Zimbabwe authorities threaten Christian ministry with closure
By Michael Ireland, Senior Reporter, ASSIST News Service answritermike@gmail.com
(ANS- BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE, Jan.24, 2015) – Barnabas Aid (www.barnabasfund.org)
reports that in an act that is being repeated across Zimbabwe,
government authorities have declared new ownership of the Maleme farm in
Bulawayo, Matabeleland, threatening its Christian owners with arrest
for refusing to leave the land that houses the Shalom and Ebenezer
Christian ministries.
Barnabas Aid says that having
made an official appeal for the reversal of this land acquisition, the
leadership team is currently involved in difficult negotiations with
district officials.
According to Barnabas Aid, Mr
Cunningham, owner of the Maleme farm, was told on December 18 that the
land had been allocated to a new owner, Mr Mashingaidze, and that this
decision had been finalized.
Later the same day, the lands
officer accompanied the new owner to Maleme farm so that he could take
inventory of all his assets, warning the Christian owners that if
anything was taken from the site, this would be considered theft.
Instructed to cease all farming operations, he was told to prepare to
hand over the farm to the new owner and shut down the Shalom Christian
campsite that is situated on the farmland.
Since 1958, the Maleme farm has
housed an inter-denominational campsite, known as Shalom, which is
heavily subsidized from farming operations in order to provide
non-profit campsite facilities for churches from all over the country.
In 2007, another portion of the
farmland was dedicated to the development of the Ebenezer ministry which
trains 75 apprentices in agri-business each year, attracting school
leavers from all over the Matabeleland region.
District authorities told Mr
Cunningham that he would be able to keep part of the land used by
Ebenezer if there was no reaction to the acquisition and if he
cooperated in leaving the farm without reporting the incident to anyone.
Explaining to the authorities
that without the farm, he would be without an income and unable to
finance the operations at Ebenezer, he was told that he would need to
prepare to shut down the Ebenezer ministry as well.
The Shalom campsite takes around
16,000 overnight stays per year. Plans have been underway to expand the
Ebenezer program to double the number of apprentices this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment