In a press conference held in Harare on Wednesday, Zimbabwe Divine Destiny (ZDD) principal Bishop Ancelimo Magaya called out Zimbabwe’s national administration for its hypocritical tendencies in seeking medical attention abroad while shredding its own health sector.
The outspoken bishop said that as the church they will not keep quiet over such inhuman and ungodly behaviour by a leadership that purport to identify with the suffering masses, except in lip service.
We Publish The Bishop’s Full Statement Below:
“The church shall become louder and louder for as long as evil conduct exhibited by our leaders persist.
Zimbabwe Divine Destiny ZDD utterly condemns recent unpatriotic and selfish behaviour by government Leaders especially the President ED Mnangagwa and lately Vice President Constantine Chiwenga.
Not so long ago, in November, Vice President Chiwenga acting as head of state failed dismally to put a human face when he mishandled the doctors’ strike. He not only degraded them to mere labourers for demanding better working conditions but went on to pronounce dismissal of about 500 doctors against a background of a battered and dysfunctional health system much to the dismay of the generality of the populace.
How does a retired general who less than a year ago said our people have suffered enough and would like to usher in a new dispensation together with the now president, turn around and become worse than their predecessor?
As if that was not enough, we hear reports that the Vice-President Chiwenga flew to SA for an emergency medical attention ignoring the local health service which just a month ago he attempted to fire the few remaining medical personnel servicing an entire nation. If this report is anything to go by, it will not be the first time our leaders starting from the past president Mugabe to current President ED Mnangagwa and Vice president Chiwenga have flown out for medical attention shunning our local medical institutions preferring abroad.
We demand that the Vice President if he went to SA for the said reasons, desist from this unpatriotic behaviour. If the government and our leaders are serious about streaming operations, tightening belts and applying serious austerity measures, then they must be exemplary in their expenditure.
Ever wondered why we have not seen South African or other leaders for that matter seek treatment here, neither do they shop nor holiday here? None of their children school here but our leaders flock out there as if Zimbabwe cannot be developed to similar if not better standards.
In fact, we had wonderful infrastructure going into 1980 and it is this Zanu Pf government that ran down all these, only to shed crocodile tears under the guise of sanctions. All leaders the world over, take pride in their national products and institutions, they invest in their countries, only prodigal sons loot their heritage and spend and invest in a foreign land.
President Mnangagwa recently flew a top of the range jet, akin to the rich and famous, soon after announcing an unbelievable 150% fuel hike that led to mass uprising. Is this not the kind of leadership, Amos 4:1 refers to as, Cows of Bashan who sleep on ivory beds while the rest languish in poverty?
We say to both of you, stop this is utter hypocrisy!
You cannot fail to adequately remunerate the teachers, the nurses, the doctors and entire civil service and yet live in unbelievable luxury against a background of abject poverty. As we speak teachers are on a nationwide strike and we all know the negative impact of this on quality education delivery. Our health system that has been ailing and almost collapsing now faces a further jolt, as health personnel will soon be on a 3-day working week, all because government particularly our leaders, are splashing money on largesse and therefore cannot remunerate adequately.
We warn you; the Lord is on the side of the weak and oppressed.
We have started to witness a new wave in price increases of every commodity including basics such as bread, mealie-meal, cooking oil etc. Not so long ago a loaf of bread was about $1.00 and in less than 3 months it has short up to $2.50. How do you expect families to survive?
First, you out price other motorists by making it unaffordable, you now want to out price people from their basic food! The question we direct to government is who has had an increase in earnings of that magnitude across the economy? Even if the government tried hard to control and reduce prices, it is not possible against a background of 150% fuel hike.
It is not the will of God that Zimbabweans suffer this much in a land replete with natural resources, but true to scripture, “… the nation groans when the evil rise to power” Prov 29:2
The church will not keep quiet over such inhuman and ungodly behaviour by leadership that purport to identify with the suffering masses, except in lip service. We will have negated our responsibility and denied Christ who identified with the poor if we don’t speak out.
Finally, we warn strongly that regardless of the brutal show of force by the state during the recent protest, it is almost inevitable that more protests will ensue from a restive populace who are being pushed to limits unless socio-economic justice issues are fully addressed.“
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