South African churches to meet Mbeki over Zimbabwe

South African church leaders are planning to meet expect to meet President Thabo Mbeki to discuss the United Nations report on Zimbabwe's "clean-up" operations. Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane made the announcement in Johannesburg on Monday after he and other church leaders had blessed consignments of humanitarian aid donated to the Zimbabwean people by the SA Council of Churches. He said: "The president indicated to us that he would like to meet us to engage on the UN report." "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," Ndungane said. The consignment, containing 37 tons of food and over 6,000 blankets, is the first of many plann. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches' humanitarian distribution agency, Christian Care, will distribute the aid. The next consignment, on August 18, will be accompanied by a South African military escort. "We trust the angels to use God's power to change the hearts of stubborn people who want to stop good things from happening," Ndungane said.