Robert Mugabe: "Tsvangirai will never rule"

Morgan Tsvangirai was defeated in the 2002 elections in Zimbabwe, but many international observers expressed concern that the elections had been rigged. Tsvangirai was charged repeatedly with treason, and accused of plotting to murder Mugabe. He was exonerated of the charges.

And now, Mugabe has accused Tsvangirai (IPA: tʃæŋgə'raι) of "want[ing] to rule this country on behalf of Blair (as in, the Prime Minister Tony)." Once again, Mugabe said that Tsvangirai provoked the police to arrest and assault him to draw the attention of the international media while opposition youths were paid to start riots: "You don't go to the police with violence. If you are a violent man you get more violence." He also said that Tsvangirai provoked the police to arrest and assault him to draw the attention of the international media while opposition youths were paid to start riots.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,9294,2-11-1662_2088087,00.html


Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, has called on Zimbabweans to initiate peaceful disobedience to Mugabe's regime: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=8944

“People are justified to practice non-violent civil disobedience.”

"If only Zimbabweans are prepared to stand, so am I prepared to stand ... we are not going to be bullied,”

Where is the Anglical Church in Zimbabwe? I've already profiled the heinous abuses of Nolbert Kunonga, a bishop and a crony of Mugabe's. Anglican Archbishop Bernard Malango has shielded Kunonga from previous prosecution in church court. When Kunonga closed 45 Anglican churches on a Sunday, ordering the congregations to attend his wedding anniversary and to bring a $2000 gift, Malango shielded him:

…Asked to expand on his claims of factionalism on the sidelines of the anniversary, Archbishop Malango — who was flanked by Bishop Kunonga — said there were three factions in the Anglican Church. Two of them, comprising liberals and homosexuals (both gays and lesbians), were contending against one made up of faithful adherents to the church orthodoxy and doctrine.

Bishop Kunonga singled out the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Rowan Williams, the head of the Church of England and titular, as opposed to substantive, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as the driving force behind the negative publicity the local church was getting.

“Williams should explain the real reasons why he is interfering and frustrating my work in my diocese. He should mind his own business.

“He has no jurisdiction over Harare, he has no authority over and above Archbishop Malango who is the overseer of Central Africa. He hates us for categorically supporting the land reform in this country,” said Rev Kunonga.
-Courtesy of Thinking Anglicans: http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/001909.html

If it is permissible for Anglican churches to declare themselves out of communion with one another, then I hope that we will all consider disfellowshipping Malango and Kunonga, and affiliating instead with the Christian Alliance in Zimbabwe, a group of church and civic leaders who are part of the Save Zimbabwe campaign. It is inconceivable that these men can call themselves Christians, let alone bishops.

Lastly, I discovered on Mugabe's Wikipedia page that Michigan State University (the guys with the intense rivalry with my university) awarded Mugabe an honorary Juris Doctor degree in Fall 1990, and that the student government is pressuring the administration to revoke it. I hope they succeed.