Sundaymail Editor
Emmanuel Kafe recently in Gokwe
Tales from Chief Njelele’s area in Gokwe never cease to amaze. Flying witches, lewd practices and the strangest of rituals are staples of the area.
Recently, brothers were at odds over a phone; an unresolved dispute that resulted in the younger being buried at his brother’s doorstep. The phone is said to ring without a battery inserted in it.
In November 2016, Anglican cleric Retired Reverend Lazarus Canon Muyambi dug a grave inside the Healing Centre chapel at Logos Boarding School and buried his wife. Pupils use the building for morning and evening prayers.
And Rev Muyambi wants to be buried next to his wife.
Whilst strange sounding, it is a fairly common practice of old Anglican and Catholic churches that for centuries entombed their leading proponents — many of whom were subsequently made saints — inside churches.
But some Anglicans in Gokwe say the reverend is turning the church into a cult. The church seems to have parted ways with Rev Muyambi and now conducts its services at Gokwe Town Centre.
One of them, Shorai Mudavanhu, said her Christian teaching told her that the dead have no business with the living.
“The dead should be kept in cemeteries and not the church,” she said.
Parents are at loggerheads with school authorities and some have withdrawn their children from the institution out of fear for their psychological well being.
Former congregants said they had left the church because they were being told to kneel atop the grave to get healed.
Recently, 41 students said they saw “angels” ministering to Rev Muyambi.
When The Sunday Mail Society visited the school last week, pupils were praying in the chapel, facing towards the pulpit under which Neddie Muyambi is interred.
Rev Muyambi narrated his tale to us.
“I came here with my wife Neddie in 1972 with our four children after I married her in 1960. I was coming from Botswana where I had been posted by the church,” he said.
Rev Muyambi said he and his wife established the Anglican Church in Gokwe and built schools, clinics and churches, including an exorcism centre.
“I was working with the local authority here and I requested land and I started developing the area. I built three churches here including a chapel with the help of my wife and we helped a lot of mentally challenged people and exorcised people practicing witchcraft,” he said.
Rev Muyambi said when his wife died late last year, he felt it was prudent to bury her inside the chapel as a testimony of her work in building Anglicanism in the area.
The Sunday Mail Society understands that there have been disputes over ownership of the properties between the Anglican Church and the retired reverend.
“Some members of my church wanted to take the school and other properties I built claiming that they belong to the church and I refused because I did not build them using money from the church. That is why most of them are peddling those falsehoods in an attempt to tarnish my image,” he said.
This led to some in the community insinuating that the burial of his wife in the church was a way of warding off interest in the property.
Efforts to get a comment from a newly-appointed priest who is leading a congregation of Anglicans at Gokwe Town Centre were fruitless as his phone went unanswered.
“There has been a very big misconception that I buried my wife in the church. I buried her in the chapel – not the church. This is my chapel which does not belong to the church. There is nothing wrong with what I did,” Rev Muyambi said.
A former congregant who spoke on condition of anonymity said said no one dared object because the building indeed belonged to the reverend.
Rev Muyambi said he was aware of the mixed feelings his action had elicited, but he had no regrets and no plans to exhume his wife. Loyal followers, like Sister Febby Chakadai, said they had no problem with the reverend.
“We as church members do not have problems with what happened. People can attend church services in another church and there are three of them here. This is his private property,” she said.
Chief Njelele wants Mai Muyambi’s body exhumed and buried at a “proper” burial place, but says his authority is superseded by that of the Gokwe Town Council. “This is untraditional and considering that the man is a Christian it is very contrasting with their doctrine. Even Jesus was not buried in a church. Why bury in a church when there is a cemetery?” he asked.
Chief Njelele said he was engaging the council to have the body exhumed.
“It’s a pity that the area is under Gokwe Town Council and as such I cannot order the exhumation of the body. My position, however, is that we can’t have people burying their loved ones in churches.
“Next it will be in houses and can we have graves in every house or church? It’s a big no, I want this body exhumed and buried properly,” said Chief Njelele.
Gokwe Town secretary Melania Mandeya said the local authority had no powers to stop the burial in the chapel since it was private property.
“We don’t have laws that prohibit such practices,” she said.
Rev Muyambi pointed out that many people had been buried in the Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals in Harare. He went on, “Samuel Mutendi, the founder of Zion Christian Church, is buried at Defe Dopota. In Botswana where I once ministered, I buried some people in houses. I stand tall knowing that I have honoured my wife,” he declared.
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