UK: Mugabe critic and former Archbishop of York told to step down from Church

The Bishop of Newcastle has asked him to step back from active ministry “until both the findings and his response can be explored further”.

Back in 2007, the then Archbishop of York cut up his clerical collar and said he will not replace it until Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is out of office. Dr John Sentamu made the symbolic protest gesture live on BBC TV saying Mugabe had “taken people’s identity” and “cut it to pieces”, prompting him to do the same.

Sentamu cut up his dog collar on live television in 2007

“As an Anglican this is what I wear to identify myself, that I’m a clergyman. Do you know what Mugabe has done? He’s taken people’s identity and literally, if you don’t mind, cut it to pieces.

“This is what he’s actually done to a lot of – and in the end there’s nothing. So, as far as I’m concerned, from now on I’m not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe is gone.”

Ten years later, he put the collar back on live on TV after Mugabe was toppled by the 2017 military coup.

“I promised then when Mugabe goes I will put my collar on, so I have no choice but to put it back on after Mugabe has gone,” he said at the time. “But the new president has got to remember something more now than simply stitching up a thing will work.”