HOUSE of Manna Global Ministries disintergrated as soon as church founder Tizora Kaitano was arrested for sodomising a church member, NewsDay established yesterday.
BY EVERSON MUSHAVA
Kaitano was slapped with a 20-year jail term by Harare regional magistrate Fadzai Mtombeni on Monday.
NewsDay yesterday visited Mufakose suburb in Harare, headquarters of the rapist pastor’s church and spoke to scores of residents who said they had for long haboured reservations on Kaitano’s behaviour.
They said the news that the HIV-positive pastor had sodomised a 24-year-old male adult who was a church member only confirmed their suspicions and was the church’s death knell. “Church members abandoned him and his church as soon as a police report was made. He embarrassed his followers by such Satanic behaviour and no-one visited him at the police holding cells,” said one of the church officials, who refused to be named.
The church had around 200 members, most of whom were from the local community of Mufakose, said the official.
The pastor’s mother, believed to be a traditional healer, was feared by church members, some of whom claimed threats had been issued over the arrest of her son.
The official said as soon as Kaitano was arrested, the congregation stopped attending services which were conducted at a house in Mufakose. The house, he said, belonged to another church member.
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He said Kaitano as the church founder, was everything in the church which he began over 10 years ago. At one time, he said, Kaitano was forced to go into hiding in Mozambique after police launched a manhunt for him over similar allegations of homosexuality.
Douglas Nyatondola, a neighbour to the sodomy victim said this was not the first time reports about Kaitano’s questionable behaviour were coming out. He said he had also allegedly sodomised several boys around 2002 before he fled to Mozambique.
He urged worshippers to understand the background of their pastors before joining churches.
NewsDay investigations also established that Kaitano was the only one from his family who chose Christianity as the rest were traditionalists.
“He was a magician using the Word of God to lure people,” the neighbour said. Another Mufakose resident who refused to be named, but claimed to be a close relative of the victim said she was suspicious of Kaitano’s queer behaviour and strange manner of dressing.
According to the victim, Kaitano sprinkled oil on him before he sucked the victim’s manhood and inserted it into his oiled backside. After that he proceeded to suck his victim’s manhood until he ejaculated and the pastor swallowed the semen.
The following morning the victim realised that he was discharging bloodied semen and when he complained to the pastor, the “man of the cloth” prescribed him some treatment which included a revisit by the victim to the venue of the abuse.
The victim sought advice from a fellow congregant and he later reported the matter to the police leading to Kaitano’s arrest.
