Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called on the Church to remain steadfast and refuse to be deployed as tools to advance a nefarious agenda by Zimbabwe detractors.

President Mnangagwa made the remarks during the launch of the group Pastors for Economic Development (Pastors4ED) and the Ordination of preachers under the Zimbabwe Union Council of Churches (ZUCOC) in Harare yesterday. The event was held under the theme “Ideology, Empowering and Equipping the Clergy and the Church for Nation Building as we Honour the Ordained Leadership of the Land.”

"Never allow yourselves to be swayed into using religion and the religious space as a tool to advance the nefarious agenda of detractors. Men and women of the cloth together with religious institutions should never be conduits for pursuing regionalism, tribalism, division and other neo-imperial propaganda," said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa emphasised the need to protect the nation's culture, beliefs, social values and norms.

"This is our Zimbabwe, our only home given to us by the Almighty God. We have our culture, beliefs, social beliefs and norms. Let us therefore protect our nation from all kinds of evil defilement, under whatever guise," said President Mnangagwa.

The President also called on the church to be good stewards of the land and work to collectively industrialise and develop the nation.

"We have a collective duty to industrialize and modernize our country and lift many of our people out of poverty into prosperity. Additionally, let us be good stewards as we consolidate the possession of the land by producing the food we eat as well as the raw materials that feed into other productive sectors of the economy," said President Mnangagwa.

Meanwhile President Mnangagwa, urged the church to preach the gospel of unity, peace and harmony ahead of this year’s elections adding that Government had put in place measures to ensure that the elections would be peaceful, credible and transparent.