When the Pulpit Bows to Power: Rethinking the Church’s Role in Zimbabwean Politics

In the heart of many Zimbabwean towns and villages, the church bell rings louder than any campaign rally. The pews are full; the people listen. But what happens when the pulpit begins to echo the slogans of the ruling class instead of the voice of the people?

Over the years, the line between the sacred and the political has blurred. Church leaders stand at rallies to “pray for peace,” but often end up legitimising power. Politicians quote scripture more than policy. And in times of crisis—whether electoral violence, intimidation, corruption, or hunger and downright insults and insolence, —the silence from the altar has been deafening.

I am sadly reminded of the stand off that once plagued our own St John’s Mazvimba Roman Catholic Parish, when, during the last election campaign in 2023, VaPatrick Cheza, and his sidekick, Mr Onismo Gumbu, aspiring opposition CCC candidates for MP Chirumhanzu South and Ward 21 Council seats respectively, donated building materials to the church and the backlash that followed. A young man of the cloth, Fr Msindo was the Priest in Charge then and there was real gnashing of teeth and both passive and overt expressions of anger within the parishioners, the Parish and Mission Councils and the local clergy. The Bishop of Gweru Diocese, Sekuru Rudolf Nyandoro, was forced to call Fr Musindo to his Gweru residence and then subsequently he was sent off to Wadzanai to cool off tensions as there was simmering conflict with the current MP who was also campaigning then, Hon Barbra Rwodzi.

The same is allegedly happening now again except of course now the roles seem to have reversed.

The incumbent Ward 21 Councillor Mai Hungwe has since joined the Roman Catholic Church as a parishioner at St John’s parish – a feat fraught with irregularities as some claim that no due process was followed when Fr Muzvondiwa, current Priest in Charge admitted her into the parish and Catholic faithful.

Claims continue that there is now blatant capture of the local church by the incumbent Councillor to the point it is now almost a sideshow of the ruling Zanu PF party. Other concerned parishioners who spoke on condition of anonymity allege that, due to Mai Hungwe’s overbearing and dominant bulldozing demeanour, the Parish Priest has lost any vestige of power to unbiasedly exercise his office for fear of provoking his seeming ‘new bosses.’

The church once played a powerful role during the liberation struggle, offering moral guidance and sanctuary. Today, however, many congregants are questioning whether their pastors serve God—or Caesar such is the case with Ward 21 which is a mere microcosm of of a larger Church vs State conundrum.

We remember Fr Nigel Johnson, Bishop Lamont, Archbishop Pius Ncube, and Evan Mawarire to name but a few men of the cloth who dared speak truth to power, as the Church rightfully should do, and as a result were severely penalized, persecuted and in cases deported for standing by the truth and the hurt in society.

Surely the Catholic Church as a whole should take a more active role in praising and complementing the good works of the state where praise is due, – and should be at the forefront of denouncing evil where evil is rife.

Indeed there is an ever present reality of risking alienating the church and need for drawing clear boundaries between the checks and balances and respective roles of church and state, but that shouldn’t muzzle the church when facts are blatant. The church should not be some chess board for political scoring between political opponents – and the clergy should be cognizant of that fact.

‘Evil continues in the world not because of bad people, but because good people choose to remain silent.’