In March, Kunonga stopped Maria Stevens, the widow of the first white farmer murdered by land invaders in Zimbabwe, from commemorating the anniversary of his death with a religious march and service to remember all victims of political violence. The Catholic church has shown only marginally more willingness to condemn the government's crimes, though for years it tried to stifle criticism. Four years ago, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe produced a damning report on the massacres by Mugabe's army in Matabeland shortly after he came to power in 1980 - it was suppressed by the church. Individual priests have been beaten on opposition demonstrations, but their superiors failed to criticise the police for that abuse. Earlier this year, the Catholic church's Conference of Religious Superiors attacked the government in a series of newspaper advertisements.
People live in abject fear of violence, crime and threats.
They emphasised the need for land redistribution, though not as it is being handled. Those who bear responsibility for the suffering of the people need to know that they will be held accountable for their actions. The Catholic church leadership belatedly offered a slap on the hand to Mugabe this week with a rebuke of political violence. But it failed to name either the president or his party in the pastoral letter.