Refusing to be co-opted? Church organizations and reconciliation in Zimbabwe with special reference to the Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe 2005 - 2013

IntroductionThis paper is about the role of faith based organisations (FBOs) in the reconciliation and healing programme in Zimbabwe during the crisis that started around 2000. It is an analysis of how they interacted with the state and an assessment of why some faith based organisations were co-opted whilst others became radical and challenged the state to stop violence and engage in concrete steps to reconcile and heal Zimbabweans.Since 2000, Zimbabwe has been going through a period that scholars have aptly labeled as a period of crisis. Many scholars have written on and about this period of 'crisis'1 and what has emerged is that there are many crises that have stalked Zimbabwe. According these scholars, the Zimbabwean crisis has manifested itself on issues such as the land issue and property rights, the struggle over the past, trade unions, human rights and constitutional questions, struggle for democracy among other issues2. The political crisis in Zimbabwe has on its own generated further crises such as the health, water, food, cash, fuel and energy crises. As Chiumbu and Musemwa (2012: x) argues, these crises deserves an independent internal analysis and a critical assessment of how they related to others. This work looks at one such crisis involving the church on the one hand and the state on the other. Acknowledging that the political crisis especially, characterised by state sponsored violence left Zimbabwe deeply divided and in need of reconcil iation. This article problematises the relationship between the state and radical faith based organisations that worked to promote healing and reconciliation whilst seemingly challenging the authority of the state. The activities of such radical organisations will be contrasted to that of those organisations that campaigned for the state and turned a blind eye to the violent activities of the state. Such organisations, the paper questions whether they have been co-opted or they are taking their own initiatives in playing such controversial role in the Zimbabwean crisis. Specifically, this article compares and contrasts the Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe and Reverend Obadiah Musindo's Destiny for Africa Network. It argues that in its attempt to reconcile and heal the nation, the Christian Alliance has often run into serious problems with the state that construe this organisation's role as subversive and confrontational. In contrast, the same state also works in cahoots with other religious organisation not only to thwart attempts at reconciliation and healing, but also cover up the violence perpetrated by the state. The paper concludes that the state plays a pivotal role in shaping its relations with the church, although not taking away agency from these religious organisations under study. Thus any attempts at reconciliation, its successes and failures as this paper will show hinges upon the willingness of the state.An increasingly common feature of attempts at transition to democratic politics is the creation of some sort of truth and reconciliation process (Gibson 2006: 408). Reconciliation can give rise to the consolidation of democratic change through several specific processes related to the reduction of intergroup conflict (Gibson 2006: 415). The truth and reconciliation process can free a society from its obsession with past injustices, redirecting political debate to contemporary issues. This section attempts to lay the background to the Zimbabwean crisis that has led to violence and the need for reconstruction, reconciliation and healing in the country. It briefly gives a history of the country since 1980 culminating in the crisis of the 2000s, a 'decade of madness'. It accounts for the failure of the reconciliation process propagated by the politicians, whilst laying the foundation for the involvement by faith based organisations such as the Christian Alliance in preaching reconciliation.The word reconciliation and what it entails is not new to the Zimbabwean people. …