April (Web-only) 2001

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The argument exposed a wide division in clergy attitudes to the troubled government of President Robert Mugabe.

Norbert Kunonga was consecrated at a ceremony at Harare's City Sports Center. Bishop Kunonga, a 49-year-old black priest and theology lecturer at the Africa University in Mutare, 170 miles east of Harare, succeeds Bishop Jonathan Siyachitema, who retired last October.

Timothy Neill, former vicar general of the diocese, had been fighting since last December to have Kunonga's nomination overturned. Neill, a 47-year-old white priest and prominent critic of the Mugabe government, claimed that the procedure contravened church laws and was "tainted" by racism against whites.

Neill was among three short-listed candidates submitted to the assembly convened in December to elect the new bishop. Kunonga was not on the list. According to the Star newspaper, published in South Africa, Neill's supporters alleged in December that supporters of the Mugabe government blocked Neill's election and engaged in intense lobbying for Kunonga.

Neill said that the clergyman who nominated Kunonga should have been disqualified because he had circulated a letter at the December assembly accusing Neill of racism.

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Tawonezvi accused Neill of racism, of perpetuating racial injustice in the diocese, and of wanting to become bishop in order to continue to dominate blacks. Neill, in turn, claimed that Kunonga had been involved in a smear campaign against him before the selection of the new bishop.

However, on March 9, a 12-member church court of confirmation, comprising ...