Episcopal News Service has an article on the most recent Synod of the Anglican Province of Central Africa. Apparently the earlier reports that the Dean of the Province had been “fired” by Malango and that the Province had decided to split into three parts were untrue:
The recent synod of the Church of the Province of Central Africa went very well, contrary to some reports from the secular press in Harare, according to the Rev. Emmanuel Sserwadda, the Episcopal Church’s Partnership Officer for Africa.
Sserwadda attended the synod at the invitation of Central Africa Archbishop Bernard Amos Malango.
“There was a very good feeling,” Sserwadda said of the meeting.
Bishop of Northern Zambia Albert Chama, former provincial secretary, was elected dean of the province, he said. The election to replace Botswana Bishop Trevor Mwamba in the position came during the episcopal synod which customarily meets prior to the synod.
Press reports that Mwamba had been fired by Malango are untrue, Sserwadda said. Mwamba preached at the synod’s closing Eucharist. Sserwadda and Bishop Michael Doe, general secretary of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, (USPG), vested and participated in the service.
During the meeting, Harare Bishop Nolbert Konunga asked that “Dissolution of the Province” be put on the synod’s agenda, according to Sserwadda. Participants on the synod assumed that this item referred to an ongoing effort to create three new provinces from the dioceses of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia respectively. However, Konunga used the time to raise the homosexuality issue and make various accusations, including claims that some member bishops had not done enough to enforce the province’s opposition to homosexuality.
Other provincial leaders recaptured the agenda, saying that the province had made its position clear in the Anglican Communion, and there was no need for further discussion, Sserwadda said.
“They said, ‘If Harare wants to go, it can go,'” he added. “Others told him, ‘You can’t talk on behalf of all of Zimbabwe.'”
Read the full report here..
Today’s Church Times report on the synod meeting calls the replacement of Mwamba a removal. “Speaking this week, one of his supporters said there was complete surprise and shock among many people at the synod when the news was announced. ‘I think there was a lot of networking and pressure.” Many felt that men of God should not behave in this way.'”