The Sunday Mail
Desire Ncube
THE Council of Church Elders has finally embraced the national pledge and recommended it for other public fora. The council includes religious groups drawn from the pentecostal, protestant, catholic, evangelical and independent African churches. After months of protracted disagreements, the church elders last week met the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora in Harare and the minister explained the relevance of the national pledge.
Western countries such as the United States of America have their own national pledges. The Government introduced the national pledge in April this year and some churches protested, claiming that the pledge was a direct affront to Christianity.
The national pledge was drawn from the Constitution. Church elders’ spokesperson, Apostle Alexander Chisango said the church supports the national pledge.
“Our position on the national pledge was coming mostly through social media rather than direct engagement with the responsible ministry. Having engaged directly, we came to a point of understanding what the ministry sought to achieve, which falls within the general global practice,” he said.
“The purpose is obviously to forge cohesion as well as to end many social ills affecting the nation. Nonetheless and admittedly, the initiative has been met with some suspicion, divisions and resistance from various sections of the nation.
“We have observed that part of the arguments against the current national pledge revolves around the consultation process and only a few are on content or theological aspects. Arguments are more on the application rather than the concept itself.”
He said the church would deliberate on establishing the national pledge as a concept for all public fora.
“We propose that church elders should assist Government to facilitate a quick and cross-cutting consultation to establish answers to questions such as whether the national pledge should be for schools only or for all public forums,” said Apostle Chisango.
The church leaders hailed Government for supporting their involvement in schools. “The minister (Dr Dokora) has further assured us that the status quo will continue. The church in Zimbabwe has throughout history been and still is standing as the main pillar and partner to the Government and families when it comes to education.”
Dr Dokora said the engagement with church elders was a “happy moment” for the nation as Government had managed to settle all burning issues related to the acceptance of the national pledge by different religious institutions.
