The world around Prophet Walter Magaya is crumbling as more
allegations of sexual abuse and harassment continue to surface.
A week after the Maenzanise family went on social media
alleging that their daughter had been raped, more women are coming out to make
allegations of improper sexual behaviour against the man-of-cloth.
The latest allegations come from Charity Dlodlo and Sarah
Maruta, both former church members of Prophet Magaya’s Prophetic Healing and
Deliverance Ministries (PHD).
When Enisia Mushusha went on Facebook on June 26 with Mr
and Mrs Maenzanise, she might not have anticipated the can of worms the
revelations would open.
At the centre of the allegations by the Maenzanises were
the insinuations that Prophet Magaya, the leader of PHD, might have had an
improper sexual relationship with their daughter, which resulted in a child
being born.
But as the nation digested the latest round of sexual
allegations against Prophet Magaya, who is no newcomer to such allegations, the
Maenzanise daughter poured water on the story.
In a video released on Facebook last weekend, she denied
ever having been raped by the prophet.
But the Maenzanise interview opened the floodgates and by
mid-week, a number of women were opening up on the several improper sexual
encounters they have had with Prophet Magaya.
Two prominent politicians, whom we cannot name as they are
still weighing their options — whether to go public or not, were also allegedly
sexually abused and harassed. One of the politicians’ daughter was also
sexually abused.
“I am coming out not because I have any scores to settle
with Magaya, nor that I want his money but because I want justice to be done. I
am doing this for the girl child, many of whom were sexually abused at the
church and who might not be strong enough to stand up to him,” said Charity
Dlodlo on Wednesday.
She travelled from Malawi, where she is currently based as
a swimming coach, to file charges against the prophet.
“This is not the first time that I have been raising these
allegations but previously no one would listen to me. The police were
compromised and so were most of the journalists, but I am hoping that the
opening up by the Maenzanises will go some way in bringing closure to the many
sexual allegations against Magaya,” she said.
Dlodlo, who gained fame on Studio 263 as Mai Madziva, said
she joined PHD Ministries on August 2, 2015, “a date that I remember so well
because I manifested on that very day”.
Probably given her fame from the soap opera, her
manifestation caught the eye of the prophet. And when she checked into the
Marlborough guest house for a one-on-one session with the prophet, she was
invited to the main church for further “deliverance”.
As someone who was witnessing the power of the prophet
first-hand, she did not see anything amiss with the invite and the subsequent
offer of ministry work. Later on, offers to financially help with her rent
came.
“When the offer to pay my rent came, I saw nothing amiss as
I thought this was the man of God living up to his word. I accepted the money
and didn’t see any ulterior motive,” narrated Dlodlo.
Then a year into the church, rumours of the various
allegations against the prophet started circulating. “Then I did not take the
allegations seriously as someone who had witnessed the power of Magaya,” she
said.
As part of her voluntary ministry work, for which she was
paid just a stipend, Dlodlo would help a class with acting lessons. She would
also vet testimonies that would later be aired on Yadah TV, the PHD Ministry’s
television channel.
“Through the vetting exercise, I came face-to-face with the
work of Prophet Magaya, and every testimony that I came across emboldened my
faith and trust in him.
“Then the day Prophet Magaya went to Israel, Sarah Maruta,
whom I had become close to during the acting lessons, phoned to say she wanted
to talk to me. We met in town and after some lunch, when I was about to say my
goodbyes, she opened up. She told me she had been raped by Prophet Magaya.”
Dlodlo’s initial reaction was to deny the allegations on
behalf of the prophet, telling Maruta that a man of Magaya’s stature would not
stoop so low.
“Earlier on, the prophet had told me to appraise him if any
girl had opened up to me about any problems, whatever problem. So when the
prophet came from Israel, I approached him with Sarah’s allegations, which he
flatly denied and asked me to keep him in the loop of what Sarah was saying to
me,” recounted Dlodlo.
So it was in keeping with that spirit that Dlodlo would
forward to the prophet all the communication between her and Sarah.
In the meantime, it is said the prophet was keeping Dlodlo
pampered, making sure she got all the financial help that she wanted.
But when she was asked to steal Maruta’s cellphone, that is
when she realised she was playing for the wrong team.
Then her moment came. She was asked to come to the Prospect offices where she
knelt before the prophet, as per church tradition. When the man of cloth rose
from his chair, she assumed he was coming to pray for her, possibly with his
hand placed on her head.
But instead, he kissed her and touched her breasts. In response, Dlodlo cried out loud, possibly
attracting the attention of those who were nearby.
This encounter came after several WhatsApp messages from
the prophet to Dlodlo, some which included pornographic videos, she further
alleges. She said after that encounter, the prophet made efforts to keep her
close — as well as pampered, financially.
But Maruta was not as lucky as Charity, as she claims she
was raped at a house in Borrowdale (address withheld), not once, but twice. The
second rape incident resulted in her getting pregnant.
The pregnancy, she further alleges, was forcibly terminated
at one of the biggest hospitals in Harare, again at the instigation of the
prophet.
“Mai Chibhero (name changed by this publication) is at the
centre of most of the sexual abuses happening at PHD, she acts more like a pimp
for the prophet, and she is the one who accompanied me to hospital and made
sure my pregnancy was terminated. She also accompanied me to a shopping trip to
South Africa, a trip which I strongly believe was arranged to kill me,” further
accused Maruta.
She claims that when she found out that she was pregnant,
especially a pregnancy borne of a rape encounter, she could not stomach it and
attempted suicide. When she was admitted at the said hospital due to the
attempted suicide, she was drugged and chained to a hospital bed.
She claims that it was in that drugged stupor that her
pregnancy was terminated.
And then the hush money started pouring in, with Mai
Chibhero, Admire Mango and a prominent Harare lawyer involved in the
negotiations for the settlement.
After a letter of demand was written to Prophet Magaya, a
copy of which is in our possession, the prophet agreed to settle out-of-court
so that Maruta would not press any charges against him.
“Financial help continued to come towards my rentals, general
upkeep and he even advised me to start cross-border trading”, said Maruta.
The money that was advanced to Maruta comes close to $100
000.
“This money was paid at different stages and times, some of
it in hard currency, some through bank transfers from his church account into
my personal account and some of it as RTGS dollars,” claimed Maruta.
She said she is not surprised that Mrs Maenzanise’s
daughter has denied that she had been raped, as possibly she could have been
paid off.
“Everyone at PHD knew about her case and we are not
surprised that she has turned against her mother, chances are she was paid
off,” she said.
“In fact, there are many girls at the church who have been
sexually abused. There is Teclar, Caroline, Petronellah, Precious and Diana, to
name just a few of these girls. I know these girls because there came a time
when we opened up to each other and we would openly discuss these issues.
“Besides, there came a time when we went to church and we
knew every girl who was being handed an envelope, we knew what it meant — she
would have slept with the prophet.”
She even alleges that some of the girls, on discovering
these improper sexual liaisons with the prophet, would become jealous of each
other.
“But the weird thing is, when we discussed our encounters
with him, most of us professed of having had weird dreams. At times you would
dream having sex with a snake, kissing a snake or something weird. And what
made it even worse was that he would ask if we had dreamt about him,” narrated Maruta.
She also alleged that whenever an announcement was made in
church that the prophet was looking for 17-year-olds or university student
girls to employ, “we knew what it meant, he was looking for new girls”.
Efforts to talk to Prophet Magaya on Friday proved
fruitless as he was said to be out of the country, together with his
spokesperson, Admire Mango. Both were not reachable.
When reached for comment, Mai Chibhero said she could not
speak on church issues and referred all questions to Mango.
The lawyer, who was involved in the hush money settlement,
said he could not speak to the Press as he has a confidentiality clause with
his client. He also could not speak on behalf of the church as he is not the
church’s spokesperson. Sunday Mail
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