Opposition Members Throng Church To Seek Refuge

The Anglican Church’s Manicaland Diocese has started to offer sanctuary to victims of violence as politically motivated attacks in the area increase in the run-up the election.

The head of the Manicaland Diocese, Bishop Sebastian Bakare, was quoted in news reports as saying that his diocese had been deeply touched by the effects of the violence that is forcing some people to flee their homes.

“I’m very concerned about reports coming from parts of this diocese that political intimidation is forcing some people to leave their rural homes to seek refuge in urban centres,” he told the ‘Financial Gazette’. “I have directed all my priests to allow people who feel insecure and those who have been left homeless to use church buildings as sanctuaries.” Bishop Bakare gave no figures of those who are being offered refuge, but said the diocese covered more than 400 churches in the sprawling province.

It includes parts of Masvingo, the Lowveld, Manicaland and Mashonaland East - the areas worst affected by the political violence in the past four months. Zimbabwe’s Anglican Church has four dioceses - Harare, Matabeleland, Central Zimbabwe and Manicaland - which operate independently of each other. Only the diocese of Manicaland has officially declared church buildings as places of refuge while some priests in other parts of the country are doing it on an individual basis, the newspaper said.