THE Archbishop of Canterbury is to travel to Zimbabwe this autumn, as part of a visit to the province of Central Africa.
Lambeth Palace confirmed that the trip is planned for October, but has not released further details.
The Bishop of Harare, the Rt Revd Chad Gandiya, said that Dr Williams has asked to meet President Robert Mugabe, but has not yet been offered an appointment.
Bishop Gandiya said that the Archbishop was coming to “look into the experience of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe”.
He will also visit Malawi and Zambia. Clerics in Zimbabwe continue to be beaten and harassed by allies of Nolbert Kunonga, the deposed former Bishop of Harare, an ally of Robert Mugabe.
A court judgment last month gave Kunonga custody of church property.
He immediately served eviction notices on about 30 Anglican clerics.
A statement from the diocese of Harare said that the notices had been accompanied by attacks.
“Clergy and members of the laity belonging to the Anglican diocese of Harare, across Harare, Mashonaland West, East and Central, have been receiving threats, constant harassment, and lately severe beatings from Kunonga’s hooligans masquerading as clergy, accompanied by certainly hired thugs. The latest casualty is the Revd Jonah Mudowaya, who was severely assaulted in Chinhoyi, on Wednesday 24 August.”
In an email to the Anglican Communion, Bishop Gandiya said: “I have just spoken with our priest at St Matthew’s Church in Chinhoyi, who informed me that he had just come from hospital, where he was attended to by a doctor on duty because of beatings in the head he received early this evening from Kunonga’s priest and a thug. The reason for the beating was that he had refused to vacate the church house. This is an alarming development taking place because of the latest interim judgment given by the Chief Justice.”
The diocese has appealed against the ruling on church property, and has requested that the order be suspended until the appeal is settled.
Kunonga has also targeted clerics in the diocese of Masvingo in recent weeks.