Mnangagwa cancels first thank you rally over forced fundraising tactics

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has allegedly cancelled his first thank you rally that was scheduled for St Noah College in Bocha, Manicaland province on Saturday after reports emerged that a church member, who is also a Zanu PF Member of Parliament for Mutare West, Nyasha Marange, had abused his relations with church leader St Nimrod and forced rich church members to fundraise for the visit of the Zanu PF leader.

According to NewsDay sources, the rally was supposed to be conducted during the Passover feast of the Easter holidays.

“His actions are tarnishing the image of the church, of which the high priest had no knowledge of what Nyasha Marange was doing, that is forcing church members to contribute towards the rally,” a source said.

Asked for his side of the story, Marange, however, denied the allegations saying his church was rich enough to host the President without begging for money.

“We are a rich church. We have no need of going to anybody to beg for money, let alone force them to make contributions,” he said.

“We have many projects as a church and even the government knows all our projects. We grow maize corn, we have dairy cows, we have beef cows, we do fish farming. In fact, even GMB (Grain Marketing Board) knows that we always take our grains there.

“In all honesty, I would be very happy to see someone who can come and say I forced them to make contributions.

“Why should I do that? Our church is rich, we have plenty and we can even go around sharing with others, and even those claiming that we forced them to make contributions.”

It is further reported that Marange recently made headlines after he reportedly demanded total control of US$1,2 million disbursed to the Chiadzwa Community Share Ownership Trust.