Thousands of Johanne Marange apostolic sect members have converged at Mafararikwa shrine in Manicaland province’s Marange area for their annual end of year gathering amid a deadly cholera outbreak that has claimed many lives across the country.
The province has emerged as a cholera hotspot.
Marange is among several areas in the country grappling with the diarrhoeal disease.
The government restricted public gatherings and food vending while monitoring burials in Marange and other parts of the country affected by the diarrhoeal disease.
This publication heard that Health and Child Care ministry officials in Manicaland province had cancelled the gathering of nearly 200 000 pilgrims following the outbreak of cholera.
However, provincial medical director for Manicaland Munyaradzi Mukuzunga said he was not aware of the pilgrimage.
“I don’t know anything about that gathering, I am on leave,” he said.
Moses Mukwada of the Bocha Community Diamond Trust said their efforts to have the pilgrimage banned in the wake of disease outbreaks hit a brick wall.
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“We have in the past engaged authorities for these church gatherings to be banned whenever there is a disease outbreak, to no avail,” Mukwada said.
“Government is siding with Vapostori, allowing them to defy restrictions just because they want their votes.”
Mukwada said the government was doing nothing to end child marriages being practiced by mapostori, mainly Johanne Marange apostolic sect members.
In 2021, the government came under fire for alleged selective application of the law after allowing thousands of Johanne Marange followers to hold their annual pilgrimage at a time when all public gatherings were banned at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
There are fears that the current gathering in Marange could become a super spreader of cholera as the sect members are reportedly not observing World Health Organisation-prescribed safety measures nor does the shrine have proper sanitation facilities and clean water.
Mukwada said most of the pilgrims use water from the nearby Save River, which according to health officials is contaminated.
He also accused authorities of withholding cholera-related information, arguing that a number of villagers in Marange had succumbed to the diarrhoeal disease.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been attending Johanne Marange sect church services on several occasions, especially during election time, apparently to seek political support.
Zanu PF has always drawn support from the apostolic sects, especially during elections.
Vapostori4ED and Zion for Economic Development (Zion4ED) recently won the Most Outstanding Organisation accolades for mobilising votes for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re-election.
