First picture of three day ‘miracle’ baby

By Staff Reporter

The grandparents of the so-called ‘miracle’ baby have expressed doubts that Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa helped their daughter conceive and give birth within three days as claimed by the United Family International Church (UFIC).

According to the grandfather Ephraim Matsenga their daughter once had an ‘invisible’ pregnancy for her second child (meaning they did not detect she was pregnant until she was due for labour) just as happened for the ‘miracle’ baby.

Responding to claims that the baby turned into a snake, Moffat’s father Ephraim, 45, denied the allegations, describing the baby as ‘normal’.

“We only witnessed the first pregnancy of their first born who is six years-old but as the other two pregnancies, it was a different case.

“For the second pregnancy, she just went to the hospital seeking treatment and only to hear that she had delivered. The pregnancy was not visible and there was a last minute rush for the preparation sets.

“So to us it is a second miracle apart from this baby, Emmanuel named after Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa. The baby is normal and has never turned into a snake or cried as alleged.

“It is common that a woman can be pregnant even if she is menstruating and I used to know that from my boyhood where a girl would claim that she is pregnant after her monthly periods.

“What they told us is that Mai Emmanuel received a prophecy from Makandiwa that she was pregnant before she testified that she was at her monthly periods. Within three days she felt labour pains and she delivered a healthy bouncing baby at Chitungwiza Central Hospital and we were all surprised.

“We have accepted the miracle because my son was around; it was going to be questionable if it happened during his absence. I also believe in miracles as someone who belongs to Daily Gospel Apostolic Faith Church but what the neighbours are saying is exaggerated,” said Ephraim.

Ephraim’s wife, who is the mother –in-law to Mai Emmanuel said she once suspected the claims to be real and left the baby crying anticipating to see him turning into a snake but nothing happened.

“One of the days, I peeped through the window after I heard the baby crying anticipating to see him turning into a snake as claimed but nothing happened,” said Gogo Matsenga.

“The baby cried and I could not go and pick him, waiting patiently to see if the allegations were correct. People were saying that the miracle baby would change the whole body in to a snake while the head would be of a child.

“Some reported that after turning into a snake it would feed on eggs placed on top of the refrigerator and you would wonder how they were all witnessing such things as if they live here,” she said.

However, Matsenga and wife could not allow the news crew to see the baby saying his parents had been instructed by their church not to allow anyone access and provided the child’s pictures via mobile phone. This is however despite his claims that he had authority over his family.

“The truth is the baby is as normal as any other child and he never turned into a snake it is only that the parents have been instructed by their church leaders to seek permission from them so as to speak with the media.

“They were aired on Radio without our knowledge only to receive calls from relatives and friends about the miracle baby,” Gogo Matsenga said.

The United Family International Church has said that there will be a press conference very soon as the church has nothing to hide about the miracle baby. There has also been mounting pressure from some sections of society for the police to launch an investigation into the matter.

Many critics accuse the new breed of prophets of taking advantage of desperate people to get followers. One critic told Nehanda Radio “they are offering miracle money, miracle babies, miracle weight loss and recently miracle abortions in their marketing campaigns.”