Prayer urged for Zimbabwe

For the people of Zimbabwe who have suffered for so long under the brutal government of Robert Mugabe, change seems within reach following the March 29 election in that country. But as BIC Bishop Danisa Ndlovu warned in comments to a reporter with Mennonite World Conference, the delay in announcing results is creating anxiety and a declaration of a win by Mugabe could lead to violence.

According to a report in The Zimbabwean, one of the few independent newspapers in the country, Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party has instructed the Zimbabwe Electoral Council not to release the results of the presidential poll. It appears that Mugabe intends to extend the date of the anticipated presidential election run-off by 90 days after the March 29 election failed to produce a clear winner. Meanwhile, the Zanu (PF) party has mobilized the army to invade the few remaining white-owned farms to evict the owners.
 
And so the people of Zimbabwe, including the more than 35,000 BIC in the country, wait for change, although even if Mugabe gives up his power, life will not be instantly better for Zimbabweans. Farming has been destroyed, as has tourism. Under Mugabe, life expectancy in Zimbabwe has been halved; unemployment reached 80 percent; nearly all the whites and more than 3-million blacks have fled the country. Zimbabwe became a rogue state, which threatened to implode the whole region. And as Mugabe printed money with abandon, the inevitable result was hyperinflation. It will take decades to rebuild the three main pillars of the Zimbabwean economy: agriculture, tourism and mining.

And as Bishop Ndlovu reminds us North American Brethren in Christ, it will take much prayer as God’s people in Zimbabwe participate in bringing new life and possibility to their country. “As a denomination, we will want to position ourselves so that we are able to carry out some of our programs that we have been unable to do due to the economic hardships we are currently experiencing. . . . The church must remain neutral and vigilant as well as retain and jealously guard its prophetic role and voice in all season,” Bishop Ndlovu stated in an MWC news release. “We have not crossed the bridge yet. We call upon the church around the world to be in prayer for Zimbabwe during this important time.”

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