Zimbabwean victims of British evangelist John Smyth sue Church of England

SEVEN Zimbabwean victims of British evangelist and sexual abuser John Smyth have launched a legal claim against the Church of England, alleging that senior clergy orchestrated a cover-up that allowed him to continue abusing boys in Africa, possibly in South Africa.

- JONISAYI MAROMO

The group, represented by UK law firm Leigh Day, includes six men who were abused as teenagers at Christian holiday camps Smyth ran in Zimbabwe and the mother of Guide Nyachuru, a 16-year-old boy whose body was found in a swimming pool at one of Smyth's camps in 1992.

Their claim argues that the Church of England's failure to report Smyth's known abuse in Britain between 1982 and 1984 directly led to his relocation to Zimbabwe — and later South Africa — where he continued to prey on vulnerable boys. The victims say there isa direct line between the Church’ inaction in the UK and the horrors that unfolded in Africa.

The Church of England is the official state church in England and the mother church of the global Anglican Communion, which includes the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA). Headed by the British monarch and led spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury, it remains one of the most powerful and influential Christian institutions in the world. Its clergy and missionary networks helped establish many of the Anglican churches across former British colonies, including in Zimbabwe and South Africa.