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Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
The church should play a role in national consensus building and ensure that there is political tolerance among politicians, Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, has said. He said the church should be bold enough to bring politicians together so that political differences are narrowed.

Adv Mudenda said this during a meeting with members of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) who had paid him a courtesy call at his offices at Parliament Building yesterday.

“Where we would want the church to come on board is on national consensus building,” he said.

“The church is in a privileged position because within it there are members of diverse cultures, diverse languages, background, diverse political persuasion.

“So, the church becomes really a melting pot on national consensus building. If we are united in worship, let us use that experience to be united outside the church through political tolerance.”

Adv Mudenda said it was the role of the church that there be meeting of minds among the citizenry of the political divide. “In the process, there is need for healing,” he said.

“The question is how do you heal the nation, which are the wounds of disunity? I appeal to the church to be bold enough to accost the political leadership of different political persuasion.

“Bring us together so that as politicians we come to some maturity where our political differences should not be a reason of hatred and disharmony.

“Let us heal the nation whereby people in the political sphere can learn to disagree in a humanistic manner, without the elements of hatred, always being reminded that in the end after all we are all Zimbabweans, in the end power and authority shall cease to be in our possession, we are merely stewards of the positions we hold.”

Adv Mudenda admonished the church leaders to desist from fighting for positions, saying it did not augur well with their positions in society.

“This is why from time to time we read about scandals that take place in the church where the leadership disabuse their correct role in spreading the word and start fighting for positions,” he said.

“I am aware that when a bishop is about to retire there is some jostling of succession.

“In some instances in a church which I shall not mention, they even forget the Bible and go to n’angas in order to get that position. Leadership wrangle does not give a cohesive stature of the church and yet we the commoners would look to the church as the social conscience of good leadership, good service to the people, servant leadership, humility where we do not fight for positions, but walk the path of servant leadership.”

Earlier on ZCC general-secretary, Dr Kenneth Mtata said the church was willing to play its role to help the Government achieve its objectives.

Dr Mtata was accompanied by Anglican Bishop Chad Gandiya and other clergymen.