POLICE on Saturday dispersed more than 5 000 members of the
Johane Marange Apostolic Church who had gathered on the outskirts of Masvingo
for their annual Passover ceremony.
The worshippers were ordered to return to their homes after
violating Covid-19 social distancing rules which do not allow a group exceeding
50 people to congregate.
Sect members started gathering at their Maparanyanga shrine
last Wednesday, but were stopped for violating Covid-19 precautionary measures.
Police led members of the provincial Covid-19 taskforce to
engage the sect leaders and apprise them of the need to disperse in line with
rules set by Government to curb the spread of the pandemic.
Covid-19 cases continue to spike in the country with most
of them being imported by Zimbabweans coming from hotspots.
Johane Marange apostolic sect members removed from
Maparanyanga, among them women and children, had to sleep by the roadside along
the Masvingo-Mashava highway on Saturday night as they scrambled to access the
limited transport back home.
When The Herald visited the site yesterday, scores of
families were still by the roadside where they had pitched up tents for
temporary shelter.
The visibly agitated church members said they were unhappy
at being ordered to disperse by the police before they could have their annual
Passover feast.
Cooking utensils, blankets among other items were strewn
all over the place with some seated around fires while others were cooking.
They refused to have photographs taken, complaining over
the way they had been blocked from celebrating Passover.
“We have our own transport which is on its way. What do you
want here? Don’t take our pictures otherwise it won’t end well here. It could
be better if Government had allowed us to remain at our shrine and now that you
chased us away, we are like animals,” said one male sect member, threatening to
harm this reporter.
Their leader, Mr Karifinosi Mashanda, could not be reached
for comment yesterday.
However, on Saturday, he appealed to the provincial
Covid-19 taskforce team to allow them to have Holy Communion before dispersing.
“While we are not against what the authorities want us to
do, we are just requesting to have our Holy Communion as per the tradition of
our church then we can go back home,” said Mr Mashanda.
The taskforce declined the request saying it would be
illegal for them to do so since a gathering of more than 50 people was outlawed
under Covid-19 control regulations.
Taskforce spokesperson Mr Rodgers Irimai yesterday praised
the sect members for being co-operative as some immediately left after being
advised that the gathering was illegal.
“We had fruitful discussions with the sect leaders on
Saturday morning and members immediately started dispersing after we told them
that a gathering of more than 50 was unlawful.
“They were very cooperative although they wanted to be
allowed to have their Holy Communion, which is cause was not possible.”
Mr Irimai allayed fears the sect members would be stranded
by the roadside. “We are not going to assist them with transport because they
told us they had made prior transport arrangements before coming for their
Passover,”he said.
The taskforce expected all the sect members to have
returned to their homes by today, the day when the majority had pre-booked
transport back home.
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