By Lance Guma
Six days after President Robert Mugabe lashed out at false prophets and dubious spirit mediums extorting money from people, First Lady Grace Mugabe was singing from a different hymn book saying “let’s have faith in our prophets.”
Addressing mourners at the burial of Grace Mugabe’s aunt, Mavis Mugadza at Manyene Holy Cross in Chikomba, Mugabe said there were too many people who claimed to be prophets in Zimbabwe yet in the Bible they were not many.
“Also in some churches you hear that a husband and his wife are prophet and prophetess . . . Ah, zvino ndozvazvinoitwa here vakomana? Bhaibheri ndozvaraiita? – Is that how it is, is that what the bible says?”
Ironically on Saturday, the First Lady addressed the Today’s Women Conference at the Glamis Stadium in Harare organised by ‘Prophetess’ Eunor Guti of the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (Zaoga).
Her husband Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti who founded Zaoga in 1960 is often referred to as Prophet or Apostle Guti.
“I really don’t understand why scores of people are putting their faith on foreign preachers. They are having to raise a lot of money to visit them when in Zimbabwe we are blessed with anointed people of God who are able to do even greater things,” Grace Mugabe said.
“It doesn’t matter which denomination you belong to, we are all seeking one God. Believe in our prophets and stop wasting money visiting faraway countries. In Zimbabwe we have people who, through prayer, can heal you from your sickness and restore your broken marriage.
“People have this misconception that Zimbabweans do not know how to pray. Little do they know that we have a lot of anointed people who are able to help us because they know the environment that we are operating under. A closer look at the countries which are being thronged by our people reveals that they are torn by war and hunger,” the First Lady added
Rewind to Saturday last week, the husband Robert Mugabe was saying:
“Now the prophets are all over the country. (If they are true prophets) let them tell us where these curses (njodzi) befalling us are coming from. Vana vedu vapera nezvirwere nematambudziko . . . HIV, cholera zvese zvinopedzwa nemutowo upi nhai maporofita imi?”
Translation: “Children are perishing due to various diseases such as Aids, cholera. The prophets should tell us how to overcome these?” he said, leaving mourners in stitches.
Mugabe also said some Pentecostal churches in the country were extorting gifts from their followers by making it mandatory for them to “give” to their leaders.
Although Mugabe was lashing out at false prophets last year he had no problem granting a presidential pardon to self-proclaimed spiritual healer Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira, who was then freed from serving a 20 year jail term for rape.
In 2003 Nzira was jailed for 32 years, later reduced to 20 years, on seven counts of rape and one count of indecent assault involving two women who sought help from him at his shrine.
The day Nzira was convicted 2,000 members of his sect went ballistic outside the court, beating up court officials and policemen on duty. Even the magistrate is said to have narrowly escaped death when they pounced on her.
A year before the conviction Nzira had claimed Mugabe was a “divinely appointed king of Zimbabwe and no man should dare challenge his office.”
A large size banner at his Chitungwiza shrine even had a picture of Mugabe and Nzira side by side. This bootlicking of Mugabe paid off in January last year when Nzira walked out of prison a free man, courtesy of a presidential pardon.
Nzira died in October last year after succumbing to a heart ailment at his house at the ‘Julanifiri Santa Shrine’ in Chitungwiza.
The three major Apostolic Sects are reported to command close to 5 million followers within Zimbabwe alone. Of the three, the African Apostolic Church has an estimated 2.5 million members, Johanne Marange 1.5 million and the Johane Masowe WeChishanu around 1 million followers.
Nzira led a faction of the Johanne Masowe WeChishanu sect and despite his notorious reputation Mugabe needed him to drum up political support.
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