Retired Anglican Bishop Sebastian Bakare said after years of watching the rot of grabbed institutions Anglicans are happy with the decision the Supreme Court made earlier this week.

“People are so happy because after years of painful [managing of institutions] schools like St Augustine and hospitals like Bonda Hospital have been rundown. And people here are jumping. What made people so sad was to see such institutions going to waste and we hope, with the ruling, we will be able to restore such institutions to their former status,” said Bakare.

Bakare who has been intricately involved in the five-year saga said the door is open for Nolbert Kunonga followers to join the mainstream church.

For now, though, they have to move out just as the members of the Church of the Province of Central Africa did five years ago. “They should leave because when we were kicked out from the properties on orders from the police we obeyed. Now it is their turn,” said Bakare.

“The people there [Manicaland] can all return to their churches. I am still pinching myself. I have always told people that I’m prepared to be surprised and I am surprised,” an ecstatic Bishop Gandiya of Harare told reporters soon after the court victory.

Diocese of Manicaland Bishop Julius Makoni said everyone is happy with the outcome. “People are filled with joy because we are finally taking back what is rightfully ours. We are going to be taking back 60 percent of our properties.”