Fists rain in Twelve Apostolic Church congregants Bulawayo’s Lobengula West suburb clash over personalisation of church by two bishops

A FIERCE fistfight erupted at the Twelve Apostolic Church of Christ in Bulawayo’s Lobengula West suburb as congregants belonging to different factions clashed during a demonstration over alleged personalisation of the church by two bishops.

The church was briefly turned into a boxing ring as fists flew thick and fast as congregants downed their Bibles and went physical ignoring St Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians when he wrote, “You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? When one of you says, ‘I am a follower of Paul,’ and another says, ‘I follow Apollos,’ aren’t you acting just like people of the world?”— 1 Corinthians 3 vs 3-4.

What started off as a peaceful demonstration against two of the church’s bishops, Bishop Aleck Francis Dube and Bishop Manners Aaron Ngwenya soon turned into a fistfight fight among the congregants with one end supporting the bishops and the other calling for their demotion.

It was revealed to Sunday News that the congregants have been at loggerheads since May 2015 when Bishops Dube and Ngwenya amended the church’s constitution and joined the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) without consulting the church members.

Furthermore, the bishops and their allies are said to have forcibly closed the Cowdray Park branch of the church and set up their own assembly in the same neighbourhood.

The bishops have been accused of insulting and threatening members of the congregation, telling them that should they keep speaking out, they would disappear.

A congregant who spoke on condition of anonymity said he had even been threatened with legal action.

“We have been insulted on numerous occasions and the bishops boast a lot. They say their children have a lot of money and they can afford to hire expensive lawyers which the church cannot afford. Therefore, we stand no chance against them. They tell us there is nothing we can do against them. The bishops have become a law unto themselves and no one can question them,” he said.

Sunday News learnt that when the church council, which consists of preachers suspended the bishops from their duties, chaos in the church started. The bishops and their allies would attend church services and when the preachers started preaching, the bishops would stand up from their seats and stage their own sermon.

“Ever since they were suspended, these bishops come to church every Sabbath and cause commotion here. They wait until the preacher starts preaching then they also start their own preaching. This has been going on for 13 weeks and we have not had a real service in months. Some of our brethren have even stopped coming to church because we know how it always ends,’’ said Mr Daniel Dlamini, a deacon at the church.

As a result of the growing discontent at the church, congregants decided to come together yesterday from 16 different branches to show their disapproval of the bishops’ actions. However, the protest turned ugly when they were met with repression particularly from Deacon Bongani Stefan Sibanda, who was the most vocal in defending the bishops.

Approached by Sunday News, Sibanda was vicious and ready to throw punches and no comment could be obtained from the bishops who were heavily defended by Sibanda.

He attacked, hurled insults and tore the placards of anyone who dared to come close to the bishops.

Some of the congregants’ placards read, “No to Abuse of Power”, “No to Violation of Our Rights”, “Open Cowdray Park” and “No one is Above the Law”.

The congregation called for immediate effective suspension of the bishops as well as withdrawal of the church from its “controversial” affiliation to ACCZ. Nozibelo Maphosa and Nkosilesisa Ncube, source-sundaynews