CARETAKER Anglican bishop for the Harare Diocese, Bishop Sebastian Bakare has said Zimbabwe's select few rich are 'capitalizing' on the country's economic crisis and do not want this month’s elections to bring change.
Writing in a pastoral letter ahead of the March 29 national polls, Bishop Bakare said Zimbabwe had become ‘a nation of political victims’ where the poor were getting poorer, not by the day but by the minute, as they could not afford the soaring prices of daily essentials.
Zimbabwe is mired in its worst-ever economic crisis with inflation now well beyond 100,000 per cent, frequent price hikes and shortages of basic commodities.
President Robert Mugabe blames Western sanctions for the troubles and says price hikes are an attempt to 'demoralize' voters ahead of polling day.
The 84-year-old president faces two strong contenders in the poll: Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and ex- finance minister Simba Makoni.
Bakare, who is locked in a bitter battle with his predecessor, Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, castigated ‘the few who manipulate the situation for their own profit.’
“For such a people a changed future is most unwelcome,” he said. Change is the slogan of the MDC. Makoni is also advocating a change in leadership.
Bishop Bakare was only recently consecrated after regional church authorities declared Kunonga had severed himself from the church.
Kunonga is alleged to have set up camp in church precincts and is said to be refusing to hand over other church property. He has been actively campaigning for Mugabe, saying the president is 'a prophet of God.'
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