The Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ), one of the largest groupings of churches in Zimbabwe, yesterday launched a massive voter orientation exercise countrywide to educate Bishops from the Apostolic and Zion churches of the need to ensure their followers register to vote for Zanu-PF during the forthcoming harmonised elections.
The ACCZ has 638 members with a following over 9,5 million registered people of whom about 5 million are eligible voters.
About 400 Bishops and their spouses from all the Apostolic and Zion churches in Zimbabwe attended a conference meant to educate them on the need to register as voters to ensure an emphatic Zanu-PF victory at the forthcoming polls.
The conference that was held at the Zanu-PF headquarters and officially opened by Zanu-PF national chairperson Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, was held under the theme; “re-aligning the indigenous churches’ authority over national affairs in Zimbabwe.”
The Bishops were drawn from in and around Harare with other provinces represented by at least two bishops.
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, ACCZ president, Archbishop Reverend, Johannes Ndanga, said the church had a role to play in shaping national affairs of all countries the world over.
“We are launching the conference for peace and voter orientation ahead of the harmonised elections. We are conscientising each other on the need for peaceful elections and the need to register. We are encouraging our bishops to register as voters first before they urge their followers to do the same.
“This is a watershed election that we should have a big say as the church because we have to remember where we came from. We have about 400 bishops and their spouses here to ensure that people like (MDC-T leader, Mr Morgan) Tsvangirai who want to steal where they did not sow do not get anything at all. We want elections as soon as possible. We don’t want the continued abuse of our leader President Mugabe who is a founding revolutionary who taught people about this independence that Tsvangirai is enjoying,” said Rev Ndanga.
Archbishop Ndanga said it was a myth that churches should be apolitical when it is the church that is supposed to bless national leadership.
Some MDC-T traditional allies among them the CNN, BBC, the New York Times, the Guardian newspaper and some research groups among them the Afro-Barometer, Mass Public Opinion, Zim Vigil, Freedom House and individuals such as National Constitutional Assembly chairman Professor Lovemore Madhuku among others have already predicted Zanu-PF victory.
Delivering his keynote address, Cde Khaya Moyo said Zanu-PF was grateful to the church for the role they played since the liberation struggle adding that without prayer, the revolutionary war may not have been won.
“As Zanu-PF we are the only party with clear policies that are people-centered. This country is not for sellouts but revolutionaries. Let’s not play with our independence and sovereignty. We are not a banana republic.
“We have clear and principled leadership in President Mugabe. He is a principled and committed revolutionary. Bishops we know you are many in terms of your followers. Elections are coming soon. It is going to be a game of numbers. We want all the people who are committed to their country to register as voters so that Zanu-PF wins overwhelmingly. We already have one candidate whom we should all vote for who is President Mugabe,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
For local and Parliamentary elections, he said, candidates would be determined at the primary elections reiterating that the revolutionary party would not condone candidate imposition.
“When you vote, you should know where you came from. Let’s make sure we remove these thieves from local authorities. We want clean and committed council. You should vote for Zanu-PF.
“The forthcoming elections are synonymous with the 1980 elections because the enemy is still fighting us. The Americans and the European Union are fighting to remove President Mugabe. We cannot defeat the enemy if we do not vote in our numbers. No one should just pop up and say they want to be President of this country if they don’t know where we have come from,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
He said, the 1987 unity accord between Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu was very much alive saying no one could claim to have ended the union when they were not the ones who signed the pact.
“The unity accord of December 22, 1987 between the two parties-PF-Zapu and Zanu-PF is irreversible . . . The accord has two signatures, that of President Mugabe and the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo. It is something we must be proud of. Whoever says he is out of the accord please leave them alone because they don’t have signatures there. Please pray for such people because they know not what they are doing,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
Zanu-PF national commissar and Media, Information and Publicity Minister, Cde Webster Shamu, Politburo member Cde Tendai Savanhu and Harare provincial chairperson Cde Amos Midzi attended the meeting.
