Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president Bishop Johannes Ndanga, is calling on Zanu PF to provide vehicles and allowances to church leaders spearheading its campaign ahead of impending elections later this year.
Addressing a Zion Christian Church national women’s conference in Masvingo on Saturday, Ndanga claimed “real bishops” had more Zanu PF followers as compared to traditional leaders, hence the need to award them cars and cash allowances.
“Bring me Chief Charumbira (Fortune) here. We want to see who commands more supporters than the other. Real bishops from indigenous churches can draw more Zanu PF supporters than chiefs. It is against this premise that we (bishops) should be given vehicles just like the chiefs.”
However, Deputy Education minister and Zanu PF politburo member, Lazarus Dokora, who also attended the meeting on behalf of Vice-President, Joice Mujuru, urged church leaders to work together with traditional chiefs to drum up support for the former ruling party.
“Traditional leaders play an important role on their side and you also have your important role as church leaders in making the party and the country achieve its goals,” he said.
The man of the cloth who has on several occasions declared his allegiance to Zanu PF said:
“The advantage of Zanu PF is that it is already established and a Zimbabwean party. Political parties like MDC are from Britain. Some of their members are even ‘whiter’ than the whites. So what Zanu PF simply needs to do is give us land and empower us as a church and it will rule forever,” he said.
Added Bishop Ndanga: “In fact we will all vote for the party (Zanu PF)”. ACCZ is an ecumenical body for all Apostolic and Zion churches in Zimbabwe.
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Of late, Zanu PF has endeared itself with Apostolic sects with Didymus Mutasa, Vice-President Mujuru, ministers Webster Shamu and Ignatius Chombo taking their campaign to the sect’s gatherings to give sermons in praise of President Robert Mugabe.
Other notable religious leaders roped into Zanu PF’s campaign trail include Emmanuel Makandiwa (UFI), Nolbert Kunonga (Anglican), Paul Mwazha (Apostolic African Church) and Obediah Msindo (Destiny for Africa Network).
The party has also embarked on a massive drive to recruit youthful urban groovers and celebrities with former Big Brother Africa star Munyaradzi Chidzonga among the biggest catches.
Observers said the strategy was aimed at capturing popular personalities’ followers and win them over ahead of the planned national elections.
