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Lloyd Gumbo, Harare Bureau
Attempts by some malcontents to scandalise Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa by associating him with a Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri were exposed yesterday after the church distanced itself from a breakfast meeting that was purportedly set for tomorrow at a Harare hotel.
A flyer that has been making rounds on social media claimed VP Mnangagwa would be the guest of honour at the event that claimed that Enlightened Christian Gathering’s Prophet Bushiri would attend.
According to the flyer, the organiser of the event is Highshot and Sibusiso Media whose chief operations officer is Zanu-PF activist Fidelis Fengu.
The ECG yesterday distanced itself from the alleged breakfast meeting at which a table of 10 was pegged at $2 000 while individuals would pay $250.
In a statement, ECG said that they had no business meeting scheduled for Harare.
“It has come to our attention that some malcontents that are bent on tarnishing the image of ECG as a church and the personality of Prophet Shepherd Bushiri have been circulating a flyer on social media platforms stating that Prophet Bushiri will be holding a business meeting in Zimbabwe,” read the statement.
“ECG and the Prophet distance themselves from these false adverts and advise the public that any adverts that are not on the ECG official website and TV channel (Prophetic Channel) are fake and should be dismissed as fraudulent.
“It has also been brought to our attention that these rogue elements behind these fraudulent adverts have used the names of the Zimbabwean Vice President ED Mnangagwa. Please be in the know, had such a meeting been planned, our office would have followed through protocol to inform him.”
Added the church: “As stated above, ECG has nothing to do with this false advert being run by some media outlets in Zimbabwe. It is very unfortunate and extremely worrying to the profession of journalism to think that some publications would run a story based on a false advert without cross-checking or verifying facts.
“It is our hope that the relevant authorities in Zimbabwe will bring to book those behind this fraud.”
It is understood that while VP Mnangagwa was said to be the guest of honour at the event, he was never invited by the organisers.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo retweeted a story that was published by NewsDay claiming that Prophet Bushiri had crowned State Security Minister Kembo Mohadi.
This was after a video of Prophet Bushiri telling Minister Mohadi that his promotion was coming went viral.
Prof Moyo tweeted: “When their successionist project goes up in smoke, who are they gonna (sic) call? Fake prophets!”
Efforts to get a comment from the organisers were fruitless as a woman who answered the phone whose number is on the flyer said she would call back after confirming the meeting with her superiors.
Online Reporter