Excommunicated Anglican Bishop Elson Jakazi who wrestled the Diocese of Manicaland (eastern part of Zimbabwe) from the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) is holding to the church properties notwithstanding a Supreme Court ruling that left his Harare counterpart Nolbert Kunonga dry.

In an interview with RelZim.org, Jakazi said people are getting yesterday’s landmark Supreme Court judgement wrong. “There has been a lot of confusion and we are not happy with it. These dioceses [Kunonga’s and his] are different and autonomous of each other. We are not under the Harare Diocese and [we] are still waiting for the determination of our case.”

“It was previously thrown out by the Supreme Court on a technicality [22 October]. But then we immediately rectified the problem and re-lodged it. There was never an order relating to the Manicaland Diocese and for now we are not going anywhere,” Jakazi said.

Dr Julius Makoni, Anglican Bishop of Manicaland. Excommunicated Bishop Elson Jakazi defies Makoni by not letting go of the church properties. (Photo courtesy of Conger)

“For me it is business as usual there is nothing that has changed. I was actually surprised to see Julius Makoni commenting in some sections of the media saying they will be taking back their properties. That is not going to happen until the court has made a determination. We are waiting for the trial.”