along with the decision and declaration of the 10th
Ordinary
Session, the communiqué said.
www.marrily.co.uk
The
Zimbabwean situation
Is it God’s will or the wicked acts of
man?
God save the people of Zimbabwe
We are famished and
thin in flesh and spirit.
Almighty Father Save The People of
Zimbabwe.
I lost my cousin today
I am devastated…
I
haven’t talked to her in ages
Though I called her number daily for
ages
Now and then networks were congested
Not only
congested, at times clogged
Day after day, it worsened with
One
power cut after another
Leaving telephones and mobile networks
down
Day by day it became the course of the day.
How many
of us lose relatives day after day
And live to regret being
Zimbabweans?
Wishing they could have had
Just that one chance to
say
“Hie, how are you? I miss you,”
“Get well soon.” or even, “I
love you.”
All I wish was to say “Goodbye”
Now is gone, she is
dead.
I haven’t talked to her in ages
Though I called her
number daily for ages
Now and then networks were congested
Not
only congested, at times clogged.
Is it God’s will or wicked acts
of man?
To rob a nation not only of freedom,
But food, water and
communication,
Setting up prison walls not only of stone,
But
within air waves to block signals and
Clog networks of
communication.
Mr. President and your noble
government.
You may have all the good food, life and
All the
precious minerals our soil has to offer.
Give us back the right to
live!
We need food, water and electricity.
We are not prisoners;
remove this “Berlin Wall”
And open up our lines of
communication.
We have agreed forced separation with heavy
hearts
When you banished our friends and relatives into exile
All
we ask for is the ability to communicate freely.
Stop eating caviar,
while we feed on tree leaves like baboons
Release money and restore the
paradise you took over from Rhodesia.
We are the lost breadbasket of
Africa.
Bring us to Africa’s Paradise where we belong.
We want to
live freely, peacefully with enough food, water and
electricity.
Marrily Runoona Kuzonyei
Reuters
Sat Feb 2, 2008
1:17pm GMT
SHEIKHUPURA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan completed a
clean sweep over
Zimbabwe on Saturday when they won the fifth and final
one-day international
by seven wickets.
Debutant pacemen Abdul Rauf
and Wahab Riaz shared five wickets to dismiss
Zimbabwe for 181 in 45.4 overs
after they had elected to bat first.
Opener Khurrum Manzoor, also making
his debut, scored a fluent 50 and put on
97 runs from 100 balls with Younis
Khan (63) to seal victory with 19 overs
to spare.
Younis played in an
attacking mode to enthral the full house at the stadium
which has not hosted
an international game for nine years.
He attacked from the start, hitting
eight fours and a big six off Elton
Chigumbura who went for 14 in one
over.
His runs came from just 51 balls before he was caught at mid-on by
Hamilton
Masakadza off left-arm spinner, Ray Price who was impressive on a
day when
all the visiting bowlers were treated harshly by the batsmen with
Christopher Mpofu going for 23 in three overs.
Price also bowled
Manzoor in the next over after he had reached his
half-century. Manzoor, who
hit six fours in his 74-ball innings, was bowled
off-stump trying to sweep
Price.
Manzoor and opener Nasir Jamshed gave a quick start of 40 to their
team in
6.1 overs before the latter was out for 19 trying to hit Chigumbura
out of
the ground and holing out to Keith Dabengwa at
long-on.
Misbah-ul-Haq (31 not out) and Fawad Alam (14 not out) sealed
the match in
the 31st over with a flourish. Misbah hitting a big six off
Dabengwa.
Zimbabwe struggled throughout their innings, losing five
wickets for 67 runs
before Brendan Taylor (49) and Chigumbura (34) rescued
them with an 85-run
stand from 135 balls.
Both Rauf and left armer
Wahab Riaz were impressive in their first
international appearance, bowling
at a nippy pace.
Rauf finished off the Zimbabwe innings by yorking Price
and Mpofu with
successive balls in the 46th over.
He finished with
three for 45 and Riaz two for 19 as Pakistan gave caps to
four new players
in the match.
"It's a very good result for us but we need to do a lot
more work to be
ready for the Australians," Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik
told reporters.
"We need to do our homework in advance for the
Australians. And we will
start training in two weeks' time. The good thing
is the infusion of new
players means we have more options."
Pakistan
host the world's top side for three tests, five one-day
internationals and a
Twenty20 match starting next month.
(Editing by John Mehaffey)