IN what could be a first in Zimbabwe, United Family International Church (UFIC) leader Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa yesterday conducted a mass wedding where over 450 couples exchanged vows at the City Sports Centre in Harare yesterday.
Aaron Ufumeli GROUP CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
The couples, who turned the venue into a sea of red, black and white, were drawn from different parts of the country with others from other denominations. Makandiwa urged the couples to keep their marriage vows and to cherish the day forever.
“From today onwards your lives will have to change and this marriage is ordained by God and who am I to put it asunder?” said Makandiwa
Speaking after the marriage ceremony, Makandiwa said the church had received the green light to resume construction of its 30 000-seater Chitungwiza building on grounds that were once classified as wetlands.
UFIC spokesperson Prime Kufa told NewsDay on the sidelines of the church’s mass wedding in Harare that the project had been given the nod by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
“We will resume construction at the site in 2015 after issues raised by EMA had been satisfactorily dealt with,” Kufa said.
The massive project, located close to Chitungwiza Town Centre, was stopped 18 months ago after EMA accused the church of breaching environmental regulations. Tourism minister Walter Mzembi early this year said the building should be accorded tourist attraction status because of the church’s large following and the ever-increasing importance of religious tourism.
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Meanwhile, Kufa also said that the church would next year start constructing its national headquarters at Mount Hampden on the outskirts of Harare.
Kufa said: “The headquarters will have a seating capacity of 100 000 and will be used for conferences and annual Judgment Night crusades.”
UFIC is one of the fastest growing pentecostal churches with an average attendance of 15 000 at its Sunday services. The church also hosts over 100 000 local, regional and international pilgrims at its Judgment Night conferences held in Harare each year.
Makandiwa yesterday told his congregants that he would be away for three weeks visiting Ghana, the United Kingdom and South Africa as part of preparations to set up a new UFIC branch in Gauteng province.
