HARARE – Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa battling to fix an economy on a dramatic slide has claimed Zimbabwe has been reduced to a “miracle society” and people should not expect similar miracles to those performed by United Families International Church (UFIC) leader Emmanuel Makandiwa.
Chinamasa was speaking at the Mandel/Gordon Institute of Business Science 2014 Economic Outlook Symposium in Harare on Wednesday.
“I am aware we have become a miracle society. We expect things to happen effortlessly without any effort on our part so, as a result, we are unable to contextualise in the physical world that I live. Things cannot happen until you put brick after brick,” Chinamasa said.
“What I want to put across is that we have to learn in the physical sense not in the spiritual sense. Miracles happen in the spiritual sense, so in the physical sense we have to put brick after brick. In the physical sense, let’s not be Makandiwa’s followers.”
Chinamasa appeared to be having a dig at Prophet Makandiwa who this year claimed:
“The Lord is setting Zimbabwe free. Divine solutions are coming. The Lord told me ‘Tell Zimbabweans to change their focus.’ Everyone is saying diamonds, diamonds, but I see another precious mineral for Zimbabwe . . . gold will be picked up from the ground.
“Mysteriously, gold will be appearing everywhere. As I was praying, I saw a wind blowing and I saw gold coming to the surface. People are going to be picking up gold without any drilling,” Makandiwa said.
Only last year former Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono invited Prophet Makandiwa and Uebert Angel to discuss their miracle money crusades.
“I think the last three or so weeks have been dominated not by the monetary policy… but issues to do with the word of God, signs, miracles and wonders which are outside the realm of understanding by men. We also, as the Central Bank, came in to give our views concerning their work as far as it concerns matters that we don’t understand,” the RBZ boss at his Samora Machel tower.
“They belong to the… the spiritual realm and we are charged with ensuring that man’s laws, and regulations are observed, implemented and monitored. So there is no denial that issues to do with what l have mentioned as miracles, signs and wonders do confuse men.
“So when they started talking about miracle money, (l thought) aizve asi kwava neumwe governor? Ko munin’ina aita sei zve ava kusaina mari yaani? (What! Is there a new governor? What is this young man up to, is he usurping my powers)?” Gono said.
