The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has said the Zimbabwean government has run out of ideas and has no capacity to solve the country's problems.
In an interview with The Standard at the Zimbabwe Council of Churches annual retreat in Victoria Falls last week, Dr Molefe Tsele, secretary-general of the 22-million strong SACC, castigated the Mugabe regime for being arrogant and lacking interest in solving the country's problems.
Tsele said he was disappointed by most government ministers who addressed the meeting.
Ministers who addressed the retreat included: state publicity and information minister, Jonathan Moyo; John Nkomo, home affairs; Patrick Chinamasa, justice legal and parliamentary affairs and agriculture minister, Joseph Made, whose speech was delivered on his behalf by Moyo.
Said Tsele: "Zimbabwe is in a tragedy. A tragedy because people who are supposed to be protecting innocent citizens from death are promoting death themselves. They no longer have a heart. They are prepared to look aside when their fellow citizens are dying.
"I followed closely when the ministers were talking, and I did not see them giving tangible solutions to Zimbabwe's problems. What I saw was an attempt to justify their shortcomings without really offering solutions. It appears no-one has really identified what Zimbabwe's core problems are. The capacity to solve Zimbabwe's problem does not lie in these ministers," said Tsele.
All the ministers who came to the retreat refused to condemn violence nor commit themselves to ending it.
Said Tsele: "What was missing from your ministers was an unequivocal commitment to stop the lawlessness that has reduced Zimbabwe's standing on the international map. What came out was tolerance of what is happening. The government is not being apologetic for the mayhem being caused by its supporters and this could lead Zimbabwe into a deeper crisis. The situation here is quite regrettable."
Tsele, however, pinpointed Chinamasa as the most disappointing of the ministers. During his presentation, Chinamasa refused to condemn violence nor commit that government would act on political violence. Instead, Chinamasa promised the clergymen more violence saying it was a necessary tool for revolution. Zanu PF has branded its chaotic land reform programme the 'Third Chimurenga'.
Chinamasa alleged that the country was on the verge of a war should the land issue remain unresolved.
"The moment the person responsible for administering the law becomes very tolerant to the behaviour of law breakers, then you really have a tragedy. Chinamasa seems to be sympathising with those responsible for promoting lawlessness. I was disappointed by his statements. Those are not words that are supposed to come from the mouth of a justice minister. When he made those utterances, I thought that there was something terribly wrong with him," said Tsele.
He said the SACC fully supported the local churches' hard line stance on Mugabe.
The ZCC attacked Mugabe's government for plunging the country into a de facto war fare and reducing the country's once thriving economy to ashes, all in a bid to stay in power. The churches pointed to a leadership crisis in Zimbabwe.
"We support the ZCC for its stance against misrule and we have no apologies for that. We don't expect these people (government) to voluntarily see logic but at one point they will be forced to. I have no doubt that ultimately the will of the people of Zimbabwe will prevail. You may delay it, but it is inevitable. One day Zimbabweans will have their legitimate representatives," said Tsele.