Murder exposes moral bankruptcy

The fatal poisoning of Canon Rodney Hunter in his home in Malawi in late April has thrown new light on political violence in the Central African Anglican Church.

The British evangelical missionary’s family claim he was murdered by supporters of a liberal vicar aspiring for the position of Bishop of Lake Malawi.

The missionary had publicly criticised plans to appoint the Rev Nicholas Henderson due to his liberal position on gay clergy. Last August, Henderson was elected Bishop, but blocked from taking up the position by a ruling from the Diocese’s Court of Confirmation, describing him as ‘of unsound faith’.

This scenario comes as the Anglican Bishops of Central Africa (including Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) continue to take a compromised stance against the regime of Zimbabwe’s controversial president, Robert Mugabe. In a recent pastoral letter, the bishops attributed the humanitarian crisis in the troubled nation to Western sanctions.

The statement failed to address the state-sponsored violence against opposition groups, and the corruption and mismanagement of the government.

The Rev Barnabas Nqindi, a South African Anglican cleric, says the Zimbabwean bishops’ reluctance to take a strong stance against the government, as their Catholic counterparts, conveys their compromised position as supporters of a corrupt and cruel regime.

“This reaffirms what people say about the Anglican church that it always tows the party line and that Anglican bishops are ZANU-PF men.” One of these clerics, Bishop of Harare, the Rt Rev Nolbert Kunonga, has reportedly been praised by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF as a ‘model Christian’.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (which includes the Evangelical Fellowship) has “aired its deep concern and an unambiguous ‘No’ to power through violence, intimidation, violation of human rights and rigged elections.

It has also called on the government to “repent and listen to the cries of their citizens,” said Churches of Christ pastor, Tafadzwa*. The body has also called for an end to corruption and harassment of political parties and churches.

Tafadzwa says the gospel is progressing despite the agonising conditions in Zimbabwe. “Many people are responding to the good news, regardless of the most difficult circumstances,” he says.

“Because the government has forsaken and abandoned its people, and the people have been dumped and neglected, they are only finding solace in the church.”

*name changed for security purposes

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