Zimbabwean churches could provide the "ultimate challenge" for Catholic Robert Mugabe as the African leader seeks to legitimise his recent re-election, says Progressio's Dr Steve Kibble.

Writing on the New Statesman's website, Dr Kibble, Progressio's advocacy coordinator for Africa, said that despite having swept to victory in last month's vote, Mugabe still faces "a serious dilemma" if he hopes to bring Zimbabwean church leaders back on board.

In recent years, Mugabe's Zanu-PF regime has slowly eroded a once "healthy" relationship with the core denominations of the Zimbabwe churches, writes Kibble, charting a catalogue of developments that have led to a modern day standoff between church and state.

Though church leaders were historically "quiet" on Mugabe's authoritarian regime, a stolen election in 2005, coupled with 'Operation Murambatsvina' - which saw scores of innocent civilians attacked and arrested by government forces - only served to heighten church leaders' concerns.

Finally, in 2007 the Zimbabwean Catholic Bishops Conference took the plunge, issuing a statement that squarely blamed the Mugabe government for spiralling inflation, rampant food shortages and widespread inflation.

"Mugabe's regime now looks to have lost the support of most of the churches, bar those who are supporters or beneficiaries of land and other gifts", writes Kibble.

In a country where 90 per cent subscribe to a faith and over 60 per cent attend Christian churches on a regular basis, Kibble points out that Mugabe's next steps vis a vis the church will be "closely scrutinised across the region and the world."

"Any direct attacks on the church would see Mugabe shunned by his fellow Southern African leaders, who are all nominally Christian", he says.

The fact that Mugabe may yet "prove reluctant" to unleash a full-blown campaign of violence against the churches could, says Kibble, open up a new space for action on the part of church leaders.

The Zimbabwean churches now have "significantly more space than others to stand up for the political, economic and social rights of their flocks", he concludes.