Zim: Churches to meet Mbeki
2005-08-01 19:04
Johannesburg - Church leaders expect to meet President Thabo Mbeki soon to discuss the United Nations report on Zimbabwe's "clean up" operations, believed to have affected about 700 000 people.
Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said this on Monday after he and other church leaders blessed consignments of humanitarian aid the SA Council of Churches (SACC) had donated to Zimbabwean people affected by the operation.
This follows a recent visit by SACC leaders to Zimbabwe.
"The president indicated to us that he would like to meet us to engage on the United Nations report," said Ndungane.
Last month, the UN released a scathing report on the campaign of demolitions stating that it had left 700 000 Zimbabweans homeless and destitute and affected a further 2.4 million.
"We all know that Zimbabwe goes from one crisis to another and we are all interested in long-term solutions to the economic and political problems in Zimbabwe," said Ndungane.
Many loads of aid planned
He echoed Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's concerns that South Africa had to make sure it did not have a failed state on its borders.
Monday's consignment, comprising 37 tons of food and more than 6 000 blankets, was the first of many loads the churches would send across the Limpopo River border.
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches' humanitarian distribution agency, Christian Care, would distribute it where it deemed necessary.
The next consignment, on August 18, will be accompanied by a South African military escort. Monday's was not.
Ndungane said the SACC had consulted with the South African government to help with the smooth transportation of the consignments into Zimbabwe.
A prayer for 'sanity'
"We trust the angels to use God's power to change the hearts of stubborn people who want to stop good things from happening," he said.
On the pavement outside the SACC office in Marshall Street, Johannesburg, Ndungane prayed for "sanity" to be brought to the leadership of Zimbabwe.
His Rhema counterpart, Ray McCauley, asked that the event mark the beginning of momentum to help people who were suffering in that country.
Other clerics presiding were Bishop Ivan Abrahams of the Methodist Church and Molefe Tsele, secretary-general of the SACC.
- SAPA