THE trial of Johanne Masowe eChishanu Apostolic sect leader Ishmael Chokurongerwa, accused of inciting his followers to beat up police officers and journalists at his Budiriro shrine in May 2013, continued at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday with the second State witness, a police officer, claiming that Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president Johannes Ndanga briefly spoke with Chokurongerwa soon after arriving at the shrine.
BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
Chipo Chironga, whose police rank was not given in court, however, said he was not privy to what Ndanga and Chokurongerwa discussed.
Her evidence, however, contradicted an earlier version presented in court last year by Ndanga, who told the same court that he never spoke to Chokurongerwa on the day violence broke out on May 11 2013.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Tawanda Takaindisa, Chironga refused to respond to most of the questions that were put to her.
The record of proceedings for the convicted sect members showed that another police officer, Tinotenda Linda Chinhara, who also attended the scene, told the court it was not Chokurongerwa who interjected Ndanga while he was addressing the gathering, but another sect member, Takavengwa Gwenzi.
Chironga’s evidence largely corroborated that of the first State witness Stanley Tafireyi, another police officer, who told the court that he saw Chokurongerwa at the shrine on the day in question.
In his evidence, Tafireyi said: “When we arrived, Ndanga conversed briefly with Madzibaba Ishmael. When Ndanga started addressing the gathering, someone stood up and said he should address them in Shona because there was no white person present.
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“Ndanga then instructed us to arrest the person who had interjected. It was then that Madzibaba Ishmael started singing the song Humambo Hwemapfumo Neropa (Kingdom of Spears and Blood) and the other congregants responded. They stood up and started assaulting the police and other people who were there.”
