‘June 2008, verse 27’

 1. Although it sounds biblical, there is no ‘June 2008 verse 27’ in the Bible. The phrase is derived from one of the slogans of the ZANU-PF party as shall be explained further in the article.

: the church and the 2008 Zimbabwean political crisis

Abstract

This article examines the response of the church in Zimbabwe to the 2008 political crisis that was precipitated by violence, economic decay and social strife. It outlines the history of church–state relations in the country, noting that these have changed over time. The article describes the context of the 2008 elections, highlighting Robert Mugabe's predicament. It notes that while the run-up to the elections was peaceful, waves of violence followed Mugabe's defeat at the polls. During the run-up to the ‘re-run’, Mugabe and his henchmen resorted to naked violence. The article outlines the response of the church to these developments. It shows how the church sought to promote healing and reconciliation, provided humanitarian assistance, as well as the monitoring of elections. On the challenges accompanying the church's engagement with the political crisis, the article isolates a lack of unity, emergence of ‘party-affiliated’ pastors and lack of theological sophistication.

Keywords:

• church
• politics
• theology
• Zimbabwe elections
• social decay

Notes

 1. Although it sounds biblical, there is no ‘June 2008 verse 27’ in the Bible. The phrase is derived from one of the slogans of the ZANU-PF party as shall be explained further in the article.

 2. See ‘Zimbabwe suffers worst economic crisis ever’ in the newzimbabwe.com (online newspaper) of 12 January 2008.

 3. The 2008 elections were the first elections in ten years when Zimbabweans had to elect parliamentarians and the president at the same elections (hence ‘harmonised elections’). Since 1990 presidential elections were held separately, two years after the parliamentary elections.

 4. The SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections were adopted at the SADC Summit of August 2004 in Mauritius (see www.iss.co.za).

 5. We use the term ‘securocrats’ to refer to heads of the country's security arms: Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe Defence Forces and Zimbabwe Prison Services.

 6. See, for example, citation of this verse in ‘The Zimbabwe We Want’, a document prepared by the three main umbrella bodies of the church in Zimbabwe, ZCBC, EFZ and ZCC (2007) (www.africamission-mafr.org/zimbabwe.doc).

 7. The NCA is a civic pressure group that advocates for the drafting of a new constitution. The group was formed in 1997 to push for a new constitution arguing that the country's socio-political and economic problems stemmed from its constitution. NCA successfully campaigned for the ‘NO’ vote in the February 2000 referendum on the new constitution (www.ncazimbabwe.org).

 8. The youth militia is the youth wing of the ZANU-PF accused by many of using violence to silence those who oppose the party (www.sokwanele.com/map/electionviolence).

 9. The ‘Women Can Do It’ is a campaign that was launched by Women's Trust together with many other organisations including churches to increase the number of women parliamentarians in Zimbabwe. It was described as a success by the then Minister of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development (The Herald, 15 August 2008).

10. Pius Ncube was bishop of the Catholic Church in Bulawayo until his resignation in September 2007 following adultery charges against him. A fierce critic of ZANU-PF, many people thought the adultery charges were trumped up by ZANU-PF in order to silence him (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pius_Ncube).

11. The Heads of Christian Denominations is made up of church leaders of the ZCBC, EFZ and ZCC.