The women continued praying only to be surprised a little later by riot police driving into the crowd at a high speed so as to intimidate the women. Many of them were crying and began to run away leaving old ladies with walking sticks behind who started walking slowly towards the gate.
They could not believe that this is how the Anglican Church is being treated at the hands of Kunonga and his henchmen in the police in a country that is celebrating 28 years of independence. I ask myself: What does independence mean for these women? Indeed the suffering they endured during colonial days come back to their memories, but this time perpetrated by their own people.
As a Bishop of this Diocese I was reminded of Christian churches who were persecuted in communist countries before the fall of the iron curtain. What is sad though in our situation is that we claim to be a Christian country whose constitution also upholds freedom of worship.
The other aspect which is very confusing is that only a day before on Independence Day, President Mugabe had made it very clear at Gwanzura Stadium that Zimbabweans should not have to use violence against one another as members of one family. One really wonders whether this lawlessness we are experiencing remains unnoticed.
The Saturday events were followed by more disturbances of our church services throughout the Diocese on Sunday 20th April based on an appeal by Kunonga’s church to the Supreme Court which has not been heard to date, and assisted by police officers and so-called ex-combattants who once again claim to have received orders from above.
Any genuine ex-combattant would be shocked by such a criminal behaviour. The Sunday events resulted in many of our Anglicans not being able to attend their normal church services. There is absolutely no justification for such kind of unruly behaviour perpetrated against innocent people and their clergy.
I feel extremely dismayed at how the rights of my people in my diocese have been seriously eroded, and I condemn these acts of lawlessness in the strongest terms. I call upon the courts for justice to be done to the Anglican Diocese of Harare (CPCA).
