One of Zimbabwe’s leading Catholic figures has proclaimed his refusal to be muzzled by the country’s government, adding that he does not fear the Zimbabwean Government’s latest threat to clamp down on its critics, reports Ekklesia.

|TOP|Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, known for his outspoken criticism of the Zimbabwean Government, said: “They [Mugabe’s forces] will not silence me and I will continue to denigrate the evil things they have done against their own people.”

A ruling party conference recently called for a list to be compiled by the security forces blacklisting Zimbabweans whose passports should be seized under the new laws aimed at muzzling opponents.

The spokesman for the main opposition party and a leading Zimbabwean publisher whose papers have featured stories voicing criticism against the government have already had their passports confiscated.

The United Nations humanitarian envoy, Jan Egeland, described Zimbabwe as being in “meltdown”, after a recent four-day tour of the country. Egeland estimates that around three million people will be in need of food aid by February.

“We are in the Guinness Book of Records for having the highest inflation in the world,” said Archbishop Ncube, who believes the real figure is 700 per cent, 200 per cent more than the official figure.

|AD|“Essential staff such as teachers feel devalued when their wages can buy very little,” he said. According to Harare’s Herald newspaper, a two-kilogram chicken for Christmas dinner would cost around 273,000 Zimbabwean dollars.

Archbishop Ncube called for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to go into exile following the widely condemned demolition programme that led to thousands being left homeless.

“I think Mugabe should just be banished, like what happened to Charles Taylor,” said Archbishop Ncube. “He should just be banished from Zimbabwe.”

“Let the man get banished if you don’t want Zimbabweans to die,” said Ncube, who predicted that thousands will die by February unless there is dramatic change in the situation within Zimbabwe.

Ncube estimated the figure to be as high as 200,000 given the effect of severe food shortage on a population already ravaged by HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty, with Zimbabwe currently experiencing hyperinflation and massive unemployment at around 80 per cent.

The Archbishop said that 700 people a day were already dying AIDS in Zimbabwe and that the rate of deaths would increase with malnutrition.