The country's Catholic bishops met in the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, ZCBC), established by the Holy See on October 1, 1969. The statutes of the Conference were approved on March 25, 1981. The ZCBC is a member of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) and Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). The primary objective of the ZCBC is to promote solidarity among the bishops of Zimbabwe, and promotion of self-sufficiency among each of the dioceses.