Mwazha church fight back in court

AFRICAN Apostolic Church (AAC), which is now split between the leader, Apostle Paul Mwazha and his sons, is back in the High Court with the church seeking to bar the founder's sons from holding pilgrimages to its two shrines.

The High Court early this year issued an order barring both factions from accessing the church's holy shrines at Ndarikure Shashe in Midlands and Mapembe in Manicaland provinces. However, Mwazha's second son and faction leader Alfred Kushamisa has invited congregants to two pilgrimages slated for end of this week and next month at the two shrines in the face of a court order.

In the latest application filed at the High Court last week, the ACC represented by Patrick Mahachi sued Alfred Kushamisa and his three brothers plus five other members of the faction.

The church wants the gathering proposed by the nine at Ndarikure from September 24-26 and Mapembe from October 8 -10 cancelled, pending the finalisation of the matter. It also wants the nine and anyone acting through them to be ordered to vacate the two sacred shrines forthwith.

The wrangle in the church, also known as VaApostora VeAfrica, has affected activities of the church and led to convoluted legal proceedings which have spawned over 10 cases.

The main matter, which will determine the leadership of the church is pending in the Supreme Court under SC522/20. Early this year, the High Court issued an order eschewing visitations to the church's shrines and activities that could pre-empt the appeal pending before the Supreme Court.

Previous church activities have resulted in violence and a threat to life and limb thereby precipitating a proliferation of criminal complaints with the police. The church is also arguing that the respondent's actions are illegal, as they violate the Covid-19 regulations.

"There is a high likelihood of violence, because on several occasions church services have been disrupted, due to violence erupting, mostly at the behest and instruction of the respondents," read the papers.

"Police reports have been made and dockets prepared in those instance. There is a danger of the event being a Covid-19 super spreader and members of the church will end up being infected by others. "This places the good name of the church in peril and the country at large. Most importantly members of the church will end up getting ill or dying from Covid-19."

The church also argues that its constitutional rights will be affected and harmed irreparably, and therefore implored the court as the guardian of the Constitution to give special attention and preference to matters such as this in which there is an imminent violation of an inviolable right.