Church members stage mini-demo

Liberty Dube
MEMBERS of Independent African Church, popularly known as Mushakata in Dangamvura, on Tuesday afternoon staged a mini-demo against the church’s conference chairman whom they accused of refusing to call for an extra-ordinary conference to address burning issues and nepotism among a plethora of allegations.

Close to 20 people gathered at the church premises singing and dancing to hymns, waving spiteful placards and demanding that the conference chairman Darlington Muzanechita step down.

Some of the placards were inscribed: “Muzanechita must go”, “Muzanechita watinetsa baya”, “We want conference now.”

The rift, according to church members interviewed, started in October 2012 when the church Bishop John Nhaitai pased away.

Heated succession battles and divisions, as well as splits arose before spilling into courts.

The High Court, on June 18, this year ruled that Muzanechita was the legitimate Independent African Church leader.

The two parties continued warring before last Sunday when the rift reached boiling point.

Muzanechita and his “entourage” according to church members, attended the Dangamvura circuit church service and did the unthinkable.

“After the church service, he announced that the whole Dangamvura circuit executive, including Pastor Elisha Kambonje Jack, had been dissolved. This shocked us. He reported Kambonje to police and he now wants to evict him from the church house because of the differences.

“Our services are no longer running smoothly because he wants to impose things that we are not comfortable with. We demand an extra-ordinary meeting as soon as possible to that we have a leader who unites and not divides the church.

“We don’t want to dispute the ruling, he should remain the conference chairman but he should call for the meeting then we voice our concerns there,” said one disgruntled church member Enock Dzumbira.

Church members could not agree on Muzanechita’s orders and the disagreement led Muzanechita to report Kambonje to police for causing unrest at the church. Kambonje was subsequently arrested for “Incitement”. He was later released.

Said another church member: “His wayward way of executing duties has led some church members to desist from attending church services. Vamwe havachatouyi,” he said.

Pastor Kambonje (28), who was part of the boycott, said they were worried that Muzanechita was reluctant to call for an extra-ordinary meeting yet the writing was on the wall that there were divisions in the church.

“Today (Tuesday), some people (allegedly from Muzanechita’s camp) attempted to break-in by damaging the door’s padlocks for unknown reasons. We call for an extra-ordinary meeting because we are living in fear. His behaviour is affecting all circuits. Why is he not willing to hold the meeting yet things are not in order?” said Kambonje.

The church’s district superintendent, Blessing Mbofana, chipped in: “He knows everyone would come in with a vote of no confidence because his leadership skills are unacceptable. He is afraid,” said DS Mbofana.

Among other job descriptions, the chairman is supposed to facilitate church planning meetings that affect the entire church, chair national executive council meetings as well as chairing board of governors meeting.

When contacted for comment, Muzanechita confirmed that all was not well at the church but insisted that he was the legitimate chair and he was conducting business well.

“After an impasse in the church, takakonana and we took the case to the High Court. The courts ruled that I was the legitimate church leader and it seems those people are challenging the ruling. Last Sunday, I went to Dangamvura as the chairman to put things in order because I realised that there were some innocent people who were being “misinformed” and corrupted by few individuals who want to push forward their agenda. It’s part of my duties to move around assemblies restoring order.

“I understand they have their own person known as Shame Mudhuri whom they want to be their leader. Yes, we reported Kambonje to the police for his wayward behaviour. We understand he is out now,” said Muzanechita, who looked at ease and unperturbed during the interview.