April 13, 2010

The Summit Council is sad to learn of the passing of a member of its Board of Presidents, Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa, the first black prime minister of the interim government before Zimbabwe’s independence, who died at his Harare home on April 8. His ambition, he said, had been to do “what Mandela did in South Africa – achieve a political resolution of his country’s problems without bloodshed.” He was for many years a great friend of our Founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and played a very active role as well with an affiliated organization, the Universal Peace Federation.

A Methodist bishop, Muzorewa joined the government of the short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in a deal with Ian Smith, the last white prime minister, in 1978, two years ahead of the first all-race elections that swept current President Robert Mugabe to power and dropped the name of Rhodesia, as the former British colony was known. He was granted peace awards by both Pope John Paul II and the United Nations in the 1970s for his efforts to achieve the independence of his country.

Muzorewa led efforts throughout the 1970s to forge a non-violent transition from white-ruled Rhodesia to majority rule in the newly-renamed Zimbabwe. Although imprisoned for a time by the Mugabe government, he continued to lead the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe as a preacher and through numerous charitable works. He retired in 1992, yet continued to minister to the people of his nation, notably as patron of the Araunah Mission Fellowship for the blind. Bishop Muzorewa was recognized as one of the outstanding African Christians of the twentieth century, and a very strong proponent of non-violence.

Bishop Muzorewa was the eldest of a lay preacher’s eight children. He was educated at Old Umtali, a United Methodist school near Mutare, and served as a lay preacher. He earned an M.A. in philosophy and religion from Central Methodist College in Missouri and in 1968 was consecrated as Bishop of Rhodesia in the United Methodist Church. He received an honorary doctorate from Unification Theological Seminary in 2007. He authored two books, Rise Up and Walk and Evangelism that De-colonialises the Soul.

Deeply saddened by the violence following the 2008 Zimbabwe elections, he issued a prophetic call for his countrymen “in the name of God the creator and sustainer of human life and of freedom” to stop “the pervasive demonic culture of impunity, if Zimbabwe is to be a united, peaceful, enjoyable and prosperous nation.”

Director of Christian Care, Reverend Forbes Matonga, described Muzorewa’s legacy as “his role in the country’s transition to independence, the Methodist Church and the founding of Africa University in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Mutare.” Political commentator John Makumbe said Muzorewa’s legacy in Zimbabwe would be that of “a man of peace.” The BBC’s Peter Biles described him as “one of the most prominent political figures in the turbulent years before the independence of Zimbabwe.”

Muzorewa was married in 1951 to Maggie Chigodora. He is survived by three sons and a daughter. He will be buried April 17 at the old Mutare Mission in Mutare.