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Plaxcedes Hove Chronicle Reporter
SCORES of Guta RaMwari Zvimiso (GRM) Phase Three congregants on Sunday celebrated 11 years of the ordainment of their leader, Juliet Nkuswa Chamoto whom they refer to as “Gomo the Highest.”Gomo means “mountain” in Shona and “intaba” in IsiNdebele.
The church’s secretary-general Evangelist Barnabas Chamoto told Chronicle on the sidelines of the celebrations in Mpopoma, Bulawayo, that the celebration was done annually on 16 March to honour their leader and the wishes of their late holy host, Taxwel Tayali.
“Since 2003, we have been celebrating this day to honour the wishes of our holy host who appointed the Gomo before he died. When Guta RaMwari broke into five branches on 16 March we were renamed Zvimiso and appointed a new leader, Gomo. We will always consider this day as our birthday,” Chamoto said.
He said GRM Zvimiso was the only branch celebrating this day because other branches did not respect the decisions of the holy host when they resisted being led by a woman.
“When Gomo was ordained, the church split into two branches. Some members of the congregation did not want to be led by a female and they chased Zvimiso from their branch. After Zvimiso left, the church again split into four branches and since then our celebration days have changed.
We believe tribalism was the cause of our splits,” said Chamoto.
Gomo said the celebrations were a special event on their calendar and that congregants regard it as their independence day.
“We were renamed to Zvimiso following the decisions of the holy host. We are here today because of the decisions of our last leader who chose this path for us. I believe the splitting of our churches happened for a reason,” she said.
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