 |
| http://www.iec.org.ls/ |
I am in Lesotho as part of a team of international observers witnessing the coming national elections to be held next 28 February 2015.
The involvement of bishops in the national elections started some years' ago and it is run by IMBISA, the interregional meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa which gathers nine countries in the south of the continent
IMBISA:The Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa.
known as IMBISA is an organ of Liaison and Pastoral Cooperation between Episcopal Conferences of Angola and São Tome & Principe (CEAST), Lesotho (LCBC), Mozambique (CEM), Namibia (NCBC), South Africa which is made up of Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland (SACBC) and Zimbabwe (ZCBC).
It started in 2012 in preparation for the elections to be held in Zimbabwe. IMBISA decided to train a team of bishops, one from each member country, to be international observers.
At that time I was "apostolic administrator" of the diocese of Manzini and being the only Catholic bishop in Swaziland... automatically became part of the team.
The team, or part of it, met different Southern African leaders like president Mugabe (Zimbabwe) and Guebuza (Mozambique) and visited other countries in order to learn from their experience in the preparation for the elections.
Now, a team of bishops from Angola, Mozambique and Swaziland and two lay people from Mozambique and Zimbabwe came to Lesotho together with Fr Dos Reis, who coordinates the Justice and Peace IMBISA office.
At that time I was "apostolic administrator" of the diocese of Manzini and being the only Catholic bishop in Swaziland... automatically became part of the team.
The team, or part of it, met different Southern African leaders like president Mugabe (Zimbabwe) and Guebuza (Mozambique) and visited other countries in order to learn from their experience in the preparation for the elections.
Now, a team of bishops from Angola, Mozambique and Swaziland and two lay people from Mozambique and Zimbabwe came to Lesotho together with Fr Dos Reis, who coordinates the Justice and Peace IMBISA office.
