Church leaders in southern Africa expect to meet soon with South African President Thabo Mbeki to discuss the United Nations report on Zimbabwe’s “clean up” operations on its illegal slum areas.

Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane expressed the hope to meet with the President on Monday as he and other church leaders blessed consignments of humanitarian aid donated to the victims of the slum demolitions by the South African Council of Churches (SACC).

“The president indicated to us that he would like to meet us to engage on the United Nations report,” Ndungane told reporters.

The UN report issued last month strongly condemned the slum demolitions which have left an estimated 700,000 Zimbabweans homeless.

Ndungane continued: “We all know that Zimbabwe goes from one crisis to another and we are all interested in long-term solutions to the economic and political problems in Zimbabwe.”

The aid shipment sent on Monday was the first of many due to be sent by the churches, and included 37 tons of food and over 6,000 blankets. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches’ humanitarian distribution agency, Christian Care, is responsible for its receipt and distribution in Zimbabwe.

The next consignment, scheduled for 18 August, has been guaranteed a military escort, after the SACC consulted with the South African government to provide the secure transportation of the goods to Zimbabwe.

Mr Ndungane said: “We trust the angels to use God’s power to change the hearts of the stubborn people who want to stop good things from happening.”

Out on the pavement in front of the SACC office in Johannesburg, Mr Ndungane prayed for “sanity” to return to the leadership of Zimbabwe.