Churches urged to help Zim

2008-07-16 19:04

Johannesburg - Churches have been urged to take an active role in the Zimbabwean crisis and give sanctuary to displaced persons, a church leader said in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Professor John Makumbe, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Zimbabwe, said churches were ignoring hardships faced by people in Zimbabwe, according to a statement issued by the South African Council of Churches.

Speaking at a SADC church leaders meeting in Benoni, he described them as a "largely silent onlooker'' that was "weak" and " sadly uninformed".

They rarely allowed people to take shelter in their buildings for fear that "they might dirty the carpets."

Makumbe, who gave a report on the situation in Zimbabwe, said nearly 4 300 people had been victims of politically-motivated violence between 1 March and 15 June, while 100 opposition activists had been murdered and 5 000 party and election workers were missing.

'Alarming number die'

Community activist Joyce Dube was quoted in the statement as saying that many Zimbabweans had died trying to flee to South Africa.

"An alarming number of people die trying to get across the border. There are many cases where parents think that their children have rejected them and don't wish to contact them, only to find that they have died trying to jump the border or even in Lindela [repatriation centre]," read the statement.

South Africa's Dutch Reformed Church cleric Allan Boesak urged delegates not to allow a lack of unity to silence the church.

He said similar debates took place in South Africa in the apartheid era when churches were divided on how to respond to apartheid.

"Those divisions are inevitable. There is a line that is drawn, not by us, but by our obedience to the gospel. Our main job is not to keep the church together. Our main job is to do the will of God," Boesak said.

- SAPA