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Zanu-PF fights spill into court

by Staff reporter
01 Oct 2014 at 07:04hrs | Views
Zanu-PF's vicious succession battles on Tuesday spilled into court after one of the 37 apostolic sect members on trial for public violence claimed the group was being persecuted for declining to support Vice-President Joice Mujuru's presidential ambitions.

The Johanne Masowe eChishanu sect led by Madzibaba Ishmael Mufani members ran amok on May 30 after police details under the leadership of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ)'s Johannes Ndanga bludgeoned five police officers, a journalist and a church elder, following a botched attempt to ban them.

One of the accused, Takavengwa Gwenzi (46) of Green Valley in Epworth, told magistrate Tendai Mahwe, while outlining his defence in the on-going trial, that "Ndanga had threatened to fix us".

"He (Ndanga) told us that he would fix us (the sect) because we had refused to pray for Mujuru to assume the presidency," said Gwenzi.

"Ndanga told us that President (Robert Mugabe) would resign, and would be replaced by Mujuru, with him (Ndanga) as the vice. He (Ndanga) also mentioned that

he was tired of being led by non-Christian leaders, and would represent members of the apostolic faith once in government."

Gwenzi said his church declined to bow to the pressure from Ndanga hence the persecution. Ndanga claimed he wanted to ban the sect on allegations of child and women abuse.

"It was in 2013 that l became aware of the reason behind the attack. Ndanga has a delegation of four people that includes Lameck Chitope. He would send them to us, stating that he (Ndanga) heads 789 denominations and that within the country's hierarchy, he (Ndanga) occupies the third most important position after President Mugabe and Mujuru," Gwenzi added.

"We refused, and told him (Ndanga) that our religion does not meddle in politics."

The sect member also pointed out that all the charges being preferred against the sect members were fabricated by Ndanga following the stand-off.

"He then mentioned that there were several allegations that had been raised against us by other apostolic sect members. He said some of us should visit his offices so we could sit down and talk. Other members who included Ishmael Mufani later visited Ndanga's offices, but refused his demands," said Gwenzi.

"In March this year, we were suddenly surrounded by police . . . Ndanga later told us that he was powerful and could either release or take us to court.

"We were later taken to Mbare (magistrate's) court and were told that the matter would proceed by way of summons."

All the 37 accused members of the sect pleaded not guilty to the charges of public violence, and categorically denied ever assaulting Ndanga and his delegation.

Top Zanu-PF officials, among them Mujuru and Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, who allegedly both lead the two most prominent factions in the party, are locked in a bitter war to succeed President Mugabe.

The two have, however, denied habouring presidential ambitions, at least while President Mugabe is still in charge. Zanu-PF is slowly trudging towards a watershed elective congress set for December, which promises to be the biggest since the party's formation over 50 years ago.

Public prosecutor Fransisca Mukumbiri further alleged that the accused were part of male congregants at the sect's shrine who ran amok and turned their shrine into a war zone on the day in question.

The court further heard that part of the congregants challenged Ndanga to read his speech in Shona, claiming they were not conversant with the English language.

Ndanga then ordered police to arrest one of the congregants who kept interjecting as he read the speech. The Apostolic sect members immediately broke into a militant song, Umambo hwepfumo neropa (the Kingdom of spears and blood).

In the chaos that followed, six police officers, and other delegates were assaulted and sustained serious injuries. The trial is set to continue on October 6.

Source - Zim Mail
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