Zimbabwe Vice-President Joice Mujuru of the ruling ZANU-PF Party inside this Southern African state. Zimbabwe has resisted efforts to destabilize the country by the western imperialists.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Herald Reporter
Religious groups should always bear in mind whenever they meet that there are many sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives for freedom of worship, Vice President Joice Mujuru has said.
VP Mujuru was addressing thousands of worshippers at yesterday’s launch of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe at Stodart Grou-nds in Mbare, Harare.
The council brings together all apostolic and Zion sects in the country.
This is loosely in the mould of other congregational groupings found in other religious bodies inside and outside the country like the Evange-lical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the Christian Council of Zimbabwe.
The first president of the ACCZ is Reverend Johannes Ndanga.
VP Mujuru said Government invited all citizens to help it accord men, women and children who died for, among other things, religious freedom decent burials.
Speaking in Shona, the VP — who was dressed in her Salvation Army church uniform — said: "It was embarrassing in the colonial era for people to say they were members of apostolic sects and that they worshipped in the open.
"Apostolic sect leaders were persecuted during the colonial era because the whites had seen the power of our local religion.
"We appreciate that you saw it fit to respect the heroes who fought for the liberation of this country because they died for us to worship freely.
"There is no weekend that ends without us meeting in fellowship. But we need to do something — not very expensive and time consuming — to rebury our fallen heroes in dignity.
"Wherever those bones lie, we should properly bury them as a way of doing justice to those who liberated us."
VP Mujuru welcomed the formation of ACCZ because this would allow apostolic sects "to speak with one voice in all our endeavours".
The VP took the opportunity to underscore the fact that Zanu-PF deplored all forms of violence.
She said Zanu-PF liberated the nation from the colonial yoke and there was no reason for the party to turn against the people it had freed.
Earlier on, Rev Ndanga said Zimbabweans should never belittle its liberators’ contributions.
"This country is blood-bought. You cannot just wake up and claim to own this land. There is no independence without sacrifices and whoever wants to lead this country should acknowledge this first," he said.
Rev Ndanga said ACCZ’s formation had largely been necessitated by the need to ensure recognition of apostolic and Zion sects.
He said the era of calling apostolic and Zion churches "self-styled" was long over.
Rev Ndanga said church members should take advantage of Government’s empowerment policies for both community and national development.
Head of the Culture Centre of the Centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mr Mohammad Assadi, who came to show his solidarity with the sects, said Christians and Muslims shared a lot in common.
"Traditionally, it is seen as if Islam and Christianity have nothing in common. On the contrary these two religions have more in common than most people," he said.
VP Mujuru presented 34 certificates of affiliation to the churches that pioneered ACCZ.
Support women’s projects, Govt told
Midlands Correspondent
Women’s empowerment projects deserve greater Government and private sector support than they are currently getting, Shurugwi South legislator Cde Anastancia Ndlovu has said.
Speaking at the launch of women’s businesses in Shurugwi last Thursday, Cde Ndlovu said her drive was to end the dependency syndrome.
She donated 10 sewing machines, five peanut butter-making machines and four cooking oil pressing machines to women’s clubs in her constituency and those in Cde Francis Nhema’s Shurugwi North constituency.
She sourced the donations from Hamilton Finance — a money lending institution based in Harare.
"If women are empowered the whole community benefits because women, naturally, have a heart to love and fend for families.
"Political independence without economic freedom is hollow therefore there is need for women to be empowered.
"President Mugabe is always giving out seed inputs especially for small grains.
"We found it necessary that we complement his efforts by promoting value addition through oil pressing and peanut butter-making machines," Cde Ndlovu said.
Hamilton Finance operations manager Ms Naume Maketshemu said her company supported rural women because they were the "most neglected group of people when it comes to empowerment".
"We don’t want women to continue begging for money from their husbands. We want them to uplift their lives so that they can fend for their families. As Hamilton Finance we support women’s projects because we have realised that corporates ignore remote areas and thus women become the most disadvantaged," she said. Beneficiaries thanked Cde Ndlovu and Hamilton Finance for their assistance.
"They are not giving us fish, but they are teaching us how to fish so that we can eat the fish for years to come," said one of the recipients.
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