Opinion / Columnist
Rev. Dongo, so you'll gladly accept cash from the Devil just to avoid looking for money?
8 hrs ago | Views
As the saying goes, the love of money is the root of all evil - and it seems some so-called "churches" are finding that temptation far too irresistible.
It is astonishing - and frankly heartbreaking - to watch as the Church in Zimbabwe is increasingly dragged into the murky world of partisan politics.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
A statement made this week by Reverend Idirashe Dongo, national coordinator of "Pastors for ED," exemplifies the moral decay that has overtaken what should be one of the last bastions of truth, dignity, and righteousness.
Welcoming the public disbursement of the so-called Presidential Empowerment Revolving Fund - a fund clearly meant to reward political loyalty to President Emmerson Mnangagwa - Rev. Dongo said the money "will help the men of God to be capacitated" and that it would enable them to "focus on preaching the word of God as opposed to looking for money from the congregation."
Let that sink in.
A clergyperson is openly celebrating state handouts, unapologetically linked to a ruling party and a president accused of gross misgovernance and human rights abuses, just so that pastors can escape the responsibility of relying on their congregants for support.
If this is not selling out the gospel to the highest bidder - or more accurately, to the ruling regime - then what is?
The politicization of the Church in Zimbabwe has reached alarming levels.
The emergence of "Pastors for ED" is not a harmless clerical support group; it is a dangerous corruption of the prophetic role of religious leadership.
Throughout history, the Church has served as a moral compass for nations - often standing against the powerful to speak truth to power.
In apartheid South Africa, the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu were uncompromising in condemning injustice, even when it came at great personal risk.
During America's civil rights struggle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist preacher, used the gospel to rally against state-sanctioned racism and economic inequality.
And here at home in Zimbabwe, we had Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, a founding nationalist leader and clergyman who did not use the pulpit to curry favor with power, but rather to confront colonial oppression and inspire a vision of liberation grounded in moral and spiritual conviction.
He understood that true faith demanded courage - not comfort - and that the role of the Church was not to bless injustice, but to challenge it head-on, even if it meant imprisonment, exile, or betrayal.
But in Zimbabwe today, we are witnessing the rise of a clergy that no longer calls out injustice - but kneels before it.
Pastors are no longer confronting the Pharaohs of our time; they are dining at their tables.
What began as a sacred calling to shepherd souls has degenerated into a scramble for political relevance and material comfort.
Rev. Dongo's remarks reveal not just a desperation for money, but a complete collapse of ethical boundaries.
Where is the shame?
Where is the conscience?
The very essence of Christian ministry is rooted in standing with the poor, the downtrodden, and the voiceless.
Scripture is unequivocal about this.
Isaiah 1:17 urges us: "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow."
Proverbs 31:8–9 says: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves… defend the rights of the poor and needy."
And in Isaiah 10:1–3, God strongly warns unjust leaders: "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people.
"What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes?"
These are the very biblical teachings that have inspired me, as a devout Christian myself, to do the work I do - fearlessly being the voice of the oppressed and the poor, challenging injustice wherever it manifests, and refusing to remain silent in the face of suffering.
And yet, many of today's clergy have not only lost their prophetic voice - they have become enablers of the oppressor.
They smile and nod at a regime that has weaponized poverty, trampled on basic freedoms, and stolen hope from an entire generation.
Does Rev. Dongo not see the contradiction in receiving money from a government that has presided over economic collapse, forced millions into destitution, and left pensioners surviving on US$50 a month?
How can a pastor take money from the same hand that has decimated public health, rendered education unaffordable, and ensured 80% of Zimbabweans are cast into unspeakable poverty?
If this isn't accepting cash from the devil, what is?
The revolving fund, laughably described as "empowerment," is nothing more than a partisan scheme to reward loyalty and tighten political control.
All the recipient groups - from Hairdressers for ED to Cross-Border Traders for ED - are ZANU PF-aligned.
There is no attempt to hide this bias.
It is not about development; it is about maintaining power.
This fund is not revolving - it is revolving around one man: Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Even more dangerous is the transformation of religion into an electoral tool.
Once the Church becomes an appendage of the state, it loses its independence, its voice, and its divine mandate.
The Church is not meant to campaign for politicians or recite party slogans from the pulpit.
When pastors preach ED instead of Christ, they commit spiritual treason.
When the gospel is replaced with propaganda, the flock is not led to truth but to bondage.
This is an ethical betrayal of catastrophic proportions.
Clergy are meant to embody moral courage, not political opportunism.
They are supposed to be the conscience of the nation, not megaphones for tyrants.
What happened to the days when the Church would challenge the Goliaths of power - not bow before them for silver coins?
To be clear, this is not a condemnation of pastors earning a living or being supported financially.
Scripture teaches that "the laborer deserves his wages" (Luke 10:7).
But there is a vast chasm between being supported by believers and being funded by a government with strings attached.
True ministers are sustained by those they serve - not by a regime they are expected to praise in return.
One wonders if these so-called "men and women of God," who justify accepting gifts from a corrupt and repressive regime under the pretext of simply wanting to have a decent living, genuinely believe that Jesus - who clearly said He had no place to lay His head - would have accepted a lavish house from King Herod.
Would He have also formed a "Jesus for Herod" campaign, parading as a loyal spiritual mouthpiece in exchange for royal perks and political favor?
The very idea is absurd - yet this is exactly the tragic mockery we are witnessing today.
One must ask: what gospel will these pastors now preach?
Will they dare speak about corruption when the regime that sponsors them is the chief looter?
Will they teach about justice when their benefactor thrives on repression?
Will they quote Amos 5:24 - "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" - when they have damned the flow of justice with political patronage?
It is not too late for the Church to repent and return to its prophetic role.
Zimbabwe is crying out for spiritual leaders who are not for sale - who will lift the voices of the hungry, the unemployed, the abused.
We need pastors who will rebuke the cruelty of a system that has left hospitals without medication and schools without teachers.
We need men and women of God who refuse to be compromised by state capture, who will tear down the golden calves of political idolatry, and who will once again declare that no leader - no matter how powerful - is above the truth of God.
Rev. Dongo and others like her must choose: will they serve the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of Mnangagwa?
You cannot serve two masters.
You cannot take Caesar's coin and still speak like John the Baptist.
You cannot accept the devil's cash just to avoid looking for money - and expect to keep your moral authority intact.
The soul of the Church is at stake. And the time to reclaim it is now.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
It is astonishing - and frankly heartbreaking - to watch as the Church in Zimbabwe is increasingly dragged into the murky world of partisan politics.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
A statement made this week by Reverend Idirashe Dongo, national coordinator of "Pastors for ED," exemplifies the moral decay that has overtaken what should be one of the last bastions of truth, dignity, and righteousness.
Welcoming the public disbursement of the so-called Presidential Empowerment Revolving Fund - a fund clearly meant to reward political loyalty to President Emmerson Mnangagwa - Rev. Dongo said the money "will help the men of God to be capacitated" and that it would enable them to "focus on preaching the word of God as opposed to looking for money from the congregation."
Let that sink in.
A clergyperson is openly celebrating state handouts, unapologetically linked to a ruling party and a president accused of gross misgovernance and human rights abuses, just so that pastors can escape the responsibility of relying on their congregants for support.
If this is not selling out the gospel to the highest bidder - or more accurately, to the ruling regime - then what is?
The politicization of the Church in Zimbabwe has reached alarming levels.
The emergence of "Pastors for ED" is not a harmless clerical support group; it is a dangerous corruption of the prophetic role of religious leadership.
Throughout history, the Church has served as a moral compass for nations - often standing against the powerful to speak truth to power.
In apartheid South Africa, the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu were uncompromising in condemning injustice, even when it came at great personal risk.
During America's civil rights struggle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist preacher, used the gospel to rally against state-sanctioned racism and economic inequality.
And here at home in Zimbabwe, we had Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, a founding nationalist leader and clergyman who did not use the pulpit to curry favor with power, but rather to confront colonial oppression and inspire a vision of liberation grounded in moral and spiritual conviction.
He understood that true faith demanded courage - not comfort - and that the role of the Church was not to bless injustice, but to challenge it head-on, even if it meant imprisonment, exile, or betrayal.
But in Zimbabwe today, we are witnessing the rise of a clergy that no longer calls out injustice - but kneels before it.
Pastors are no longer confronting the Pharaohs of our time; they are dining at their tables.
What began as a sacred calling to shepherd souls has degenerated into a scramble for political relevance and material comfort.
Rev. Dongo's remarks reveal not just a desperation for money, but a complete collapse of ethical boundaries.
Where is the shame?
Where is the conscience?
The very essence of Christian ministry is rooted in standing with the poor, the downtrodden, and the voiceless.
Scripture is unequivocal about this.
Isaiah 1:17 urges us: "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow."
Proverbs 31:8–9 says: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves… defend the rights of the poor and needy."
And in Isaiah 10:1–3, God strongly warns unjust leaders: "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people.
"What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes?"
These are the very biblical teachings that have inspired me, as a devout Christian myself, to do the work I do - fearlessly being the voice of the oppressed and the poor, challenging injustice wherever it manifests, and refusing to remain silent in the face of suffering.
And yet, many of today's clergy have not only lost their prophetic voice - they have become enablers of the oppressor.
They smile and nod at a regime that has weaponized poverty, trampled on basic freedoms, and stolen hope from an entire generation.
Does Rev. Dongo not see the contradiction in receiving money from a government that has presided over economic collapse, forced millions into destitution, and left pensioners surviving on US$50 a month?
How can a pastor take money from the same hand that has decimated public health, rendered education unaffordable, and ensured 80% of Zimbabweans are cast into unspeakable poverty?
If this isn't accepting cash from the devil, what is?
The revolving fund, laughably described as "empowerment," is nothing more than a partisan scheme to reward loyalty and tighten political control.
There is no attempt to hide this bias.
It is not about development; it is about maintaining power.
This fund is not revolving - it is revolving around one man: Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Even more dangerous is the transformation of religion into an electoral tool.
Once the Church becomes an appendage of the state, it loses its independence, its voice, and its divine mandate.
The Church is not meant to campaign for politicians or recite party slogans from the pulpit.
When pastors preach ED instead of Christ, they commit spiritual treason.
When the gospel is replaced with propaganda, the flock is not led to truth but to bondage.
This is an ethical betrayal of catastrophic proportions.
Clergy are meant to embody moral courage, not political opportunism.
They are supposed to be the conscience of the nation, not megaphones for tyrants.
What happened to the days when the Church would challenge the Goliaths of power - not bow before them for silver coins?
To be clear, this is not a condemnation of pastors earning a living or being supported financially.
Scripture teaches that "the laborer deserves his wages" (Luke 10:7).
But there is a vast chasm between being supported by believers and being funded by a government with strings attached.
True ministers are sustained by those they serve - not by a regime they are expected to praise in return.
One wonders if these so-called "men and women of God," who justify accepting gifts from a corrupt and repressive regime under the pretext of simply wanting to have a decent living, genuinely believe that Jesus - who clearly said He had no place to lay His head - would have accepted a lavish house from King Herod.
Would He have also formed a "Jesus for Herod" campaign, parading as a loyal spiritual mouthpiece in exchange for royal perks and political favor?
The very idea is absurd - yet this is exactly the tragic mockery we are witnessing today.
One must ask: what gospel will these pastors now preach?
Will they dare speak about corruption when the regime that sponsors them is the chief looter?
Will they teach about justice when their benefactor thrives on repression?
Will they quote Amos 5:24 - "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" - when they have damned the flow of justice with political patronage?
It is not too late for the Church to repent and return to its prophetic role.
Zimbabwe is crying out for spiritual leaders who are not for sale - who will lift the voices of the hungry, the unemployed, the abused.
We need pastors who will rebuke the cruelty of a system that has left hospitals without medication and schools without teachers.
We need men and women of God who refuse to be compromised by state capture, who will tear down the golden calves of political idolatry, and who will once again declare that no leader - no matter how powerful - is above the truth of God.
Rev. Dongo and others like her must choose: will they serve the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of Mnangagwa?
You cannot serve two masters.
You cannot take Caesar's coin and still speak like John the Baptist.
You cannot accept the devil's cash just to avoid looking for money - and expect to keep your moral authority intact.
The soul of the Church is at stake. And the time to reclaim it is now.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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