Some church leaders on Tuesday protested against getting into a bus that had political posters of the first lady heading for the First family Mazowe Orphanage.

Heads of denominations and church leaders from all the country’s provinces were  reportedly  summoned to visit First Lady Grace Mugabe’s Mazowe Orphanage Home, in a move believed to be part of her political campaign ahead of the ruling Zanu PF elective congress in December.

Pastors who spoke to Real Zim said while some of their counterparts proceeded with the journey to Mazowe while some pastors got off the bus minutes after they realised that the driver was sticking political posters on the bus after the church leaders had boarded.

“We felt unhappy and it was not pleasant to us. We are not supposed to be aligned to any political party in this country though we do respect political leadership but we do not get involved in political party activities,” one of the pastors said.

“We have to serve our integrity as Christians and signal out what we strongly believe in . For those who have gone, it is unfortunate as they do not recognize the  danger they put churches into and the Christian fraternity. You cannot mix Christianity and politics,” the pastor who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of victimization said.

Another Pastor said, “Our role is to pray and bring peace and stability and we should not be involved in partisan politics that is why we protested against getting into the bus with posters.”

The pastors said they did not want to be associated with any political party as their followers were of diverse political affiliations.

Other groups that Grace Mugabe has invited to the Mazowe orphanage include the Zanu PF Women’s League, Youth League and traditional leaders, who have all unanimously pledged to endorse her at the congress running from December 9 – 14.