THE Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) yesterday began a three-day investigation into RMG Independent End Time Message Church after receiving a report that the church was still conducting services in violation of a ban imposed on it following its founder Robert Martin Gumbura’s arrest.
PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
ACCZ president Johannes Ndanga said he met with the church’s deacons — Webster Mkodzi, Cephas Kanyama, Tawanda Nehowa and Edmore Gumbura — who denied the claims.
The deacons said they had not conducted any services since the ban was imposed on November 20, 2013.
“We met members of the church’s board who said that since November 20 they have not flouted the suspension and they were not holding any services,” he said.
“We wanted witnesses so we have decided to carry out visits at the churches and members’ houses to check whether or not they are really holding services or those are just orphans under the care of the church.”
He said there could have been a misunderstanding that after the lapse of the 21–day ban imposed on the church, they were now free to continue operating as usual.
Ndanga said that time frame was just a provisional order and the church was expected to have furnished the council with a report on whether or not their doctrine bordered on Satanism as alleged.
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“We have given them a grace period to furnish us with a written response after meeting with their deacons, failure of which we will sit down to make a final order and force the church to stop for good,” he said.
“They have to respond and defend their doctrines and convince us that there is no Satanism or criminality in their practices and tell us why they think charges laid against Gumbura were false. They also have to respond to claims that they knew about the abuses that were happening in the church.”
Ndanga said the Administrative Court would use the response to arrive at a final decision regarding the church’s fate either by lifting the suspension or determining that the allegations have no merit.
Gumbura was sentenced to an effective 40 years in jail after he was convicted of four counts of rape and one count of possession of pornographic materials.
