Stop this nonsense: Bishops wade into CCC recalls

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Bishops under the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) have raised concern over the chaos in opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) that has seen dozens of elected officials being recalled by Sengezo Tshabangu who is claiming to be the interim secretary general of the Nelson Chamisa led outfit.

The recalls that came hardly two months after the August 23 elections, have seen the matter playing out in the courts with Tshabangu so far having an upper hand.

The first leg of by-elections is now set for December 9 to replace the batch of MPs, Senators and councillors who were recalled.

In a Pastoral letter dated November 21, 2023, signed by over seven Bishops praised Zimbabwe for a peaceful election but beamoned pockets of violence manifesting in different forms including the recalls that have crippled the opposition party.

“With the recent political recalls of the elected MPs, Senators and councilors, the nation

has been thrust into a new form of violence, people rightfully elected, can wantonly be recalled. It would seem the voices of the people who voted can easily be ignored, as if they are insignificant,” the Bishops said.

“Were those elected not given the mandate by the people? What happens when the people’s voices are silenced by the masters of political expediency? One thing for certain is that people feel they are not respected and listened to. This breeds tensions and many who have no ways of diffusing them boil them up. This is not healthy for people and the society,” the Bishops warned.

The Bishops said Zimbabweans were living in a “wounded” society.

“What is worse is what these recalls have unearthed. Apart from holding all of us in the dreaded perpetual election mode, they have given birth to violence.

Even those who, for a short while, had shunned violence, have fallen back on their default posion of violent campaigns.”

“The past election was indeed different. It was not characterized by violence. That should be applauded. Though this is not to say there was no violence.”

“We had hoped that as a nation we had seen the light and we were beginning to appreciate each other as citizens with divergent views and people of different persuasions, men and women who can rise above their differences. Sadly, as reported by the different election observers, our elections left a lot to be desired. They were characterized by a new form of violence: refusal to let the nation’s voices be heard through the ballot. That act of robbing people of their voices is a form of violence that should be condemned by all people of integrity, by all loving and peaceful citizens.”

The Bishops challenged political leaders to denounce politically motivated violence and implored law enforcement agents to bring perpetrators to book.