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HARARE - Two Southern African church leaders called on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday to step down, saying it would benefit Africa.

"While we honour President Robert Mugabe for the role he played in helping to bring liberation to this continent, it is tragic to see Zimbabwe in the current economic state, and therefore, we believe it would benefit Africa if he stepped down," said a joint statement by the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church in Southern Africa, Bishop Mvume Dandala, and the general sectretary of the Botswana Christian Council, David Modiega.

"We urge the heads of government in the Southern African Development Community region to assist him to do so with dignity," the statement added.

Dandala, who is also head of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa, and Modiega met in Botswana last week to share the role churches can play in easing the situation in southern Africa.

Having deliberated together on pressing issues facing the region and its people, Dandala said they identified poverty, HIV and Aids, and peace and stability as the main challenges.

"We pledge our support in the fight against the spread of the virus and the disease. We reject out of hand the view that HIV and Aids is divine punishment."

Dandala urged all the churches to urgently teach people how to avoid this pandemic, and to care for the resultant victims and orphans.

Recognising the magnitude and the extent to which the scourge has spread among our people, he said: "We wish to challenge our national governments to spend more on health care and the provision of all essential services in order to ensure equal quality of life for all of God's people."

As churches in the region they recognised the fact that they could not escape the effects of globalisation on people and the church should be a significant agent of change in their lives.

"We as church leaders are of the view that the church should facilitate change that will impact positively on the lives of millions of our people."

"We recognise the need for sustained peace, democracy and justice for all."

He said they supported the people and the churches in Angola and Zimbabwe as they sought the path to democracy, stability and peace in their countries.

"We plead with our compatriots in Zimbabwe to retain the dignity of their leadership and to remain champions of the rule of law," said Dandala.