The Sunday Mail
Leaders across all political and socio-economic strata should promote prayer and teach their constituencies to depend on God, an inter-denominational pan-Africanist organisation has said. Last week, African Enterprise hosted a capacity-building programme in the capital dubbed Harare Pan-African Leadership Initiative.
The event brought together representatives from the junior council, women’s groups, captains of industry, diplomats, the medical services sector, the Judiciary and councils.
These groups went through teachings by speakers from Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and the DRC, with the main objective being to create God-oriented leadership.
AE’s pan-African Missions director, Mr Songe Chibambo, told The Sunday Mail Religion that the organisation, which operates in 10 countries on the continent, aims to ensure God leads the way in all life’s facets.
“Our final objective in all this is to create a movement so that in every cluster group, they have time to fellowship, to pray with one another and to share challenges.
“Most of the leaders don’t have time to go to church and attend a service. But if in a market-place where we spend most of our time, we can create a movement so that we have an association among lawyers, academics, then we will be able to pray on a common platform.
“We know that we are going through economic challenges and many people do not know what to do. There is always hope when God is in charge.”
Mr Chibambo said AE – founded 53 years ago, has success stories in countries like South Africa, Ivory Coast and Rwanda.
“Last year, we were in Abidjan and had about 12 different clusters, including the uniformed forces. That for me was just the highlight because they came clad in their uniforms from the navy, police, army and air force,” he said.
“They even provided the police band and as a result of that, the Inspector-General, after hearing of what happened (that we had honoured his country), called us to his office.
“He said you have given us something that is very unique. We want you to continue to come to Abidjan because I want you to impact all my offices throughout the year.”
He added: “In South Africa, prior to the elections (of 1994), our organisation played a significant role to bring together parties of different persuasions. This was around the time when the political parties were banned in 1992. So, we organised dialogue for all these political parties and took them into the bush.
“And you see, taking people into the bush is very significant in the African context. You take a boy from a village into the bush, and then when they come from the bush, he is no longer a boy, but a man. And using the same concept, we had dialogue with different political parties.”
Mr Chibambo also said: “What they discovered is all of us, to an extent, are fighting for the same cause. Therefore, we must work together. We organised four of those (meetings). As a result, we believe that God created an opportunity for dialogue.
“We believe as a result of that dialogue and the prayer network we organised for two years, 24/7, throughout the world to pray for peace in SA led to the peaceful elections in 1994.”
AE also played a part in promoting peace and reconciliation in Rwanda, though many of its members were killed during the genocide.
“We are not trying to say the Zimbabweans are ungodly, no. But we are just trying to enhance the work that is already there and be able to reach out to our leaders so that they can be effective even in the sphere of influence.
“We want, in all these clusters, to create a movement, even for the media, where you can have time to interact, have a Bible study, pray, encourage one another.
“As tough as life is, we need to have a super being who knows us, who has a plan for our lives of good and not evil to help us in these times of challenges.”
In 1994, AE, in partnership with some churches in Harare, organised a citywide mission.
