Anglican Diocese of Accra

Solidarity Statement with the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe

‘The custodians of the law are the ones denying us access, threatening to arrest us or use teargas, to force us out. There are church wardens who have been arrested and some who bear marks of beatings.’ – Bishop Chad Gandiya, Anglican Diocese of Harare, February 2010

From: Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN)
Issued: 23 June 2010

The Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) wishes to express its steadfast solidarity and prayer with and for the parishioners and leaders of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe.

Since January 2008 the crisis in the Anglican Church has turned into clear and unacceptable violations of the freedom to worship and freedom of association for thousands of worshippers across Zimbabwe. Over the past two years bishops from the Anglican Diocese of Harare have reported a series of cases where worshippers were locked out of churches they had attended for generations. They have reported police and militia attacks and intimidation of church wardens, members of the Mothers’ Union and other congregations. In June 2008 the Anglican Bishops of the Province of Central Africa released a Pastoral Letter entitled ‘ I Have Heard the Cry of My People’ in which they expressed their pain and protest against the Zimbabwean government’s failure to uphold and protect the rights of Anglicans to worship as enshrined in the country’s constitution. Such actions are also contrary to Zimbabwe’s obligations under international conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Pain in any part of the Body of Christ is pain for the whole Body of Christ.