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Tendai Rupapa Senior Court Reporter
All women parishioners at RGM Independent End Time Message Church allegedly belong to the church leader Martin Gumbura and are given to their husbands on “loan”, with Gumbura having the powers to recall them whenever he feels necessary, the court heard yesterday.
It also emerged during the trial of Gumbura, who is accused of allegedly raping seven women from his church, that whoever intended to marry any woman from the church would seek permission from him before making any move.
This was revealed by a former church member who later left the church to start his own, Pastor Innocent Nehowa who was testifying during the trial of Gumbura.
“One of the doctrines that I did not agree with is the one whereby he claims to own all the women in church,” he said.
“If you want to marry them you have to seek his authority first and the woman is given to you on loan, therefore, whenever he wants her, he will take her.”
Pastor Nehowa, who is now a leader of End Time Message church Chitungwiza branch, said he left Gumbura’s church after Gumbura had rebuked him and placed him in the hands of the devil for leading a protest against his moral decadence.
The court heard of another Gumbura’s alleged “heartless” doctrine which bars church members from communicating with their family members who do not fellowship with them.
“For instance, my mother died when I had left pastor’s Gumbura’s church and her funeral was conducted at my house.
“My brother who is still a pastor under pastor Gumbura’s leadership did not even attend the funeral because he considers me a heathen,” he said.
During church services, Pastor Nehowa said, Gumbura made reference and showed congregants a video footage of Jim Jones the founder and the leader of the Peoples Temple best known for the cult murder-suicide in 1978 of 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana, South America.
Pastor Nehowa said pastor Gumbura told his followers that he supported Jones’ actions.
During cross-examination, Gumbura’s lawyer Ms Rekai Maposa said Pastor Nehowa was bitter for being sacked from the church.
Another rape victim, a 45-year-old woman who is married to a former member of Gumbura’s church, said she was raped together with her husband’s second wife on the same day.
“We had gone to his house to collect our money which had been sent by our husband from South Africa.
“ I was the first to enter into his office while my co-wife waited outside,” she said.
“He said that as a pastor he had the right to sleep with whoever he wanted. He then locked the door from inside and came to where I was sitting.
“He forced me to sit on his lap and started kissing me on the neck and ears before raping me.”
The woman said they later informed their husband who ordered them not to report to the police because of the church doctrine.
She only reported after seeing an article in a newspaper in which Gumbura was being accused of sexually abusing another woman from the church.
The regional magistrate Mr Hoseah Mujaya rolled over the matter to today for trial continuation.
Harare area public prosecutor Mr Jonathan Murombedzi prosecuted.
Online Reporter