{"id":507,"date":"2025-06-02T19:31:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T19:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/?p=507"},"modified":"2025-06-02T20:07:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T20:07:28","slug":"afm-mt-zion-in-crisis-pastor-accused-of-abuse-as-overseer-shields-church-leader-amid-sangoma-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/2025\/06\/02\/afm-mt-zion-in-crisis-pastor-accused-of-abuse-as-overseer-shields-church-leader-amid-sangoma-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"AFM Mt Zion in Crisis: Pastor Accused of Abuse as Overseer Shields Church Leader Amid Sangoma Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Police intimidation, political protection, and congregational revolt rock Hobhouse assembly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Fanuel Chinowaita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mount Zion Congregation on Sunday<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hobhouse \u2013 June 2, 2025<\/em> – The Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFM) Mt Zion Assembly in Hobhouse is gripped by deep unrest following a series of serious allegations against its spiritual leaders, including claims that Pastor Musonza consults sangomas<\/strong>, and that his wife, Jennifer Musonza<\/strong>, has been abusing and victimizing church youths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation has spiraled further as Overseer Rev. Dr. Togara Mapingur<\/strong>e stands accused of political interference and shielding the embattled pastor from accountability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a Youth Conference held in Masvingo from April 17 to 20<\/strong>, church youths were shocked when Pastor’s wife Jennifer Musonza allegedly ordered them to throw away their food<\/strong> and confiscated their plates<\/strong>, sparing only Tafadzwa Madhuru<\/strong>, the boyfriend of her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate incident at the same conference, a female youth sharing a tent with the pastor\u2019s daughter was forcibly chased away by Jennifer and her daughter<\/strong>, leaving other youths scrambling to find her alternative shelter. Pastor Musonza and his wife reportedly showed no concern or action<\/strong> following the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More alarming, Tafadzwa Madhuru<\/strong> is alleged to have threatened another youth with a knife<\/strong>, but the matter was never addressed by church leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After returning from Masvingo, attempts to engage the church leadership were thwarted. “We waited to speak after the service, but the pastor and his wife fled the scene<\/strong>,” a youth leader told The Wasu Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overseer Togara Mapingur<\/strong>e later visited the church but reportedly ordered elders to block members from raising concerns<\/strong>. When youths disrupted a subsequent service demanding answers, the Overseer allegedly instructed the church to call the police<\/strong> instead of addressing their grievances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Monday, during a provincial meeting in Chikanga, a controversial letter, said to be from the AFM national leadership<\/strong>, was read out, announcing the expulsion of the entire Mt Zion leadership<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the letter lacked the official stamp and signature<\/strong> of both the National President and Secretary, leading many to believe it was unauthorised and fabricated<\/strong> to protect Pastor Musonza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a move viewed by congregants as a targeted campaign of intimidation<\/strong>, Pastor Musonza is now accused of abusing the police system to silence dissenting voices<\/strong>. He has allegedly reported to police that church property was seized by force<\/strong>, despite the fact that the PA system and chairs do not belong to either him or the church<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe found those things already in place when he was appointed. Now he\u2019s lying to the police to have us arrested,\u201d said a senior member of the Youth Power Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of the reports, some members have been summoned by Hobhouse Police<\/strong> and are expected to appear on Tuesday<\/strong>, June 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the crackdown, resistance continues to grow. Last Sunday<\/strong>, Pastor Musonza held a church service outside with only about five followers<\/strong>, while the majority of the congregation boycotted in protest<\/strong>, vowing to continue demanding accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overseer Mapingure has further drawn fire for boasting of his political immunity<\/strong>, allegedly stating, \u201cI\u2019m close to Minister Mugadza. I eat and drink with him, and I have nothing to fear.\u201d<\/em> Critics argue this signals a dangerous politicisation of church matters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a widely circulated internal memo titled \u201cLet Us Pray for Mt Zion Assembly,\u201d<\/em> Overseer Mapinguri downplayed the crisis<\/strong>, accused the congregation of \u201chostile protests,\u201d and described the seizing of church equipment as a criminal act<\/strong> threatening legal action instead of reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts to get comment from Pastor Musonza<\/strong> were unsuccessful as his mobile phone was unreachable<\/strong> at the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, calls for an independent investigation<\/strong> into the conduct of both Pastor Musonza and Overseer Mapingur<\/strong>e are growing louder, with many saying the national leadership must intervene or risk a full-blown schism<\/strong> at one of its assemblies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police intimidation, political protection, and congregational revolt rock Hobhouse assembly By Fanuel Chinowaita Hobhouse \u2013 June 2, 2025 – The Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFM) Mt Zion Assembly in Hobhouse is gripped by deep unrest following a series of serious allegations against its spiritual leaders, including claims that Pastor Musonza consults sangomas, and that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}