Churches in Zimbabwe have called on the government to demonstrate its commitment to the welfare of citizens as well as peace and justice amid growing concerns over food and fuel shortages in the African nation.
In a statement released last week, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches reportedly called on the government to “make sure peace prevails”.
“The government needs to address the general perception that the current shortages are a result of bad economic decisions, corruption, greed and opulent living among those connected to power,” the statement said, according to a report from the World Council of Churches.
The ZCC also reportedly said the government needed to address the deficit of trust in society, noting that trust cannot be won through propaganda.
“Zimbabweans have lost trust that the government is sincere in addressing national problems when they see the government officials choosing to send their children to foreign schools and being treated in foreign hospitals,” the statement read. “The conclusion is that they themselves have no confidence in the institutions they preside over.”
The statement also urged citizens not to allow the crisis to overtake them, saying that the “worst that can emerge in such a situation of anxiety could be greed, stealing, corruption, bribery and violence especially against women, children and the most vulnerable.”
“We call upon the spirit of solidarity and sharing to influence the way we respond to the shortage of basic resources,” the statement said. “We call upon Zimbabweans wherever they are to seek to contribute to a new Zimbabwe in which all will have access to the goods for their needs and not their greed.”
The ZCC also urged the church to repent as it calls others to do so. “We have seen some in the church who have taken advantage of the anxiety of the unsuspecting citizens to extort from them hard-earned money through different forms of religious manipulation,” the statement said. “We reject as evil, all economic manipulation that masquerades itself as divine solutions to the current economic situation.”
