Rest In Peace Rev Tsvakai

 *REST* *IN* *PEACE* *REV* *TSVAKAI* *OF* *THE* *UDACIZA* 

 _By_ _Dr_ _Tinashe_ _Gumbo_ 

The Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches and Zionists in Africa (UDACIZA), General Secretary, Rev Edson Tsvakai is no more. He passed on yesterday, the 17th of October 2021. He has not been well for some time. As a member of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) Technical Team, I am deeply saddened by this development. I am expressing my feelings here in my personal capacity as a member of a broader team that worked with Rev Tsvakai.

I have personally directly interacted with Rev Tsvakai for the past six years in the framework of the ZHOCD, where my organisation is the current Secretariat for the platform. The ZHOCD is an ecumenical platform that brings together four mother bodies namely the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), and the UDACIZA. Together, these Christian bodies represent more than 80% of the Zimbabwean population (ZHOCD Consensus Call Proposal, 2021).  This makes it a major player in Zimbabwe’s public life. The platform has its origins in the Heads of Denominations (HoD), a loose coalition established in the early missionary periods when the various heads of denominations came together to coordinate their policy in engagement with the state and in sharing perspectives on how missionary work could be executed. 

For me, Rev Tsvakai has been a key player in the ecumenical movement in Zimbabwe. He completed the equation when it comes to the composition of the ecumenical actors in the country. The late was very unassuming but very effective in his execution of the Church collective processes.

 Furthermore, the now late was a stabiliser and indeed Church work requires a character of Rev Tsvakai as the situation is aways fluid. 

At the time of his death, Rev Tsvakai had proved to be a true ecumenist. Ecumenism, is when Christians who belong to different Christian denominations work together to develop closer relationships among their members for the promotion of Christian unity. Rev Tsvakai made it easy for ZHOCD members to make collective decisions regarding nation building processes. I remember very well, that Rev Tsvakai was an ardent believer in national dialogue. He always reminded his colleagues of the Church’s efforts in the early 2000s, when the Zimbabwe We Want Discussion Document was crafted. He still held that the Church, working together could influence positive change in Zimbabwe. 

As a member of the ZHOCD Technical team, I got to clearly understand Rev Tsvakai’s belief in ONE Church-he was truly an Ecumenist. In him, as the technical team, we knew that we had a strong leader. His combination with Pastor Blessing Makwara of the EFZ, Fr Fredrick Chiromba of the ZCBC and Rev Dr Kenneth Mtata of the ZCC, was a marvel to work with. The team was so united that as the ZHOCD technical team, we felt motivated to do more for the Church. Here was a team of the General Secretaries that steered critical nation building processes towards a united, just, peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe. As firm believers in a comprehensive and inclusive national dialogue, these General Secretaries managed to mobilise the nation around this process. 

Now that Rev Tsvakai is no more, I can already feel the gap that as the ZHOCD technical team we will endure. I thank God for the time we had with Rev Tsvakai. By the way, Rev Tsvakai’s strength manifested in his being a natural man. He was natural, he remained natural and indeed, he did not pretend to be what he was not. He could strongly express his views in his mother language. He was humble and always ready to learn. Oh yah, without him, the ZHOCD will be poorer. 

Rest in Peace Rev! Till we meet again!