Adapted from Gavin Drake, ACNS
The Most Rev. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, has repeated his call for Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president for 29 years, to step down. Sentamu cut up his clerical collar during a live BBC television interview with Andrew Marr in December 2007. He has vowed to not wear a collar again while President Mugabe remains in power.
His latest call came in an interview with the London-based Premier Christian Radio. He said that President Mugabe was “very eloquent [and] very educated.” But he quoted the remark from Lord Acton to Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London, in 1887: “‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’; and I am afraid that he has been corrupted by his absolute power.”
Sentamu added: “I would say to him, for the sake of Zimbabwe, … step down. Step down while there is time and allow someone else to take over Zimbabwe and rule it so that there will be no violent coup, which would again drive more and more people into difficulty.”
In comments addressed to President Mugabe, Archbishop Sentamu said: “At your age, you have had your innings, please just step down for the sake of Zimbabwe.”
He said that Zimbabwe means rock, but added: “the country is no longer a rock. It has become a rubble.”