Zimbabwe has played host to many important international meetings in recent years, but
this one is completely different, President Robert Mugabe told about 150 assembly
participants at a state reception on Monday evening.
What marks off this meeting from the earlier ones, said the President during a reception
at State House in Harare, is its spiritual dimension.
When the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement have met in Zimbabwe, the focus has
been on political and economic issues. But while these concerns for the physical person
are important, Mugabe said the concerns of the church transcend this level and touch the
realm of the soul.
A group of assembly participants -- including the WCC officers, members of the outgoing
central committee and general secretary Konrad Raiser with some senior staff -- were bused
to State House at the end of their afternoon sessions. In a tent in the garden, the
President greeted each guest personally.
His 25-minute address, delivered without notes, touched on a variety of topics, including
the role of the churches in partnership with government in Zimbabwe today -- especially in
the areas of education and health.
Mugabe also expressed gratitude for the WCC’s support, through the Programme to
Combat Racism, to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the 1970s, culminating in the
country’s independence in 1980.
However, except for one passing mention of striking workers and another brief reference to
his talks in Paris last week with other African leaders and French President Jacques
Chirac about ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (a truce will come, Mugabe
said, when all parties are on board, but not all are as yet), the President’s address
included few specifics regarding the current political and economic situation in the
country.
He did remind the participants of the severe toll the HIV/AIDS pandemic is taking among
Zimbabweans.
Most of the president’s address was devoted to the importance of developing moral and
spiritual values as well as seeing to people’s physical needs. He repeatedly
underscored the role of the churches in this effort.
In his response to the president, WCC central committee moderator Aram I, Catholicos of
the Armenian Apostolic Church (Cilicia), agreed with the President that the churches have
a key role to play in civil society.
In that sense, he said, they can be partners of government. But, he added, this
partnership must never prevent the churches from unhesitatingly proclaiming the central
message of justice.
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