CATHOLIC organisations were yesterday outraged after government described its leaders as “genocidal and evil-minded” for calling it out on its increasing human rights violations and demanded an apology. BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE/ NQOBANI NDLOVU Information minister Monicah Mutsvangwa (pictured) accused the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference president Bishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu of “leading a coterie of Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops along the wrong path of bygone petty tribalism, narrow regionalism and the debunked and defeated racial antagonism.” “Its evil message reeks with all the vices that have perennially hobbled the progress of Africa. It trumpets petty tribal feuds and narrow regionalist agendas. That he (Archbishop Ndlovu) hopes to sow seeds of internecine strife as a prelude to civil war and national disintegration.” The attack by Mutsvangwa reverberated around the world, appearing in the Vatican News bulletin and leading to Pope Francis’s Apostolic Nuncio to Zimbabwe, Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, paying a solidarity visit on Archbishop Ndlovu yesterday. The Vatican noted that the Archbishop of Harare had been singled out for a “scorching personal attack by the Zimbabwe government” and said the Apostolic Nuncio’s visit was also a symbolic act of solidarity with all the bishops of Zimbabwe. The Vatican reporter, however, noted that the government skirted the issues raised in the pastoral letter. Catholic Lawyers Guild of Zimbabwe and Catholic Professionals Network of Zimbabwe (CPNZ) described the government statement as an “unwarranted vitriolic attack” and said they were concerned by the attempt to divide the bishops. “We Catholic Lawyers Guild are deeply concerned by the government of Zimbabwe’s unwarranted vitriolic attack on a Pastoral letter issued by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference. We are also concerned by the attempt by Minister of Information, Monica Mutsvangwa to divide the bishops by targeting Archbishop of Harare and president of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu,” the lawyers said in a statement. They said it was not a secret that there was a crisis in Zimbabwe, adding that the crisis comes on the backdrop of unresolved past hurts such as Gukurahundi. “The bishops acknowledged the seriousness of human rights breaches by the government agents and noted that various voices including the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations have voiced concern over deteriorating human rights situation in the country,” the lawyers said. The association said the health delivery system had virtually collapsed after government failed to address health workers legitimate concerns. Public health workers have been on strike for almost two months demanding personal protective equipment, better working conditions and salaries in United States dollars. The lawyers demanded that the government issues an apology and retraction of Mutsvangwa’s statement. “As the Catholic Lawyers Guild, we demand the following from the government: an apology and retraction of t