PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured) has challenged churches, which have openly criticised his government’s human rights record, to join politics instead of using “the pulpit to advance a nefarious agenda”. BY MOSES MATENGA He also bragged that his Zanu PF party would emphatically win the 2023 election despite the country facing a plethora of challenges. Responding for the first time to a damning pastoral letter by the Catholic bishops over the deteriorating political and economic situation in Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa accused the church of pursuing a “wicked” agenda. He made the accusations while addressing a Zanu PF politburo meeting yesterday. “However, it is most unfortunate when men of the cloth begin to use the pulpit to advance a nefarious agenda for detractors of our country,” Mnangagwa said. “Those who want to enter the political realm are welcome to do so. They must come out and form political parties. As Zanu PF, we are ready for the 2023 elections.” He added: “We say no to saboteur tendencies in whatever guise. “Zanu PF has a close (working) relationship with the church dating back to the days of the liberation struggle. “In the post-independence period, we remain committed to working well with the church to advance the national development agenda as a united people.” The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, in a letter dated August 14, 2020, endorsed the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter campaign that has seen the international community calling for an end to human rights abuses in the country. The clerics bemoaned the shrinking democratic space in the country. Though the letter was signed by seven bishops, the government, through Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa, singled out Harare Archbishop Robert Ndlovu, in what observers said was a tribal attack that saw the minister describing the men of cloth as “evil-minded and genocidal.” Mutsvangwa’s attack of the bishops drew widespread condemnation, forcing Information secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana to promise a comprehensive response from Mnangagwa on Tuesday. Mnangagwa yesterday also cracked the whip on the axed party secretary for health and child care, Claveria Chizema, whom he accused of “disloyalty and treachery” after material linked to the July 31 protests were found at her home in Harare ahead of the demonstrations. “Politburo will recall that during its last session, we received a preliminary security report on the acts of disloyalty by Cde Chizema. I have since gone through the detailed final security report which reveals gross and glaring acts of disloyalty and treachery by Cde Chizema. As such, Cde Chizema can no longer continue to be a member of the party,” Mnangagwa said. Addressing journalists after the politburo meeting, Zanu PF acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said: “She (Chizema) admitted that she hid (some of the material) under (the) carpet and some in the garage and that she received the material in March and had not alerted security organs. It took her five months and the fact that she hid it under a carpet reflects some agenda that we don