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Sydney Mubaiwa in Bikita
The leader of one of the biggest indigenous churches in Zimbabwe, Zion Christian Church, Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi, has said the country’s current political and economic challenges could soon be a thing of the past. Addressing thousands of congregants gathered for a conference at his church’s headquarters in Bikita, Bishop Mutendi said Zimbabweans were not supposed to lose hope as the country would soon enter a new epoch underlined by peace and prosperity.

“Just like Job, problems come to us to measure the level of our strength,” he said. “I surely tell you, this country’s economy will rise again and my message this day is that we must not be afraid. Let’s have hope in our country. This country will never despair and it shall be well.’’

Bishop Mutendi urged Zimbabweans to be united and exploit the country’s God-given natural endowments for socio-economic development. He said it was important to harness rains and water bodies throughout the country to end poverty and hunger.

“It is of great importance for our people to utilise agricultural inputs given to them by Government and the natural rains falling to ensure that we build a hunger-free society,” Bishop Mutendi said.

The church conference drew worshippers from all corners of Zimbabwe and beyond the country’s borders, including senior Government officials, among them Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development (Cropping) Davis Marapira.

A new social political and economic dispensation is in the offing in Zimbabwe after the Zimbabwe Defence Forces stepped in to weed out a cabal of senior Zanu-PF politicians who were using their proximity to outgoing President Mugabe to sow seeds of confusion and instability in the country.

Zanu-PF has since held an Extraordinary Central Committee meeting where a unanimous resolution to recall President Mugabe from his post as Zanu-PF and Government leader was passed. The Extraordinary Central Committee meeting elected former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the new ruling party First Secretary and President as well as Presidential candidate in next year’s harmonised elections.