The Anglican Bishop of Harare, Chad Gandiya, has told a UK news service that God had given Zimbabwe “a chance” which must be used “profitably for all the people”.
Speaking to Premier following news of the resignation of President Robert Mugabe, Bishop Gandiya said there was “great jubilation” among the people of the city as well as “great expectations”.
“God has given us a chance and we must use it profitably for all the people of Zimbabwe and not just for a few people.”
Noting that he was happy the issue had been peacefully resolved, Bishop Gandiya said the country now “needs to embrace change and move forward without vengeance”.
“You’ll have those who want vengeance, that’s not the Christian way. We need to be forgiving, we need to move forward and build our country together.”
Mr Mugabe, who came to power as Prime Minister in 1980 and went on to become President, resigned on Tuesday after being held under house arrest by the military since last week. He had been dismissed as leader of the ruling ZANU-PF Party on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the executive committee of the World Council of Churches – meeting in Amman, Jordan, this week – affirmed a statement made by the heads of Zimbabwean Church denominations on 15th November.
In the statement, they called for “prayer for the nation, for calm and peace, for respect for human dignity and rule of law, for a transitional government of national unity to oversee the transition towards free, fair and credible elections, and for an inclusive process of national dialogue to capture the aspirations of all sectors of Zimbabwean society and for building a democratic state under the rule of law”.
