Villagers dismiss Makandiwa's gold claims

VILLAGERS in Mukumbura, Mt Darwin, have dismissed claims that there were pockets of gold in Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa's home area, saying the claims were baseless and challenged the popular United Family Interdenominational Church (UFIC) founder to personally come and show them the precious mineral.

This followed a prophecy by Makandiwa on New Year's eve and claims by a senior member of his church Prime Kufakunesu that gold was appearing everywhere in the area and villagers were picking it up in their yards when wind blows.

NewsDay visited the area at the weekend where villagers, including a headman, councillor, businesspeople and mostly unemployed youths, dismissed the claims and the prophecy.

Michael Ndarade, the local councillor for the area, said the only "good" thing that was happening in Mukumbura and surrounding areas was the donation of foodstuffs by government.

"I am hearing this for the first time. Other than the wheat and rice we got from the President, that we were giving out today, there is nothing else and the claims are unfounded," he said.

Businessman Maxwell Katiza said: "The prophet must be open on what he is saying. There is nothing like that here. In fact it is common knowledge that whenever rain falls, there will be a lot of panning going on along the river and it has always been there. To say gold is coming with the wind is just not true. Maybe if he is telling us what will happen.

"These days there is no panning going on as most people are busy in the fields. We will wait for gold to start raining if Makandiwa prophesied correctly."

Another villager Shumi Chinzodzi said: "That's his (Makandiwa's) home area and probably he knew that this time around, there is gold. We have received calls from relatives and friends asking us about the gold rush and we were surprised. If there is rain there is gold in areas like Mukumbura, Kaitano Chiswiti, Tsenga and Mutasa, it's known."

Headman Phillip Dzikarura said maybe Makandiwa was picking gold in his Muzarabani area as people in his village in Mukumbura where surviving on menial jobs.

"Maybe he is picking up gold in his Muzarabani area. There is nothing here and those who are surviving on gold get at least a point from the rivers," said Dzikarura.

Makandiwa prophesied that there will be divine intervention to end the country's economic woes. He said gold would be picked up from the ground across the country.

"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," he prophesied.

"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," he said.

Last week, Kufa told more than 10 000 worshippers at the City Sports Centre in Harare that "gold grains" had been found in a village in Mukumbura, claiming that he made the discovery when he attended a funeral at the village where he saw villagers picking up "gold" in their yards.

"The old lady said: 'What is happening here is very strange as each time a heavy wind blows villagers are picking grains of gold in their yards'," he said.

The claims by Kufakunesu forced government to dispatch a team to investigate whether indeed there was gold in the area with villagers saying they were witnessing several people who appear to be State agents and potential buyers lining up to pocket the miracle mineral.

Efforts to get a comment from Makandiwa's spokesperson Kufakunesu were in vain last night