Zimbabwe Fasts Amid Hunger, COVID-19, Fuel Shortages and Price Increases
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Zimbabwe Fasts Amid Hunger, COVID-19, Fuel Shortages and Price Increases

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa

Zimbabwe this Monday takes time to pray and fast as called earlier by President Emmerson Mnangagwa but the idea has not been popular with many who feel the national leader was trying to mask glaring failures by his administration.

President Mnangagwa last week urged Zimbabweans to commit the country’s Covid-19 menace in the hands of the Almighty.

Mnangagwa, whose name features prominently in the country’s most horrific brutalities in the past, goes on bended knees this Monday to lead the prayers from State House.

But many Zimbabweans are not enthused by the President’s “theatrics”, as they feel the country’s challenges could be best remedied by better leadership.

The Zimbabwean leader is under fire after one of his sons, Collins is mired in an embarrassing corruption scandal involving the procurement of coronavirus kits on behalf of government.

MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, on her private twitter, expressed her disdain for calls to pray for miracles to save the country when there was massive looting by its rulers.

Roman Catholic Priest Father Fidelis Mukonori said the call for National Day of Prayer and Fasting by President Mnangagwa ought to be complied with by every Zimbabwean regardless of one’s political persuasion.

“It has nothing to do with politics, neither is it a political whip. It is rather a national cry for the people of Zimbabwe so that God can hear us. As church we have always been praying and we support every decision in furtherance of our sworn objective,” said Father Mukonori.

However, what has irked some Zimbabweans is Mnangagwa’s call for prayer as his government ups its crackdown on the opposition and its lawyers.

The Zanu PF led government has in the past tried to blame everyone except itself for the country’s woes.

An attempt to lead an anti-sanctions march last year ended in horror for the State leader as few Zimbabweans attended.

The call for national prayers has also spotlighted on the Zanu PF led government’s beliefs for supernatural solutions to the nation’s recurrent problems.

In 2007, then under late former leader Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe government fell for a prank by a Chinhoyi spirit medium, one Rotina Mavhunga who duped cabinet into believing she could command rocks to gush mega-litres of pure to save the country from its fuel challenges.

However, turning to the church or n’angas is not a new phenomenon among superstitious Zimbabwean politicians.

Mnangagwa and colleagues have often turned to the church to try and boost their luck during the time for elections.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.

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