If the SA at IHQ level had acted immediately on the demands for Captain Paul Thistle's dismissal with integrity it is not unreasonable to believe that a win win result might have been worked out. Instead what we've been handed is a heart breaking situation for so many and on so many levels.
It is not the intention of the FSAOF to see The Salvation Army brought down, we simply want to see integrity in our leadership.
If our series on the Howard Hospital prods the conscience of leaders one key purpose will have been realized. And, if it further brings justice and healing to the Thistles and the people in Chiweshi the prayers of hundreds of former officers will have been answered.
A retired SA leader with vast missionary service shared: "There will always be those who should not be in positions of authority and your reminders of integrity are well timed. Change comes slowly in an autocratic system. We may not be able to clean house but I pray that as we are at a critical time in our history that necessary changes will give God greater freedom to accomplish His purpose for what is a unique organization."
Dr. Sven Ljungholm
Presently on FSAOF mission trip in the Crimea, Ukraine
A humanitarian tragedy
In a developing
country like Zimbabwe, the bar for financial ruin due to medical expenses is
lower… much lower. A simple X-ray at a hospital in Harare could cost the
equivalent of 4 months or more of salary, leaving nothing for food or shelter.
Do you starve or do you have an X-ray?
But what has been ignored by the Salvation Army is that the abrupt removal and non-replacement of Captain (Dr.) Paul Thistle as CMO of Howard Hospital and the only bush surgeon in a rural area has done more than just cause families who live on $1 a day to suffer financially; it has caused a tragedy.
People are dying
because the Salvation Army was and continues to be negligent in removing Dr.
Thistle without anyone to step into his shoes. According to Major Dean Pallant
(IHQ) in his press release of October 26, 2012, the move of Thistle had been
under discussion for 2 years. How can a Christian organization spend two years
discussing the move of a critically-needed surgeon, and then rip him out of the
fabric of the Chiweshean residents’ lives and not have someone ready to fill in
immediately? This is negligence and apathy of the highest order.
Many in Chiweshe are
dying because surgeries that had been scheduled weeks and months ahead of time
were cancelled the minute Dr. Thistle was evicted from Howard Hospital.
Whatever the need that required the surgery, they still suffer with to this
day.
Patients that the
Howard cannot treat, including surgical cases (a "surgeon" was
appointed but will not be performing surgeries), are referred to central
hospitals. On arrival, if they cannot pay the extremely high fees, often
several thousand dollars, they are placed on a waiting list until they can.
Many have died in town, according to relatives.
This is the main reason there are so few patients coming to Howard Hospital – fear of referral to a central hospital in Harare and of financial ruin for the family.
You have already read the account of the first known death placed at the feet of the Salvation Army for the removal of Dr. Thistle. We have received another account of how a man with burns was to be transferred for skin grafts, but he discharged himself and went home to die a (likely) slow, painful death from infection.
How many more are suffering? How many more have died? How many more will die because they have no longer have access to life-saving medical care?
Major (Dr.) James Watt (R) still has a heart for the Howard Hospital where he served for so long as Chief Medical Officer. This tragedy prompted Watt to speak out.
According to a statement from him, “I wrote the General at the time (August 15, 2012) warning her that this would result in deaths, with consequences bordering on the criminal, but she refused to inquire into the veracity of what she had been told by the International Secretary for Africa.” Later on, after hearing of the sufferings and deaths because of Thistle’s dismissal, he proposed a solution on how to get those with a medical or surgical need the help they so desperately needed.
His solution was for
the Salvation Army to arrange the transfer of patients to Karanda
Hospital (Dr. Thistle’s new place of service), where the poor are taken care of
without the ruinously high fees associated with central hospitals. He
shared the proposed solution with Canada THQ and directly to Major Dean Pallant
of IHQ. Neither HQ responded to nor even acknowledged this solution.
Watt also gave this
first-hand account: “I have seen a letter from the office of the IS (International
Secretary for Africa) telling Paul to forget about his patients, forget
about his nurses, "they are in God's hands now," something his
medical ethics, let alone Christian ethics, would not allow him to do. It was
an illegal and unethical order, and refusing to obey it cost him his
officership.”
The heartbreaking
tragedy of this situation affected the Thistles also. A statement he made was
shared with the Former Salvation Army Officers Fellowship group who have been
following this issue:
“Pedrinah and I
remain deeply disappointed, that in official correspondence from IHQ, and in
official Salvation Army press releases, no one ever wondered if people might be
suffering. When you abruptly reduce the physician staff from 3 to 2 including
removal of the only surgeon, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or any health
care experience to deduce that people will suffer. Surgeries booked weeks and
month in advance were cancelled.
When you
receive phone calls from relatives stating that their mother or sister has died
for lack of medical care at Howard, it is devastating. The people, poor and
disempowered, have had a basic human right withdrawn over a ‘routine transfer’
without stated reason. There has been no hint of an apology from the Salvation
Army and very little has changed on the ground since August 2012 in regards to
the delivery of health care services.”
THE FSAOF
The remaining pages of this report are available by request only, and only to those persons who share their name and reason for their interest. Send your request to: Dr. Sven Ljungholm selmoscow@aol.com marked HH REPORT
The report is a compilation of reports, private and public, written by former SA officers.
53 comments:
The SA owes you, its former officers, a debt of gratitude for sharing the facts of this sordid and sad chapter of SA history with us. Your reporting is encouragingly honest and seemingly without prejudice.You've taken a murky, sullied and secretive affair and brought it into daylight, giving it a much needed transparency.
We're finally being provided what strikes me as the ring of truth.
We can only pray that you don't relent until they repent!
A keen follower of your posts, USA
Well said, well said indeed!
We can not only pray, but can help in any way we can. So let us know how.
I have followed these threads from the beginning, and they never cease to move me. At the moment I am weeping - weeping for the people of Chiweshe, abandoned without proper healthcare - helpless in the face of adversity: for the Thistles - thrown out with scant regard for their reputation, apparently for just wanting the best for the hospital patients and for railing against the non-arrival of desperately needed funds given for HH: I am weeping because of the efforts of the people writing these articles – some of whom have been on the receiving end themselves of TSA's hierarchical structure and decision-making - and I highly commend them all for speaking out on this very sad episode in SA history.
I am also weeping for TSA that I have loved and served joyfully for two generations - I weep for its loss of integrity, because whichever way you look at it, headquarters have, at best, been economical with the truth, and, at worst, have lied outright to cover themselves. But what they haven't realised is that in so doing they have sullied not only their own integrity, but also the integrity of TSA as a humanitarian organisation. What integrity do they have left – asking people worldwide for funds to help the sick and needy, the poor and marginalised in society, but withdrawing from HH because they have put themselves first, and in so doing have caused this huge humanitarian tragedy.
Also what I cannot understand is why heads have not rolled over the conflicting statements issued by IHQ. I realise that such actions are private and we wouldn’t know about them – which is fine – but surely there should have been an apology of some sorts? If you place the IHQ statements side by side, you can easily see the inconsistencies.
I also weep for the future of TSA – I view the event of the HC with trepidation. Why, among over 100 delegates, is such a high profile being given to commissioner Vinece Chigariro? (For those who don’t know the name, she was the commissioner who expelled the Thistles, and cleared of mismanaging the funds, even though all monies went through her and didn’t get to the hospital. I still can’t work that one out, but the audit WAS internal).
I was amazed that she had been selected as a question-setter at the HC, but she was also asked yesterday for her opinion on its progress. I know she was cleared of any wrongdoing on the internal audit, but as long as the HH situation remains unresolved, I do think she ought to have remained in the background. In my opinion the president should have shown more sensitivity.
And that’s what worries me – TSA has no shame, no sense of wrongdoing, no sense of urgency to restore the fortunes of the Howard Hospital, no regard even for the suffering humanity they tell the world they care about: they are blind to the human need because they are too busy closing ranks to defend the indefensible.
May God help us.
UK Soldier
Sven, why not share the story of you and Cathy opening fire in the Crimea and the struggles internally and externally to get it done!
Trust your mission trip in the Crimea brings many wonderful memories- A Ukrainian SA soldier- sworn by you in 1993
I remember reading in a report about Chigariro personally donating $49,000 worth of anesthetic equipment to a Zimbabwe hospital prior to her move to Kenya. $49,000 is no small amount of money for an officer to be in possession of and considering the $42,000 that went missing could this possibly have been a guilt offering? How can the army possibly turn a blind eye to something as blatantly obvious? Does it really need to physically smell of fish before they act?
I am a 4th generation, my children 5th generation Salvationists, and I am one who has worked with others to make this situation known even as TSA attempts to make it disappear with their spin releases from time to time that create the impression that all is well at the HH. I have been energized and motivated I believe by God himself to speak out against what's happened and without a doubt this is the worst situation that I've ever seen in my lifetime in TSA.
The only SA heads that rolled in all of this were those of Capts. Dr. Paul and Pedrinah Thistle who were terminated as officers by Commissioner Brian Peddle (TC Canada) for disobedience to the instructions of their leaders. However, what happened to other key players? Commissioner Chigariro - transferred to Kenya East, Commissioner Makina(IS) - retired, General Linda Bond - retired/resigned. Reminds one of the way the RC church used to handle reports of sexual abuse - move the priest and get any key players off the scene either by transfer or retirement.
The RC church eventually learned to apologize and make financial compensation to victims. I was the first on this site and again call for an apology from IHQ to the people of Chiweshe and to the
Thistle's. As for financial compensation, TSA should have done, but still can do, as Major Dr. James Watt suggested months ago - pay for transfer of patients to Karanda Hospital where they can receive needed surgery for an affordable fee.
My rational mind tells me none of this will happen - there will be no apologies and no financial compensation to the victims in Chiweshe - Commissioner Chigariro being appointed to the questions committee at the HC signals this outcome.
Thankfully we believe in ultimate justice, but let that not stop us from standing up for the poor and oppressed in this life when we are made aware of specific situations - in this case for the seriously financially disadvantaged in the Chiweshe region of Zimbabwe.
And so it goes on, and on, and on......with old ground being ploughed over and over again by the same handful of posters. Nothing new being reported....sad really.
Is it the same few number of posters? As no-one shares their name its impossible to tell!
'And so it goes on and on' - have you no shame? This is an event that is unique/unparalleled in SA history, and you appear bored by it. What IS sad is that people have died because of it, they are still dying, they are still suffering, the once flourishing HH has gone down the tubes because of the protectionism of the inner circle at IHQ, and our revered leaders are holed up in a posh hotel ignoring the humanitarian issues and are choosing a general.
To Graeme Smith - I have noticed that the geographical area of the people who access this site is widening. I am seeing others from my part of the world now, which means that more and more people at grassroots level are learning about this appalling mess and about the execrably poor judgement and lack of compassion by TSA leadership.
"This is an event that is unique/unparalleled in SA history"
Do you really believe what you have just written? The 138 year SA history has had its fair share of not dissimilar 'unique and unparalleled' events of 'calamity' and 'disaster' around the world. Certain events are well known, others not. The HH saga is not unique in this respect and should be seen in such a wider context however terrible it is for all involved personally.
Take a step or two back and you get a different perspective!
I am a third generation Salvationist and though I had a fair knowledge of Army history but I'm stumped. Please could you give me an example of a not dissimilar disaster where the SA has caused multiple deaths in a population?
Why is this terrible story in the public domain. Especially when key players are in the HC charged with the solemn task of electing the General. Surely this HH issue has major implications for the man elected.
If you really believe this to be the case then it is your moral and Christian duty to contact the City of London police and inform them of the fact that the Salvation Army (IHQ) has caused such deaths through abject negligence of care and have the General charged accordingly, including corruption and misappropriation of public funds/ goods.
Telephone: 020 7601 2222 (24 hours) - See more at: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Contact/#sthash.4zWBD8qu.dpuf
Also, the Charity Commission will have to be informed. You can actually report concerns about any charity on-line.
http://charitycommission.gov.uk/find-charities/
Please, let us know the outcome when you hear from them.
I agree - there are 3 nominees for general that have direct ties with issues around Howard Hospital = Andre Cox, Barry Swanson and Ken Hodder.
Cox was the Fin Sec in Zimbabwe when Paul Thistle started at HH, and also when there were missing money issues starting to be reported (no, i'm not accusing Cox of taking the money).
Barry Swanson was the Chief of Staff when Thistle was ordered to leave HH.
Ken Hodder was the International Secretary for Personnel & Legal & Constitutional Adviser to the General.
Very interesting how Chigariro, Cox, Hodder and Swanson all got caught in the moves of October 2012.
And let's not forget Chigariro and Peddle. Chigariro was on the question/teller team for the HC.
So,the following can be linked to HH in one way or another:
Chigariro
Peddle
Cox
Swanson
Hodder
Three of the 5 nominees for General can be linked directly to events at Howard Hospital.
Draw what conclusions you will..
erratum.... 'abject' should read: 'wilful and deliberate'
And so the plot thickens.....we urgently need a Poirot ;);)
' The HH saga is not unique in this respect and should be seen in such a wider context...'
What wider context? Would you expand on this? I can't think what it might be.
That's ok if you can not think what that might be, no need to worry about that.
Well said, Jolinda.
'And so the plot thickens' - actually it does rather seem contrived.
Yup, all carefully planned out, schemed and calculated to the last detail by all five, seven if you include the resigned General and retired ISAf as well. Did you not know that they all met at a secret location in Paris to thrash this out to maximum effect? They are all in cahoots together and this is where I feel Masonic membership becomes an incompatibility issue.
Although I believe IHQ has been utterly duplicitous in all this, my heart sinks even further to even consider that these leaders would try to dupe the soldiery to this extent. If it's true, then it is breathtakingly arrogant.
The incontrovertible facts of this tragedy will be released in full on Monday- if the SA wishes to comment, now is the time.
Sorry - where does 'Masonic membership' fit into all of this? My education is taking a very unwelcome turn.
Such disregard for the law smacks of serious misconduct in any walk of public life. But to talkabout duplicity at high office in TSA is beyond comprehension. Surely the duty of care by any concerned salvationist is to raise these with external authorities as stated above now before HC ends.
. But if done. Consequences will be catastrophic for the movement. But at least a clean org will be the outcomes. The whole matter is toxic. Surely the HC implications would be aweful. If the Holy Spirit is indeed breathing through this election then heavenly justice will be the eventual outcome.
Jesus said ' I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire'.
Can anyone honestly say that TSA's actions in regard to HH are God-inspired? I too pray for heavenly justice from the HC. Whoever the next general is, the odds are that he will have intimate knowledge of this tragedy, and it will depend on whether he again tries to bury it whether TSA will survive in its present form. I fear that if it is brushed under the carpet the repercussions for TSa will be devastating, but at least I and many others will be able to worship with integrity.
In my household we have been talking as family about this matter. We asked ourselves 'If someone outside TSA asks us how we can continue to serve in a church/organisation that has shown an abject dismissal for human need and been the instrument whereby many people have suffered an died unnecessarily, what would we say?
We are inured in and deeply committed to this movement, but our Christian conscience is at odds with what has happened, and we no longer hold TSA in the high esteem that we did previously.
Idols with feet of clay comes to mind. I hope no-one asks us that question before we know which way TSA wind is blowing.
Amen
My my my... someone has their epaulets in a twist. The contents of this blog entry and the comments must be hitting pretty close to home to inspire such melodramatics.
Poirot? Paris? Freemasons? Is that where the seriousness of this issue takes you? To attempts of humor? Really, if you are going to be melodramatic, you could have done better than a secret meeting in Paris, especially when a conference room at IHQ would serve just as well.
It strikes me that you, Anonymous, brought Linda Bond and Amos Makina into the mix and called it a conspiracy? I don't recall saying that the people I mentioned in my post were in a conspiracy. But it is telling that Makina retired January 1 of this year and Bond abruptly retired in June and has virtually disappeared. They're out of reach on this issue now, aren't they?
For all we know, Cox was brought in to deal with Chigariro having dealt with her during his tenure in Zimbabwe in the '90s. And what's to say that Hodder and Swanson were moved because they stood up against the wrongs done to Thistle & HH?
Would that scenario be just as important a consideration in the light of their nomination for General?
We will never really know, as Anonymous has been wont to keep saying. (It is kind of difficult to differentiate who is making the comments... "anonymous" is quite a prolific commenter).
As for the repeated comment to "take a step or two back and get a different perspective" or to look at the "wider context". These sounds very much to me like pleas of justification.
Unfortunately, we can't get a "different perspective" or view it in a "wider context" because the only perspectives and contexts we have are what we have been able to read for ourselves on this blog and through our searches on the Internet.
If you want us to change our perceptions and opinions, then give us something we can work with, something we can analyze and something we can judge against what we know to be right and true according to the Word of God. Without that, don't expect us to take on blind faith or the word of an anonymous poster that there are reasons from a different perspective or wider context that makes this acceptable.
And one last point, if there truly are other "'unique and unparalleled' events of 'calamity' and 'disaster' around the world" that have occurred which rank up there with the suffering and death that continues for the people of Chiweshe, and if we truly do not know of them, then shame on the leadership of the Salvation Army for not learning from those earlier tragedies and shame on them for not coming clean, admitting the wrongs and apologizing to those who have suffered in such un-named disasters and calamities.
Someone said above that "the Charity Commission will have to be informed. You can actually report concerns about any charity on-line."
I believe this may already have been done during the last year by one of the Canadian professional non-Army outside volunteers who has worked at the HH. Also there was talk of informing the WHO at the UN.
No one except some anonymous poster on here is taking this issue ever lightly and frankly I don't know of any decision made by the Army's top leadership in its history that has resulted in such a humanitarian crisis as this - don't forget not only have people been dying for lack of an affordable surgeon but thinks of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, whose drug regime for AIDS was disrupted. Apparently those ARV's have to be taken regularly every day without fail.
So seriously, I doubt there has ever been even a comparable disaster as this in TSA's history.
In Canada this issue has hit the media several times. Has it hit the media in the UK? Perhaps the BBC should be contacted while the HC is in session to have reporters there when the General is announced, ready to ask some tough questions.
Hear, hear, go for it!
Concerning the Salvation Army imposed suffering on and calamitous deaths of large numbers of Chiwese people in Zimbabwe and also the large scale fraud and corruption with monies and goods:
If you really believe this to be the case and, going through this blog reporting, there seems to be indisputable evidence, then there is a moral and Christian duty to contact the City of London police and inform them of the fact that the Salvation Army (IHQ) has caused such deaths through wilful and deliberate negligence of care and have the General (as its legal entity) charged accordingly, including corruption and misappropriation of public funds/ goods.
Not to do so would make one complicit in any cover up
Telephone: 020 7601 2222 (24 hours) - See more at: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Contact/#sthash.4zWBD8qu.dpuf
'For all we know, Cox was brought in to deal with Chigariro having dealt with her during his tenure in Zimbabwe in the '90s.'
Much as I admire Jolinda's postings for their lucidity and balance, I'm afraid I cannot think the above comment is the case. Commissioner Chigariro has been given such a prominent position in the HC that I fear no lessons have been learned.If they had any shame at all or any vestige of sensitivity, they would have ensured she stayed out of the 'limelight'.
UK
'It is very doubtful that these are available and IHQ will remain tight lipped - as per usual - against such a threat ( A nasty tinge of blackmail comes to mind)'
Since when does speaking the truth become a threat? Events we have read about on this blog ARE factual - they have been reported in newspapers and on official websites. Dr Thistle WAS dismissed. There ARE people in Chiweshe who have had their lives turned upside down - in some case, ended. There IS an outcry of protest about a humanitarian organisation which is showing no humanity or compassion. And there ARE many people tuning into this who are just watching and waiting to see if TSA has any shred of decency at all to resolve this issue. The signs are not good, and this, I believe, is no threat - in my case, it IS a fact - if there is no movement towards restoration for the Chiweshe people, and no admission of culpability, and no apology - there will be a mass exodus from this movement, because many of us cannot stomach this for much longer.
I think we'll know the name of the new General by the end of today. May I suggest that, between us, we should ensure he has plenty of mail to welcome him!
One wonders if when the full FSAOF findings are released how many of the doubters will apologize for dismissing our research and questioning our motives?
Anyone who questions the research and questioning the motives of the FSAOF is just deceiving themselves. I have researched this subject thoroughly, and every statement on this site can be backed up by supporting documentation.
Well what a serious travailiing wind is blowing through the TSA surely the ill wind of speculation fuelled by actual proven fact is a heavy incitement to mass exodus. Perhaps as stated the evidence must before the end if the day be placed in the hands of those external agencies aforementioned. To do nothing maintains the what is implied ...rotten to the core status quo. Is anyone brave enough? Or is the hot air of FSAOF herein just going to evaporate.
Former UkT
Former Ukt is right, is anyone brave enough to lance the criminal boil and move from the rotten to the core status by formally and legally indicting those who have committed such calamitous criminal acts by misappropriation and theft, are responsible for the death of many Chiweshe people, and the grand scale of on going deception by a major globally operating charitable NGO?
With all the factual evidence placed before us, it sure most be an open and shut case?
As the facilitator of this blog exposing the haughty ignorance of IHQ leadership and also the hugely galling and intimidating silence of the accused party, maybe the most articulate voice could well be the facilitator himself?
After all, there is nothing to lose now, everything is in the open so this must surely be a win -win situation - and this certainly would clear out the Temple to make it once more pure and holy, fit for intended purpose.
William Booth must be turning in his grave....
Former UkT - ultimately God will judge what TSA has done in His name. If He is pleased, TSA will flourish. If He is displeased, we will see His wrath.
I don't know him personally, but the author of this blog has done a good thing - he has exposed duplicity at the top of TSA, and he has highlighted that the fight against sin and error is the responsibility of all of us.
Don't forget, though, that he has only highlighted and co-ordinated what was already in the public arena for all to see - you only have to access various websites to see that he is not talking through his hat.
For too long TSA hierarchy has relied and depended on the blind loyalty of the troops. For us at the bottom of the membership pile, don't forget -we are volunteers at the end of the day - we don't have to blindly follow leaders who don't show integrity. TSA is ours to leave or remain. And without us, there will be no 'leaders' and no SA.
I do hope and pray that it will not come to that. For myself, I love TSA and want to continue serving within its ranks. But I won't do so without the organisation showing some integrity.
Well perhaps the blog facilitator is the one or ones to end this duplicity and raise the matter inthe public interest with the apappropriate authorities and media. Before the now imminent opening of the HC chamber to the World revealing the new General.
If the new international leader is one aforementioned then its status quo proven by this blog. Therefore ....its as William Booth stated ... and none will ask what they have been; provided that there robes are clean ...
Former UkT.
This statement by a previous blogger is often used by TSA to justify all kinds of things - Former UkT - "ultimately God will judge what TSA has done in His name. If He is pleased, TSA will flourish. If He is displeased, we will see His wrath."
I don't think that's quite how God's sovereignty works. It was the mistake of Job's comforters to think that way. Corruption in church history has for years co-existed with the church flourishing and often when the church has exhibited much integrity it has been persecuted to the nth degree and decimated.
William Booth started this way of thinking in the Army. When he answered his critics about adopting the autocratic system - he would outline the credentials of the Army and answer their criticism by saying we have 10,000 officers world wide ready to obey him - see we must be doing it right.
.
Never take flourishing, especially numerical flourishing, to be a sign of God's blessing and approval.
With the new General's additional role in the HH saga about to be revealed on this blog (according to the blog facilitator)one can only wait with baited breath.
At least the City of London Police Fraud squad does not have to travel too far as IHQ is just around the corner, the General is a British national and the Old Bailey criminal court not too far away either.
In the UK it is a criminal offence not to report an actual or alleged crime to the police, especially against humanity but also against property. The absolute evidence is clearly displayed for all to see on this blog as gospel truth so what is holding people back to do their moral, Christian duty to wider society? Of course, non UK nationals can also take a lead here.
Not to do so would make one complicit in any cover up
Telephone: 020 7601 2222 (24 hours) - See more at: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Contact/#sthash.4zWBD8qu.dpuf
Surely its time to let the new General get on with his task and trust him to God's grace as he endeavours to deal with matters arising including this matter.
I will grant the new General a small amount of leeway. But remember, he's been serving as the Acting General for the last 7 weeks. It's not like he is gonna have to be brought up to speed, or pack his belongs and move from another country.
I would more think that he's gonna start acting on the things he's been working on for the last 7 weeks.
My hope is that he does to the right things.
So generous of you to grant the new General a little leeway, who do you think you are? God himself? God help us!
General Cox will be well aware of the troops' uprising against TSA's handling of the HH affair. This website has steadfastly published the facts, and I'm sure that the staff from IHQ/THQ who have looked at the comments will have told him that the net of grass roots' knowledge is widening daily. More and more soldiers and officers will be requiring some sort of statement fairly quickly.
UK
Dream on!
Has anyone notice not one news channel is reporting the election of General Cox. Only TSA bulletins on Google. No BBC no Reuters no SKY no CNN ...how very unsual. Does tge TSA have the respect and interest of its former years.
Perhaps this is a work of God less and less impact in the wider secular World. Caugterising what is cancerous from the World through isolation in the mass media.
Yes, I did notice there was a distinct lack of interest by the media, which I found to be curious, to say the least.
Maybe TSA is no longer going to be the vessel God uses, given their developing interest and involvement with big business, and their reliance on secular bodies for for various functions (no mention of God on the Big Collection stationery - just a tick which says 'Fundraising Standards Board). I fear our leaders have taken us away from the spiritual pathway, and have not led by example.
If TSA does not promote God (except internally), why would God honour them/us? I say 'us' because I am a uniformed salvationist whose heart is moved by the situation of the Chiweshe people and the events at the HH, and I am ashamed and grieved by it all.
Given the new General's deep roots in Zimbabwe, and his 'leadership' as the Financial Secretary during the financial crisis at HH, given the fact that Commissioner Vinece Chigariro (TC Zimbabwe who was instrumental in sacking Dr Paul Thistle) was given an unnecessary prominent place at the High Council, and given that his election smacks of TSA closing ranks again on this issue, I'm afraid I can't see this being addressed from the top table.
How very very sad for all concerned. Perhaps the media know ...
For the umpteenth time, I am embarrassed to be an Officer of The Salvation Army.
If we are people of integrity and transparency, then IHQ/DHQ in Zim will NOT MIND an external audit?
They HAVE minded up until now.
Sadly if the person has reportedly passed the research over to the authorities then its now a waiting game. Only those who have something to be brought into the light need worry.
Those of us who are not part of the decidable company just need to watch and pray.
If the person reporting is bluffing then shame on them. But the saga has made TSA finally listen to rank and file and thats no mean effort.
God bless TSA and may its actions be honourable.
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