Zimbabwe Catholic leader: Bishops to mobilize citizens for elections

Published: 2007-12-21

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Recognizing the difficulty of persuading Zimbabweans, whose primary concern is survival, to vote in the March presidential elections, the Catholic bishops' conference of Zimbabwe will use all its structures to mobilize them, said a church official. "We need to persuade people that if they don't do something we will have the same problems next year," said Alouis Chaumba, head of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe. In a Dec. 21 telephone interview from the capital, Harare, he said, "People can't even buy groceries for Christmas with no food on supermarket shelves and long lines at all the banks, where very little cash is available." The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference has encouraged people to vote "in an atmosphere of peace," noting that "to neglect your duty to vote is to be irresponsible, for you leave others to decide your future for you."

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .