while the "anti-ruling party" interpretation can be detected in Archbishop Pius Ncube. Surrogate political theology: the case of the early Canaan BananaAt independence the government of Zimbabwe adopted Marxist-Leninist principles. This worried the churches since they wanted to know the kind of policy on religion that was going to accompany these Marxist-Leninist principles. From the Church's readings, Marxist-Leninist ideologies and principles ran counter to Christian beliefs in theism. Mugabe tried to allay the fears of the church by explaining the importance of collectivism that is embedded in Marxist-Leninist principles and African culture, contrasting it with the individualism of the west. In this sense, Mugabe posed as an African scholar, locating himself firmly within the African theology of liberation.This position was supported vigorously by the first president of Zimbabwe, Canaan Banana. However, taking up this position compromised Banana. Verstraelen (2002) notes that because of his constitutional role, Banana became an advocate for government policies. He could not be critical and prophetic as he was articulating State theology. He was co-opted to serve the ZANU PF government and he attempted to co-opt the Church in the same way by identifying socialism with Christianity (Verstraelen 2002:56-57). Banana, therefore, can be regarded as one who was a supporter of the regime in the early period. His writings were meant to bolster the government of the day. The writings were not significant because they looked like they were almost part of the system. One could thus say that Banana betrayed the prophetic function of the Church. The Church in the form of the Catholic bishops took a confrontational position against the government. In short, some church leaders had reservations regarding the government's policy of socialism.Banana made attempts to recover his prophetic voice when he fell out with Mugabe after Mugabe became executive president in 1987. He started to criticise the government. Mugabe withdrew the former presidential immunity from Banana and let Banana's case of homosexuality surface. Banana was incarcerated (albeit in an open prison) and his prophetic voice was muted. Reviews of Banana's role in Zimbabwean theology and religious studies (Chitando 2004) (Gunda 2012) have highlighted his contribution to the field. We believe that it is more productive to think of his post-colonial theological reflections in phases: the early Banana who worked from within the "belly of the beast" and the later Banana who sought to articulate a prophetic voice. Prophetic political theology: Pius NcubePius Ncube was the Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo during the crisis period. He emerged as a highly courageous and critical voice in challenging Mugabe's government. He was bold enough to call on people to rise up against Mugabe's rule and he even declared his readiness to go in front of blazing guns. In his fierce criticism, Ncube blamed the president for the economic meltdown that plunged the majority of Zimbabweans into untold socio-economic hardships. He accused Mugabe of gross human rights violations and called for him to step down. Another confrontational position was around the issue of the Gukurahundi massacres in the early 1980s. Ncube demanded that Mugabe disclose the massacre of thousands