European church leaders in Zimbabwe to apologise for slavery and colonialism

By Violet Gonda
28 August 2006
A European Christian leaders’ delegation is in Zimbabwe for a week long Prayer Network Conference to be held at the Harare International Conference Centre, to formally apologise for the vices committed during the slave trade era and through colonisation in Africa.

However political commentator Dr John Makumbe says the timing is politically naïve as it will be used by Mugabe as political fodder - since he blames Zimbabwe’s crisis on colonialism.

The state controlled Herald newspaper quotes Mr Chris Seaton, the Chairperson of the European African Reconciliation Process, saying they have specifically come to Zimbabwe because the country has a special history because of Cecil John Rhodes’ role in the country. "Cecil John Rhodes comes from my country and Zimbabwe was even named after him and he is buried here and we are saying sorry for what he has done to the country and the continent.”

African heads of state including Robert Mugabe and former leaders like Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda and Mozambique’s Joachim Chissano are expected to attend the conference, whose theme is "European-African Reconciliation Process."

"We have come to Africa to apologise and to confess our sins and seek repentance and reconciliation with our African brothers," Mr Seaton is quoted as saying.

Although the issue of slavery and colonialism is an important and big issue in Africa observers fear that despotic regimes on the continent can use this latest initiative by the European church for political mileage.

Dr Makumbe believes the church leaders should have chosen to hold such a conference in a country like Ghana, which was the first African country to attain independence from colonialism. He also said slavery was worse in East and West Africa than in Zimbabwe “in fact the whole exercise looks very much like something Mugabe would cook up through the use of some state sponsored churches in Zimbabwe and attract some gullible European churches to Zimbabwe.”

He asked; “Why Zimbabwe when there are the most atrocities by a government which is not a colonial government, but an indigenous government which is chewing its own people?”
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news280806/churchleader280806.htm