Have modern-day Judas Iscariots betrayed Zimbabwe's church into the hands of the oppressor?

When Jesus Christ warned about wolves in sheep's clothing, He knew exactly what He was talking about.

As the sun sets on another Easter Monday, the echoes of "He is risen" still linger in the vaulted ceilings of Zimbabwe's cathedrals and across the dusty open-air shrines of the apostolic sects. 

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For the millions of faithful who spent the weekend commemorating the ultimate triumph of justice over institutional cruelty, the season is one of hope. 

Yet, for the discerning observer of the Zimbabwean political landscape, this Easter has been haunted by a familiar and far more earthly specter. 

It is the ghost of Gethsemane, the lingering stench of betrayal that arises when those tasked with being the moral compass of a nation instead choose to navigate by the stars of political patronage.

While the Christian calendar celebrates the liberation of humanity, a significant and vocal section of Zimbabwe's religious leadership has spent this season championing a different kind of permanence - the entrenchment of a small ruling clique through the Constitutional Amendment (No. 3) Bill, or CAB3. 

The timing is as ironic as it is tragic. 

At the very moment when the church should be reflecting on the sacrifice of a Savior who was executed by a self-serving political and religious establishment, we witness modern-day "shepherds" flocking to the corridors of power to endorse the dismantling of democratic safeguards. 

CAB3 is not merely a legislative adjustment; it is a calculated assault on the 2013 Constitution, a document born of the sweat and blood of citizens seeking to limit the excesses of the state. 

By proposing to extend presidential terms from five to seven years and effectively clearing a path for the ED2030 agenda, the bill seeks to prioritize the longevity of an individual over the stability of an institution. 

That any man of the cloth would find it within his conscience to describe such a move as "divine" is a staggering indictment of the state of our national soul.

We must look past the flowing robes and the pious vocabulary to see these endorsements for what they truly are—a series of high-stakes transactional maneuvers. 

The support offered by figures within the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) and the various Vapostori for ED coalitions is not rooted in a theological conviction that seven years is more "biblical" than five. 

It is rooted in a modern-day treasury of betrayal measured in Maybachs and millions. 

Consider the case of Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi. 

While his congregants struggle to afford basic seed and fertilizer, the Bishop has sat at the center of a whirlwind of "philanthropy" that smells strongly of political bribery. 

In March 2026, as the drumbeat for CAB3 reached a crescendo, the Bishop was gifted a 2026 Mercedes-Benz Maybach S680 valued at over US$450,000. 

This was not an isolated gesture; it followed a staggering US2 million cash donation delivered by state-linked tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo, alongside previous gifts of a 2025 Mercedes-Benz Maybach GL600 Facelift, valued at US$550,000, to replace a Range Rover that was damaged in an accident.

In 2024, Mutendi and his wife received a 2023 Hilux GR Sport and 2023 Fortuner VX, with a combined value of approximately US$162,000.

When Mutendi stood at the Mbungo Easter Conference this weekend and claimed that it was "logical" for Parliament to elect the President, he was speaking from the seat of a multi-million dollar luxury fleet.

For the broader Apostolic sects, the bounty is just as conspicuous. 

We have witnessed a parade of 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser VXR 300 Series and luxury buses being handed over to church elders who, in return, transform their shrines into political campaign grounds. 

These are not gifts; they are down payments on the 2030 agenda. 

In a country where the economy has been hollowed out by corruption and mismanagement, proximity to the ruling elite is the ultimate insurance policy. 

These leaders have traded their prophetic mandate for a fleet of vehicles that their average follower will never even touch, seemingly indifferent to the fact that the fuel in those tanks costs more than a congregant's monthly income. 

There is a profound and sickening paradox at play when a religious leader, standing before a sea of followers living in abject poverty, declares that a move to entrench power is a blessing.

The majority of the people who fill these churches are the very ones bearing the heaviest burden of Zimbabwe's economic malaise. 

They are the mothers who cannot afford basic healthcare, the fathers who watch their children's futures evaporate in a sea of unemployment, and the youth who are forced to seek dignity in foreign lands. 

When their leaders endorse CAB3, they are effectively telling these suffering masses that their marginalization is a spiritual necessity. 

They employ a hollowed-out "Theology of Submission," misusing scriptures like Romans 13 to suggest that all authority is ordained by God and must therefore remain unchallenged. 

This is a perversion of faith that seeks to transform the church from a sanctuary of the oppressed into a tool of the oppressor.

The rise of groups like Vapostori for ED or Pastors for ED represents the final stage of this religious capture. 

By turning the pulpit into a campaign podium, these organizations have blurred the lines between the sacred and the profane. 

They offer the ruling party a ready-made constituency, a disciplined voting bloc that can be mobilized not through policy debate, but through spiritual coercion. 

In exchange, the leaders of these movements are integrated into the state's political infrastructure, gaining influence that far exceeds their moral authority. 

This is not the church acting as the conscience of the state; this is the church acting as the state's public relations department. 

It is a betrayal of the biblical mandate to "seek justice and reprove the oppressor." 

Instead, they seek favor and applaud the oppressor.

The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ was a radical defiance of the structures that kept the poor and marginalized in a state of perpetual suffering. 

He did not seek the favor of the elites or the safety of the palace; instead, He shared His table with the "untouchables" of society, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and declaring that the kingdom of God belonged to the downtrodden. 

In stark contrast, the Pharisees and the religious establishment of the day had become the very "whitewashed tombs" He so scathingly described—men who maintained an outward appearance of holiness while their hearts were filled with the rot of greed and a desperate hunger for power. 

To preserve their own status and the comfort of their religious monopoly, they chose to connive with the Roman imperial occupiers, effectively trading the life of our Savior for the political stability granted by Caesar. 

By handing Jesus over to the Roman state for execution, they proved that they were more interested in maintaining their alliance with the oppressors than in the liberation of the people they were supposedly called to lead.

To contrast this with the stance of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations is to see two different religions entirely. 

One is the religion of the palace, which seeks to preserve the status quo at all costs. 

The other is the religion of the street and the village, which recognizes that the 2013 Constitution was a covenant made with the people that cannot be broken for the convenience of a few. 

When mainstream bodies like the Catholic Bishops or the Council of Churches speak out against CAB3, they are often dismissed as "puppets of the West." 

This is a tired and lazy narrative designed to distract from the reality that these bodies are simply being consistent with the Gospel's demand for accountability. 

They understand that a constitution is meant to protect the weak from the whims of the strong, and that any amendment designed to benefit an incumbent is a violation of the very principle of constitutionalism.

As we move past this Easter, the metaphor of Judas Iscariot becomes impossible to ignore. 

Judas did not betray Christ because he hated the message; he betrayed him because he prioritized his own immediate gain over the long-term vision of a transformed world. 

Today's pro-CAB3 religious leaders are making the same calculation. 

They are selling the democratic future of Zimbabwe for the "silver" of present-day perks. 

They are ignoring the fact that by helping to dismantle the term-limit framework, they are setting a precedent that will haunt the nation long after the current ruling clique has exited the stage. 

Power, when left unchecked and extended indefinitely, inevitably becomes a monster that devours even its most faithful servants.

The real tragedy is that the people of Zimbabwe deserve a church that stands with them in the wilderness, not one that dines with the Pharaohs. 

They deserve leaders who recognize that true "peace and stability" are not found in the longevity of a single administration, but in the strength of laws that apply to everyone equally. 

The support for CAB3 by these religious figures is a profound affront to the struggle for social justice. 

It is a signal to the poor that their suffering is secondary to the comfort of the elite. 

However, history is a harsh judge of those who use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to justify the agendas of the powerful. 

The stones of the empty tomb remind us that justice cannot be buried forever, no matter how many "religious" seals are placed upon the grave. 

The betrayal may be real, and the silver may be bright, but the spirit of a people seeking freedom will always outlast the ambitions of those who seek to rule them forever.

© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08