IT NEVER rains for excommunicated Anglican Church Bishop Nolbert Kunonga after he was dumped by more than 20 priests who left him and formed their Province of Zimbabwe Anglican Church in Kuwadzana 3, Harare, accusing the beleaguered bishop of being dictatorial.
Report by Kupakwashe Makonye
Takorera Tandi, a former Kunonga follower, was elected the Vicar-General, leaving Kunonga leading one of the three factions following the earlier pullout by a faction led by David Kunyongana, who now heads the Anglican Reformed Church of Zimbabwe.
Spokesperson for the church established yesterday, Jethro Makuwaza, told NewsDay that 20 priests agreed on breaking away from Kunonga’s church as he was “becoming more of an autocratic leader and personalising the church”.
“The 20 of us have sat down and agreed to break away from Kunonga’s church. We no longer want him to lead us because he was personalising the church,” said Makuwaza.
“His church is set to be left with very few people, mainly his relatives as he had become more of an autocratic leader who does not want to listen to people. We once received money and five vehicles from donors to help people, but this was personalised. We have chosen Tandi as our Vicar-General and we are going to make some reforms as we are going to join the Zimbabwe Council of Churches which Kunonga forbade and we will be meeting with other churches.”
Kunonga was excommunicated from the Church of the Province of Central Africa in 2007 and was embroiled in a five-year property legal dispute with the Bishop Chad Gandiya-led church which he lost last year. After the defeat, Kunonga lost control of all the church’s properties which were handed over to Gandiya by the Supreme Court.
Efforts to get a comment from Kunonga on the latest developments were in vain at the time of going to print last night.
