Muzorewa prays for oil

Press, 2 July 1979, Page 8

Muzorewa prays for oil

Riulng on a car drawn by four oxen, Zimbabwe Rho- i desia’s Prime Minister (Bis- i hop Abel Muzorewa) trav- ] elled through the streets of I Salisbury to his official resi- ■ dence on Saturday in a final < ceremony marking the handover to black rule. Before climbing aboard . the 100-y ear-old cart, on loan from a city museum. Bishop Muzorewa beseeched , supporters to pray for peace ] and prosperity — and oil — in the country. . “Pray that God may guide j those who are charged with the task of searching for oil ' in this country,” he said. < “Somewhere in this coun- < try there must be a place ! where there is oil — and i God will guide us there,” he < said. ’

The new black-dominated country, crippled by inter- t national trade sanctions, de- I pends on South Africa for oil I to fuel its industry and its i war machine against Patri- i otic Front guerrillas. i Bishop Muzorewa wore ■ robes striped in the yellow, green, red, and black colours of his United African National Council Party, with a leopard skin cloaking his ' head and shoulders. , He clenched a spear and i axe throughout the skm > journey. i The procession was led by women and girls carrying earthen pots and firewood : on their heads and escorted : by American-style drum ( majorettes and khaki-clad , contingents of the U.A.N.C. youth movement.

Aides of the Bishop said the ox-cart journey was intended to symbolise the birth of Rhodesia, created by British pioneers who arrived in 1890 aboard similar j wagons.