Church Leaders in Zimbabwe Urged to Disown “heretical denominations” after Minor’s Death

“The Government has stated that this stand-alone Child Marriage Act is expected to give child marriages a legislative framework that adequately addresses the matter in its complexity, and also carries a deterrent penal code,” AACC leadership says. 

The Marriage Bill 2019 seeks to bring the governance of marriages in Zimbabwe under a single Law. 

In the statement signed by AACC Secretary General, Rev. Fidon Mwombeki, the representatives of Christian leaders in Africa condemn “the rape, abuse, and neglect” that led to Memory’s demise “in the strongest possible terms.” 

“It is especially abhorrent that (the) illegal and inhumane child marriage was effected under cover of a misleading faith purporting to be Christian,” AACC leadership bemoans in the one-page statement titled, “Justice for Memory Machaya”.

AACC representatives say they “fully support” members of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) who called for an “independent national inquiry” into the sexual abuse of women and girls in church premises.

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In their August 10 statement, ZHOCD members who are drawn from the leadership the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), the Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe Africa (UDACIZA) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) called on Church leaders in Zimbabwe to stop protecting the perpetrators of sexual crimes and report all forms of abuse of women and girls in their midst.

AACC officials also join the United Nations in calling for justice and an end to all forms of Gender Based Violence against women and girls. 

“We ask if it is really true that, according to UN estimates, one in three girls in Zimbabwe is married off before the age of 18?” they pose in reference to UN statistics.  

It is time for church leaders on the continent to “prophetically lead efforts to ensure justice in our respective countries,” AACC representatives says, and add, “We all owe it to the girls and women of Zimbabwe and Africa.”

They also implore African governments to fulfil their constitutional duty of protecting girls and women in our societies, boldly enforcing existing laws designed to ensure this protection.