KARIBA pastor and human rights activist, Patrick Mugadza, was arrested yesterday and charged with undermining President Robert Mugabe’s authority following his recent “prediction” of the 92-year-old Zanu PF leader’s “looming death”.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
Mugadza, the founder and leader of Remnant Church, was picked up by police, as he walked out of the Harare Magistrates’ Court, where he was facing a separate charge of abusing the national flag, where his trial has been set for February 22.
The cleric told journalists in Harare last week that on December 26 last year, he received a prophecy that Mugabe, who turns 93 next month, would “die on October 17” this year.
Mugadza’s lawyer, Gift Mtisi, confirmed that his client was arrested by police officers from Criminal Investigation Department Law and Order Section over his “prophecy”.
“Yes, it is true, we are aware that he has been picked up by the police. We do not have details at the moment, but we understand it is in connection with the prophecy he issued last week,” Mtisi said.
Mugadza is expected to appear in court today.
Announcing his prophecy last week, Mugadza said: “It’s not to say that I am glad to announce this, but I am just saying it because that is what the Lord has revealed to me. It was on December 26, when I was in prayer and God said to me this coming year, in 2017, the President is dying. He told me that he is dying on October 17.
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“I am not saying I am going to be killing him on October 17, so there is no way anybody can say to me what you have done is wrong. I am not going to be killing anybody, I am only saying what God told me that he is going to die.
“He is old and I think it’s time for him to go home, as simple as that … If people think Mugabe is sticking around because he wants power, then they are wrong, I believe right now the old man is serving his jail term while alive.”
The cleric vowed that he was prepared to go to jail over the prophecy.
Mugadza’s prophecy comes after Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya passed an almost similar prophecy on New Year’s Day, declaring that a top politician would die this year.
On Sunday, Zanu PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere admonished clerics prophesying Mugabe’s death, warning of unspecified action.
This is not the first time prophecies have been made of Mugabe’s “looming death”, but the veteran politician has laughed off the predictions, jokingly saying he had surpassed Jesus Christ’s record, dying and resurrecting several times.
Mugadza’s brush with the law started in December 2015, when he staged a solo demonstration at the Zanu PF conference in Victoria Falls, denouncing Mugabe and calling for his resignation over his failed economic policies.
