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"Tolerance and Hope"
Please find here below a Press Statement and the Catholic Bishops's
Pastoral Letter "TOLERANCE AND HOPE"
addressed to the Church and the Nation.
Paolo Costantini.
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Docuemnt N. 1
PRESS STATEMENT
2 May 2001
Catholic Bishops Speak to the Church and the Nation in Pastoral Letter
"TOLERANCE AND HOPE"
"Let our common enemy be poverty, disease and ignorance, not fellow citizens."
At their recent meeting (April 23-25) all nine Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe
agreed on a message entitled "Tolerance and Hope". They stress the
God-given dignity of every human person. "In our country the holders of
political power, including those claiming to be Christians, do tend to
abuse their fellow human beings." Instead they underline that "it is an
inherent right of the person to take part in the political activities of
his or her society."
They deplore the political violence and resulting deaths and call instead
for tolerance.
Those who hold public offices must work for the common good, not for
personal self-enrichment. Those guilty of corruption must be brought to court.
Concerning the war veterans they say that the government must "ensure that
the nation is not held to ransom by a few".
The land issue, the Bishops say, "should have been settled long ago". Land
should be given to "people who are really in need of it. We should be
careful not to create more injustices in the process of addressing
legitimate concerns."
The Bishops call for national dialogue which the media, committed to the
search for truth, should faciliate. Media must "respect the dignity and
integrity of every man, woman and child...and serve society as a whole, not
just the narrow interests of the ruling party and government of the day or
of the business sector alone."
They call on government to give more funding to the health sector and on
people generally to fight AIDS by a behaviour change.
The Bishops ask Zimbabweans not to lose hope. "We should have hope in God
and in the gifts and talents he has given us." They ask all for
self-examination: what do you "contribute to the present situation of
insecurity and fear?"
They plead for "unity of purpose and vision, in spite of different ideas of
how best to achieve our goal". This needs tolerance. "There is no single
Zimbabwean with the monopoly of truth."
They conclude, "Let our common enemy be poverty, disease and ignorance, not
fellow citizens."
Released for publication by:
Fr Oskar Wermter SJ,
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Document n. 2
ZIMBABWE CATHOLIC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE
Pastoral Letter
May 2001
Tolerance and Hope
The Lord God created the human person, male and female, in his own image.
He gave them a dignity, which is above all creatures. Each person, whether
old or young, poor or rich, has got the right to it and society with all
its various organizations must recognize and uphold this dignity. No
government or political party can appropriate it but must recognize, uphold
and protect this human dignity which is God-given.
In our country the holders of political power, including those claiming to
be Christians, do tend to abuse their fellow human beings. They just use
them to achieve their own political ends and then dump them afterwards. A
person is only useful as long as he is a means to their political
ambitions. A human being is reduced to a thing that one uses and in fact
abuses. A case in point is the way political figures and political parties
have used our unemployed youth during election times. Violence,
intimidation and threats are the tools of failed politicians. We
must point out to them that they are engaging in an unjust activity. As
your pastors, dear brothers and sisters, we call upon you to uphold the
dignity and sacredness of each person.
We would like to underline the fact that it is an inherent right of the
person to take part in the political activities of his or her society. In
dialogue with other members of society he or she will advance her political
views or opinions. Society has the obligation to ensure that each member is
free to express his or her political views without fear of being
victimized. Political ideas or views are man made and therefore tend to
vary with times, places, and situations. Frustration of this basic right of
the person leads to turmoil in society. It impedes the harmonious
development of the person and of society as a whole. In fact in a society
such as ours, which is multi-cultural and multi-racial, we will always
differ in opinions, and therefore we call upon every citizen to exercise a
very high degree of tolerance.
The lack of this tolerance is clearly evidenced by the violence that
continues to grip our country. It is a shame that we who claim to be modern
resort to violence in order to advance our political ideas. We have
witnessed with sadness the loss of human life and the destruction of
property due to differences in political views or opinions. We Zimbabweans
fought for justice, peace, democracy and economic well being of all our
people. Each Zimbabwean has a right to security of life and property and no
politician has a right to deprive any person of this right.
Public offices are supposed to serve the common good. We pay tribute to all
those politicians and public officers who take seriously their role in
working for the welfare of all. However we note with sadness that in many
cases public officers come to be associated with self enrichment and
corruption. There is need for transparency and accountability in public
office. Allegations of corruption in such institutions as NOCZIM, GMB, War
Victims Fund and so forth have undermined the government's moral ground
from which it should operate. Those who have a case to answer should be
brought to court.
The activities of war veterans, in both urban and rural areas, are not
solving problems in the proper manner. The closure of local government
offices have denied essential social services to the people. It is the duty
of government to ensure that the nation is not held to ransom by a few. We
urge the government to allow the law enforcement agents to perform their
duties without interference so that there is a sense of security in the
country. Let us remind each other of the fact that no one person or group
of persons liberated this country alone. The great majority of Zimbabweans
because of their love of freedom and sense of justice liberated it through
their sacrifices. We believe that what was true in the hard sixties and
seventies, that people loved freedom and justice, is still true today.
The one pressing issue which must be settled urgently, in fact it should
have been settled long ago, is the question of land. We acknowledge that
there is an urgent need of economic reform to redress the imbalances that
exist in our society today where we have 75% of our population living under
the poverty-datum-line. Unfortunately, the distribution of land has been
marred by violence, deaths and intimidation. The programme of land
distribution should target the people who are really in need of it. We
should be careful not to create more injustices in the process of
addressing legitimate concerns. It is also important that the farm
labourers are catered for in the exercise. Priority should also be given to
the setting up of infrastructure and providing resources. Small scale
farmers have proved that they can contribute meaningfully to the economy of
the country.
The problems of a developing society are immense. No one person or party
has all the answers. We need national dialogue. We need to listen to what
all groups in society have to say. All citizens must be allowed to speak
freely what their concerns are, fathers and mothers, farmers and industrial
workers, the young starting out in life and the old who have seen life and
its troubles.
This national dialogue, the media - both print and electronic - should help
facilitate. To do this the media and media workers must be allowed to work
in an atmosphere of freedom. There must not be any threats of physical
violence against them.
Communicators must be committed to searching for the truth and the truth
alone while respecting the dignity and integrity of every man, woman and
child, and no one must hinder them in their task. Media must serve society
as a whole, not just the narrow interests of the ruling party and
government of the day or of the business sector alone. We need genuinely
public broadcasting, complemented by competing broadcasters speaking for
different groups in society. We therefore call upon all the media to help
in the nation building process and not to fan violence in their coverage of
events.
The poor health delivery system is seriously affecting the majority of our
people who are already suffering from the harsh economic environment. Our
health institutions cannot even procure some essential drugs. We therefore
urge our government to make enough financial resources available to the
health sector.
The reality of HIV/Aids pandemic is adding to the misery of our families
and society as a whole. This really calls for behaviour change in our
attitude towards morality and for Christian principles of abstinence before
marriage and faithfulness in marriage to be observed.
In the present situation of social strife, political stalemate and economic
decline, we should not lose hope. We should have Hope in God and in the
gifts and talents he has given us. During this Easter season we celebrate
that Jesus Christ conquered sin and death. This is our source of hope
that we too, through his power, will overcome the problems and challenges
that face the nation now. The first thing is that each Zimbabwean should
seriously examine himself or herself and honestly admit to themselves what
they contribute to the present situation of insecurity and fear.
The will to build Zimbabwe for all of us is still there, and God who gave
us victory in the past is still present and with us. It is through
dialogue, tolerance and confidence in the power of God that we will come
to build this nation as a family.
In unity we freed ourselves and today once more we need that unity: unity
of purpose and vision, in spite of different ideas of how best to achieve
our goal. This means we should be ready and willing to accommodate
different views and really tolerate different viewpoints. There is no
single Zimbabwean with the monopoly of truth. We need each person's
contribution in order to really build up a true Zimbabwe. No person should
be excluded from positively making a meaningful contribution to nation
building. Let our common enemy be poverty, disease and ignorance, not
fellow citizens. Let us unite our efforts to defeat those enemies and we
shall earn our rightful place in the family of nations.
We, the Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe, urge the government, the private
sector and indeed all the people of Zimbabwe to make every effort to foster
this culture of tolerance and to work for unity to rebuild our nation.
St. Paul tells us that Christ's church is a single body with many parts
(1.Cor.12:12f). Similarly as a nation we are one body with many parts,
therefore whatever one part does affects the whole.
+ Patrick F. Chakaipa, Archbishop of Harare
+ Pius A. V. Ncube, Archbishop of Bulawayo
+ Alexio C. Muchabaiwa, Bishop of Mutare (ZCBC President)
+ Francis Mugadzi, Bishop of Gweru
+ Helmut Reckter SJ, Bishop of Chinhoyi
+ Michael D.Bhasera,Bishop of Masvingo(ZCBC Vice President)
+ Robert C. Ndlovu, Bishop of Hwange
+ Angel Floro SMI, Bishop of Gokwe
+ Patrick M. Mutume, Auxiliary Bishop of Mutare
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x - Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la
tyrannie (Wole Soyinka, Prix Nobel litterature) - Everytime somebody keep
silent when faced with tyranny, someone else dies (Wole Syinka, Nobel Prize
for Literature)
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