THE deposed Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, has been excommunicated from the Anglican Church. Since a new Primate of Central Africa has not yet been appointed, it was the Provincial Dean, the Rt Revd Albert Chama, who made the announcement.
The pronouncement of the “sentence of Greater Excommunication” includes “all those who support [Kunonga]”. The “faithful in the Church of the Province of Central Africa and the Anglican Communion” are urged “to join with us in humble supplication that these our erring brothers and sisters may speedily attain true repentance, for their own souls’ health and the wellbeing of the Body of Church”.
Bishop Chama’s appointment as Dean was viewed with caution in many quarters. As Bishop of Northern Zambia, he was one of the two assessors appointed by the Archbishop of Central Africa who has now retired, the Most Revd Bernard Malango, to the trial of Nolbert Kunonga on 38 charges including incitement to murder. The other assessor was the retired Bishop of Lusaka, the Rt Revd Leonard Mwenda, whom Archbishop Malango later tried to impose on the diocese of Lake Malawi.
The trial ended when Archbishop Malango dismissed the charges and declared that the matter was closed and could not be revived. Since being made Dean of the Province, Bishop Chama has had to deal with the consequences of that decision, in the continuing stand-off with Kunonga and mounting violence against Anglican churches in Zimbabwe.
The Bishop of Harare, Dr Sebastian Bakare, could not be reached for comment this week, suggestive of worsening conditions in Harare.
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