But the group loyal to Bishop Cossam Chiangwa, whose appeal
was dismissed by the Supreme Court, announced that they would form a separate
body, if possible remaining under Apostolic Faith Mission International but
otherwise as a separate church, and would continue occupying church property
until legally evicted.
After the meeting on September 22, 2018 which purported to
dismiss Bishop Madawo and appoint Bishop Chiangwa as church president, a civil
suit was launched in the High Court and the following year Justice David
Mangota agreed that the meeting had no powers to make any decisions and that
Bishop Madawo remained the church leader.
Yesterday, a three-judge appeal bench comprising Justices
Susan Mavangira, Lavender Makoni and Samuel Kudya dismissed the appeal mounted
by Bishop Chiangwa, Amon Chinyemba, Nathan Nhira, Shepherd Sebata, Apostolic
Faith Mission in Zimbabwe, Donald Mdoni, Arthur Nhamburo and M Mashumba.
The court found that the Bishop Chiangwa group did not have
the legal standing to launch their application in the High Court seeking
recognition of their leadership, because their claim to office was anchored on
their initial meeting of 22 September 2018, which was void from the very start
and of no force or effect.
The group led by Bishop Madawo did, as the elected office
bears of the church, have the legal standing to make their application to have
the 2018 meeting nullified. So the appeal court upheld the High Court
judgement.
The first application was for the nullification of the 2018
meeting and all subsequent acts following from it.
Bishop Madawo, AFM, Aspher Madziyire, Munyaradzi Shumba,
Tawanda Nyambirai, Clever Mupakaidzwa, Briton Tembo and Christopher Chembere,
were cited as respondents in the appeal.
In a post judgment address yesterday, Bishop Madawo said
the Bishop Chiangwa faction had been doing illegal things since 2019 but that
under his leadership the AFM would follow due processes in implementing the
orders of the court and recovering control of the church’s assets.
“The court dismissed the appeal by Chiangwa and others
concerning their claim that they are legitimate leaders of the AFM in Zimbabwe.
What that means is that all what they were doing since 22nd of September 2019
was illegal.
“Going forward, legitimate leadership of the church will
follow due process in implementing the orders of the court including running
the places of worship and recovering control of the church’s assets,” he said.
Bishop Madawo urged the church members to remain calm and
not take the law into their own hands.
Pastors who lost office were not pushed out of the church,
as they had not been excommunicated. They still retain the membership of church
but not as pastors. For the past two years, we have done a serious exercise of
recruiting pastors and we are still recruiting pastors.
“We are saying even pastors who had gone to the other side,
if they want to come back we are willing to accept them but there are going to
be due process to be followed,” he said.
But the losing group headed by Bishop Chiangwa now appears
ready to go it alone and yesterday announced that it was considering legal
measures to maintain occupation of church property, although would be guided by
lawyers.
In a post-judgment statement through the group’s secretary
general ,Reverend Nathan Nhira, said they will not tire in fighting for their
place in the church.
Their biggest fight at this stage is no longer about the
leadership of the church, but about control of the church’s assets, which they
say was not dealt with in the Supreme Court judgment. While conceding to have
lost control of the church, Rev Nhira they will continue using the name of the
church, logo and encouraged members using or occupying church premises to stay
put.
“On behalf of the president, Rev. C. Chiangwa, the deputy
president, Rev. A. Chinyemba, and the entire Apostolic Council, whose mandate
is to direct the affairs of the church in between Workers Councils, the much
awaited Supreme Court judgment has finally been pronounced, he said.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce that our prayer
to the Supreme Court has not been granted, instead, our brothers’ prayer has
been granted. Our meeting of the 22nd September, 2020, and its successive
actions have been nullified.
“We acknowledge the judgment in its entirety, and are
obviously consulting our lawyers on the appropriate action from now henceforth.
As we await the court order, it is important to state that, according to our
brothers’ prayer to the court, it is just the nullification of the meeting of
the 22nd September 2018 meeting which has been achieved, their prayer did not
address the issues of assets and properties, no it did not.
Rev Nhira said there were valid mitigatory factors to be
considered on assets and properties, and everyone occupying church buildings
and all those with church properties and assets should not be intimidated into
surrendering anything immediately without due legal process .
“We will only act on legitimate dislodgment orders, which
can be only be served by the Messenger of Court or Deputy Sherriff, with the
appropriate notices,” he said.
But he said those in church buildings and mission houses
should urgently start looking for alternative places of worship and
accommodation.
Rev Nhira vowed not to abide by the new church’s
constitution which he described as draconian, adding that all their structures
at national, provincial and assembly levels, remain in place with the
Theological Seminary and its campuses remaining functional. All elected and
appointed leaders of the group also remain in place, he said.
“We are re-constituting ourselves. We still part of AFM
International and hence we can still use the logo again until AFM International
excludes us from its affiliate membership, then we will design an appropriate
logo and move on to establish our own International forum,” said Rev Nhira.
Herald
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