By 
By Ross Moyo
Zimbabwe President, Dr Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa held a prayer meeting for the upcoming SADC Summit which drew senior ruling Zanu-PF members and government officials who allegedly met with selected clergy at the State House recently.
Whilst political commentators believe the criteria used was balanced to select members of the clergy, other analysts are of the view the clergy present were those sympathetic to the ruling party selected on their Zanu Pf bias considering that only last month, the ruling ZanuPF party’s director of information, Farai Marapira, said:
“We are ready to deal with any subversiveness … decidedly. We are waiting for the signal.”
Surprisingly President Mnangagwa did what seemed opposite to his Zanu Pf Director of Information taking a different tone at the prayer meeting, and said,
“Hospitality to visitors, throughout the summit and beyond, should reflect Godly love, warmth, joy and kindness.”
The upcoming Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State Summit will be the fourth time Zimbabwe has hosted the summit, initially hosting the first on 20 July 1981, followed by 25 August 1989 and most recently 17 August 2014.
Unlike his party director, Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa indicated that he was turning to God for a peaceful SADC summit.
This comes in light of nearly 100 opposition and civil society activists jailed ahead of the SADC summit in Harare.
Mnangagwa hosted the breakfast prayer meeting for blessings ahead of the much publicized summit.Zimbabwe will take up the annual rotational leadership of the regional bloc after the Wednesday national breakfast prayer meeting on Wednesday saw the President asking for God’s guidance.
Only last week, Information Minister Jenfan Muswere alleged some religious leaders were working with civil society groups to destabilise the government, conveniently ahead of the much-touted 44th ordinary SADC summit of heads of state and government slated for 17 and 18 August.
The President asked for divine assistance for a peaceful summit, calling on “the church and nation at large to persistently pray that God grants us the grace to successfully host the event and lead with wisdom and humility in the weighty responsibility before our country”.
“Let us equally approach the SADC summit with enhanced patriotism and unity, recognising that this is a moment of honour for our beloved motherland, Zimbabwe,” he said in his address.
This also comes after some sections of the opposition and civil society wanted to demonstrate on the sidelines of the summit to show delegates they were unhappy with Zimbabwe’s disputed elections of August last year.
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