Prophet Magaya calls for calm

As the Kwekwe community and the nation at large come to terms with the horrific death of 11 people at a church service conducted by Prophet Walter Magaya, the popular preacher yesterday refused to blame police for the disaster.

Speaking to the Daily News on Sunday, Magaya insisted that while Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD) and himself were also to blame as organisers and owners of the event, there was no need for finger pointing at the moment.

"I want to make it clear that as PHD, we have not blamed the police for the disaster, we were also supposed as a church to ensure that all the worshippers were safe.

"What is important now is for the authorities to carry out investigations with a view of making sure we avoid such a scenario again.

"Only a thorough investigation will determine what exactly transpired and come up with ways to avoid such a calamity. Nobody saw what happened except those who were close to the scene. Now I'm hearing that so many people are commenting on behalf of PHD and I would like to disassociate the church and myself for those purporting to be spokespersons of the church.

"They are busy misleading the people saying police were to blame, yet as the church, we have not blamed the police for the mishap. So far we are only blaming ourselves for this regrettable disaster which should have been avoided," said Magaya.

The distraught popular preacher has so far donated $1 000 each to the families who lost loved ones and food and will follow up with other cash handouts tomorrow.

Only four people are still reported to be still in hospital and are said to be stable.

While Magaya has refused to blame the police for the disaster, relatives of the deceased insisted that more needed to be done by law enforcement agents to avert similar disasters.

Distraught families who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday in Kwekwe yesterday were bitter with police saying they closed the bigger gate, forcing the bumper crowd of about 30 000 to exit through smaller exits.

John Moyo husband to 46-year-old Cynthia Katsholo of Mbizo 16, blamed the police for miscalculating the fatal consequences of forcing people to exit through one gate.

"Police wanted to head count people; hence it created commotion as the crowd was too big. The police should not have closed the gates because people were too many," a visibly angry Moyo said.

Moyo said he was unaware that his wife was part of the victims as they had lost contact during service.

"They trampled my wife at the gate and she is said to have died on the scene. When people started speaking about the tragedy, that's when I found out that my wife had passed on," said Moyo.

He added: "We communicated for a while by mobile phone during service, but she kept on telling me that she was seeing me, but when the service ended, I tried calling and her number was unreachable."

Katsholo is survived by her husband and four children.

Daughter to the first black executive mayor of Kwekwe, Johnson Mawere, Juliet Mawwere, 55, also died in the stampede and her relatives expressed displeasure at the police, saying they could have done better to avoid the loss of lives.

Brother to the deceased, Mandireva Matambanadzo said the family was still to come to terms with the death of their sister.

"I am pained by my sister's death and I have never seen anything like this in Kwekwe. We accept the death of our sister, but we do not understand the circumstances surrounding her death because there are reports of people who said police closed gates," Matambanadzo said.

Sydney Munezvi uncle to 16-year-old Rachel Zvinei, a Form Two student who died during the stampede was distraught. Rachel's mother had also lost a baby during labour earlier that day.

Friends of Winnimore Chikada, a Grade Six pupil who died in the stampede were shocked at their classmate's death.

Another child Tamuka Chivasa, 11 of Mkoba 4 Gweru extension died on the fateful night. He had gone to the crusade with his twin brother Tawanda and other children from the neighbourhood.

Police deny foul play and shifted blame on council police who had the keys to the main gate.

By the time of going to the press yesterday, bodies of the deceased had been taken to Bulawayo for post mortem.

Member of the House of Assembly for Mbizo, Settlement Chikwinya said there should be a commission of inquiry into the cause of death as police and PHD have been playing the blame game.

"Churches have become a source of domestic and international tourism and as such, security measures need to be taken to protect our citizens. This incident has taught us a lesson on action plan, but it can only be done through a commission of inquiry and root cause analysis," Chikwinya said.

"Such huge crowds will always be expected from Magaya and Makandiwa, so I strongly urge government to act," he added.

On Friday night, Magaya was summoned to the Kwekwe Civic Centre by the city's leadership who were seeking answers to the tragedy.

Magaya explained how he rushed back to the stadium upon hearing of the stampede and told the city fathers that his team made frantic efforts to save lives before the ambulances arrived.

"We rushed back to the stadium minutes after the incident and made efforts to rescue some who had been injured," Magaya said.

He added: "We made sure everyone was attended to when we got to hospital and settled all their bills."