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Mugabe 'prophet of God'
20/03/2008 14:33 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's select few rich are "capitalising" on the country's economic crisis and do not want this month's elections to bring change, the Anglican bishop of Harare says.
Writing in a pastoral letter ahead of the March 29 national polls, Bishop Sebastian Bakare said Zimbabwe had become "a nation of political victims".
Bakare said: "Here the poor are getting poorer not by the day but by the minute and they cannot afford the soaring prices of daily essentials."
Zimbabwe is mired in its worst-ever economic crisis with inflation now well beyond 100 000%, frequent price hikes and shortages of basic commodities.
President Robert Mugabe blamed Western sanctions for the troubles and said price hikes were an attempt to "demoralise" voters ahead of polling day.
Makoni advocates for change
The 84-year-old president faced two strong contenders in the poll: Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and ex- finance minister Simba Makoni.
Bakare, who was locked in a bitter battle with his predecessor, the pro-Mugabe bishop Nolbert Kunonga, castigated "the few who manipulate the situation to their own profit".
"For such a people a changed future is most unwelcome," he said. Change was the slogan of the MDC. Makoni was also advocating for a change in leadership.
Bishop Bakare was only recently consecrated after regional church authorities declared Kunonga had severed himself from the church.
Kunonga, who had been given a farm by Mugabe, had reportedly set up camp in church precincts and was refusing to hand over other church property.
He had been actively campaigning for Mugabe, saying the president was "a prophet of God".
Sapa-dpa
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