October 17, 2011

Stories of child abuse and neglect at an Anglican orphanage have tempered Zimbabwe Anglican's celebrations at legal decisions provisionally returning church property to them.

The Anglican Diocese of Harare revealed on Oct. 15 that children at the Shearly Cripps Children's Home – an orphanage taken from the church by supporters of the excommunicated bishop Nolbert Kunonga – have been suffering under those who replaced the legitimate staff.

"It has been brought to the attention of the Anglican Diocese of Harare [Church of the Province of Central Africa] that orphaned children at Shearly Cripps are being ill-treated, under-fed and have become exposed to all forms of threats," said a spokesperson for the diocese. "Reports indicate that one child allegedly drank a harmful substance and was rushed to hospital for urgent medical attention."

The Shearly Cripps Children's Home is an orphanage housing more than 100 orphans and attached to St. John's Chikwakwa in Murewa, Mashonaland East province. It was taken over last month by Kunonga supporters armed with a writ of ejectment obtained from the registrar of the High Court.

That same High Court recently ordered Anglican Church staffers to return to their posts at the mission hospital. Kunonga evicted nurses, teachers and office staff from the Daramombe mission south of the capital as part of a series of property grabs.

On Oct. 12, however, High Court Justice Chinembiri Bhunu ordered that the staffers be reinstated and Kunonga refrain from interfering with Daramombe.

"Any of the staff members who may have been removed are to be reinstated in their previous occupation and workstations pending determination of the final order," the judge said. This was a reversal of a previous order in August giving Kunonga control over all church assets.

In a separate ruling, the High Court of Zimbabwe also granted a provisional order against Elson Jakazi the excommunicated bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland and his priests directing them "to restore possession and control and use of the All Saints Zimunya Church."

If the order is ignored, Justice Tendai Uchena made it clear that Jakazi and three of his priests would be "forthwith incarcerated in Chikurubi Maximum Prison for 90 continuous days" if they defy this provisional order. They also have been ordered to pay all legal costs.

These rulings came during and after the visit of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to the Church of the Province of Central Africa. While in Harare, Williams, alongside the archbishops of Central Africa, Southern Africa and Tanzania, presented Mugabe with a dossier of complaints about the treatment of Anglicans.

Anglican Communion News Service, London