OBITUARY: ‘Ezekiel Guti is a national hero’

DR. MARE MATTHEW

The orthodox churches have a way of honouring and accord their heroes by making them saints. A saint is the highest honour to be accorded to an individual ecclesiastically.

Meanwhile, there are many African religious heroes who even fought colonialism and some have done tremendous humanitarian work.

Africa has many Mother Theresa but it had not devised a term and a method of recognising its heroes.

According heroic status to the late Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti (pictured) will be an eye opener to other African states to consider religious sphere as equal to the political sphere.

The historiography on liberation struggle in Zimbabwe is biased towards political independence. Zimbabwe experienced four liberation struggle, the first Chimurenga, the religious liberation struggle 1932 to 1962, the third chimurenga popularly known as the second chimurenga and the fourth chimurenga which was on land reform.

The same way land was taken back to its rightful owners, religion was taken back to the black majority through the proclamation of the Vatican 11 by the Pope.

It is after this religious independence that, even the orthodox churches began to accept blacks in its bureaucracy, we now have African agents of the gospel like priests, nuns, catechists and pastors.

This religious independence did not come on a silver platter the founders of African Initiated churches (AICs) faced a lot of persecution from both the colonial government and the orthodox church.

The new orthodox African church began to support liberation movements and conduct colonialism. Thus the AICs cut the ligament which connected the orthodox churches to the colonial regimes.

The orthodox church especially Roman Catholic church ended up supporting the liberation struggle and turned against Smith regime because it was domesticated and indigenized through the Vatican 11 proclamation.

The recognition of AICs is keeping the history of Zimbabwe alive. The history of Zimbabwe is not complete without mentioning the role that was played by the AICs towards religious and linguistic independence. Language, land and religion defines an identity of any nation and those were the key pillars that were first targeted by the colonisers inorder to neutralise them.

To date, the majority of African states are now voluntarily delink themselves by adopting universal rights who end remain elusive.

The gains of 1962 are gradually being reversed  due to desire to adopt globalisation without hindsight. Theodor Adorno warned against identity crisis and Leonard Zhakata was very explicitly in his song when he said…zvinoda bhaibheri murikukoniwa apa tsika dzenyu dzatova marara….meaning what the bible wants you are unable to do and yet you have thrown away your cultural identities. States are failing to preserve their culture than what the AICs are doing. They are worshipping God using the African lenses.

Theology is contextual and should have a meaning to the people. It is not a matter of saying Zimbabwe is 85 percent Christianity but the big question is that, how is 85 percent to our own situation because in religion we don’t go for quantitative but qualitative component of the religion. To what extent are the churches relevant in Zimbabwe.

At the Heroes Acre there are the remains of Fr Ribeiro a catholic priest but there is none from the AICs. Indeed Fr Ribeiro played a key role in supporting the liberation struggle but this was after the founders of the AICs had managed to indigenised, localised and enculturate the orthodox churches.

No orthodox church would have ordinarily support the liberation before the 1962 Vatican 11. There are a number of catholic clerics who died supporting the liberation struggle and some are still alive for example Fr Fidelis Mukonori.

He could not have ordinarily supported the liberation struggle without a papal decree that, all orthodox churches must localise. The support that Zimbabwe got from orthodox churches during the liberation struggle is the cumulative effect of the Vatican 11. Zimbabwe need to preserve its history by recognising its own heroes.

This is why during the war religious and linguistic independence was not on the agenda of the liberation struggle. Prior to 1962 Vatican 11 Papal Decree, the catholic church for example was being conducted in Latin, including songs and the liturgy and locals felt alienated. The African language, religious symbols among other were only accommodated after the 1962 Vatican 11 declaration. This is why, in Catholic church for example drums are now being accepted in church.

If Zimbabwe and researchers fail to account for the lost history, it shall be difficult to reconstruct it post this generation.

The Rhodesian government acknowledged how important the AIC leaders were. When Johanne Masowe (Shoniwa Masedza) died Queen Elizabeth 11 bought a casket.

In addition, Leonard Dzangara  was recognised by the British government as the ‘Black Jesus’. The AIC religious influence in the 1930s was felt by the colonial systems.

They pushed for the empowerment of the black persons and this resulted in black theology, political theology and the third world theologies. Colonial literature ignored the role played by the AICs creating a historiographical dilemma. Writers are not neutral by pace setters in a society. In the post-colonial Zimbabwe there is need to go back to history and redeem the important components of our history.

The ZAOGA founder Ezekiel Guti is one of the founding fathers who formed African Independent Churches (AICs) when it was not fashionable to do so.

To date ZAOGA is in more than 160 countries. There is no known religious figure who had managed to penetrate more than 160 countries.

The AICs played a key role in influencing Africans to rise and demand for independence. As early as 1932, the AICs were the first to challenge the Western expressions of Christianity.

The AICs leaders were actively involved in dislodging the colonial regime for example Johanne Masowe leader Shoniwa Masedza, incited African workers on European-owned farms to refuse to work for a white man and influenced them to demand higher wages.

This prompted the Rhodesian authorities to confine AICs, they were ordered that worship had to take place indoors and inside a church building.

The AICs resisted the draconian order which was an act of protest against colonialism. Some went further not to read European bible and relied on continuous revelation and in some instances followers were ordered to burn it, for being irrelevant to African needs and aspirations.

The AICs fought a non-violent revolution a model which was later used by Gandhi’s satyagraha and ahimsa.  Gandhi is recognised for salt march one of the most successful non protest ever recorded in human history.

They taught the masses on mass resistance, stay aways and winning a war without guns. Religion like politics has its own heroes and in the orthodox church they call them saints in recognition of their contribution to the growth of Christianity.

Since 1960 when ZAOGA was founded, the church broke the Western hegemonic tenants in a number of ways to include localisation of gospel, construction of hospitals and universities. He has written over 100 books on marriage, faith, counselling among other.

He also demonstrated high level of patriotism when he continued to support liberation struggle in the pre and post independent Zimbabwe.

Despite Zimbabwe being a secular state, ZAOGA and the entire AICs continue to preach peace, harmony and inclusivity. ZAOGA is one of the AICs that respect women and children.

The church had not been associated with the archaic theologies that seek to undermine women and children. Guti lived an exemplary family life, for the 100 years he has lived, there are no adverse reports of domestic violence and promiscuity.

Guti joined the religious renaissance in 1960 and 1962 the religious independence was won. Prior to Vatican 11 of 1962, the Western churches had paternalized the missionaries and excluded the Africans in leadership positions.

The AICs also challenged the role that was played by missionaries in the colonisation of Zimbabwe. Their theologies incorporated African values and practices in their expression of the christian faith.

To win their religious argument, they established themselves as protestant movements. The proponents were Samuel Mutendi, Johanne Masowe, Johanne Marange, Paul Mwazha and Mai Chaza who pushed for worshipping the African way.

They resisted colonisation through resisting anything that represented it and this included the orthodox churches which worked together to colonise Zimbabwe.

Masowe for example in 1932 was arrested several times for preaching a gospel that promoted civil disobedience at a time when Europeans were the recognised leaders of the church. The Rhodesian authorities ordered the prison wardens to persecute him by piercing his fingers with needles until blood dripped.  The AICs leaders were put under strict state surveillance as their followers continued to swell.

The national policies such as indigenisation has its roots in the initiatives by AICs who indigenised religion and the religious language.

The replaced the white messiahs with the black ones hence the indigenisation and the localisation of the gospel at a time when racialism was at the peak.

They defied the odds and they established churches, for Africa by Africans to serve African interests, even if the socio-political environment was not conducive for that.

They drew the attention of the Rhodesian government’s state arms in Mashonaland towns, mines and commercial farms where they were preaching resistance to the colonial government.

Masowe preached against displacement after the Land Apportionment Act hence the AICs became the voice of the voiceless. Their actions triggered political consciousness as a build up to the religious independence whose proponents were the founders of the AICs.

AICs are liberation movements in their own right and were a liberation force. It played a central role in fighting oppression, segregation, people’s sufferings (human security) by encouraging resistance to the colonial government.

They broke ranks the Rhodesian government when they mobilised their followers to shun Western hospitals, schools, employment and this is why the Johanne Marange to date dissuade their followers from any association with the Western civilisation and their social amenities.

At the core of their theology was the sense of belonging for an African men. Their push for African renaissance gave birth to political theology where the colonial administration was seen as the barrier to AICs’ goal of African religious pan Africanism.

The first colonial recognition of women was the Vatican 11 of 1962 which saw the roman catholic church start to recognise women as nuns, catechists among other key positions in the church.

However, Mai Chaza of Guta RaJehova of the AICs was the first woman in the colonial era to break colonial legacy and patriarchy by becoming the first woman to lead and found a church. Their push also gave birth to black theology and in turn black feminism.

The first feminism was won by AICs in Africa when they forced the Roman Catholic church to issue the 1962 Vatican 11 which liberalised women, who can now occupy key roles in the mainline and orthodox churches.

The religious independence pushed for political independence hence the church leaders were part of the founding members of ZANU, e.g. Rev Ndabaningi Sithole, Rev Abel Muzorewa and later Rev Canaan Banana.

The AICS have led numerous protests against the colonial government. The colonial government responded by banning the AICs. Johanne Masowe and Marange began their ministries in 1932 at the height of colonialism and the Africans were feeling the effects of racial discrimination and the Great Depression.

In the 70s across Africa, the AICs became the beacons of expression Christianity with African lenses. The bible was domesticated hence the AICs theology is theology of indigenisation. In addition,  African ancestors were also elevated to the same positions as saints. Similar to missionary founded churches, the AICs also formed some associations where they cooperated.

The AICs were founded primarily to fight colonial churches that were founded by the colonial structure to advance Western value systems.

They pushed for African renaissance and pushed for religious liberation. Their theologies were a protest to Western religious value systems which supported colonisation.

The orthodox churches played a key role in the colonisation of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe won two independences, in 1962 the religious independence was won and in 1980 the political independence.

The Vatican 11 which gave white churches an African face through indigenisation, enculturation and domestication.

The Rhodesian government tried in vain to suppress the AICs and subjected them to brutal approaches which were all resisted. It is unfortunate that, the role played by the AICs in both political and religious independence had not been properly recorded and is often overlooked.

This is the ligament that connects ZANU PF to the AICs, the relationship is historical and not political as is the popular belief.

In further recognition of the role that was played by the Church to liberate Zimbabwe, then Prime Minister Mugabe invited them to be collaborators in rebuilding the country after the war.

To date they are the beacons of peace and they also fosters good governance. These churches continue to be the agents of peace and unity within the country.

The ZAOGA church had never preached hate speech but had always thrived to the beacon of peace and ubuntu. The church promotes national values by realigning its theology to the Constitution and he has founded Mbuya Dorcus hospital and the ZEGU to educate the nation.

These initiatives accord him a national hero status. This will go a long way in acknowledging the role which was played by AICs. In the fruition of time the government may also consider post humous conferment of the heroic status to the 1932 founders of the religious renaissance.

Dr (PhD) Mare Matthew (Systematic Theology)

[email protected]

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