We're fairly often rude about the cowardice of Anglican bishops here, but one man is going to be admirably brave this Sunday: Chad Gandiya, the bishop of Harare, has invited Robert Mugabe to the 11.30 service there. The snag is that it will be held outside the cathedral, since the building itself, along with all its assets, has been seized by one of Mugabe's most vociferous supporters, Nolbert Kunonga, formerly the Anglican bishop there, now head of his own outfit, calling itself the Province of Zimbabwe.
In his Anglican days, Kunonga was cleared of a wide variety of charges, including incitement to murder and intimidation after his trial collapsed when witnesses could not be heard by video link, whither they had prudently retired. Later, he cancelled all services across the country one Sunday as a celebration of his wedding anniversary; clergy and congregations were instructed to send gifts and food to the party he threw to celebrate his wife.
He was formally excommunicated in May 2008 and announced that he would form his own province, since the rest of the Anglican Communion was soft on gays. Kunonga himself physically assaulted the bishop elected to replace him, Sebastian Bakare, when he tried to enter the cathedral. His faction have seized the churches, offices, and assets of the Anglican church all over Zimbabwe. But the congregations have stayed away.
The original faithful have been threatened with teargas and worse by the police, but continue to worship outside their old churches. And this Sunday, all of the 20 or 30 Anglican congregations in Harare will gather outside the cathedral to a service to which Bishop Gandiya has invited President Mugabe himself.
" We had not received any response when I left." Bishop Gandiya told me from Canterbury, where he is attending a conference for new bishops from all over the communion. "We have been given permission to hold this service in the park, although we don't need permission from the police.
"They wanted to know whether the president was definitely coming or not so that they can arrange not to disturb us. We have received word that Dr Kunonga is planning to disrupt our service. So [we have] made the security departments of the government aware. What they do with the knowledge is their business."
Presumably, if the president is not coming, the police may feel differently about disturbing the service, but Bishop Gandiya is not daunted.
"If he doesn't come we will still go ahead with our service, and it is incumbent on me to encourage our people. I feel responsible in terms of encouraging them and giving them a sense of hope even though the situation may seem hopeless."
