Zimbabwe police have arrested a self-proclaimed prophet and saved the lives of 250 children who were members of his cult.
Police said Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, led a sect with more than 1,000 members at a farm about 21 miles north-west of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Children were living alongside other ‘believers’ while ‘being used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect’s leadership’, police spokesman Paul Nyathi said.
Of the 251 children, 246 had no birth certificates.
Mr Nyathi said: ‘Police established that all children of school-going age did not attend formal education and were subjected to abuse as cheap labor, doing manual work in the name of being taught life skills.
‘They were being used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect’s leadership.
‘Police established that all children of school-going age did not attend formal education and were subjected to abuse as cheap labor, doing manual work in the name of being taught life skills.’
Among the graves found, seven were for infants whose burials were not registered with local authorities.
Zimbabwean police raided the shrine earlier this week, arresting Chokurongerwa, who called himself the Prophet Ishmael, alongside seven of his aides ‘for criminal activities which include abuse of minors.’
A state-run newspaper, H-Metro, accompanied police during the raid and showed police in riot gear arguing with female believers in white garments and head cloths who demanded the return of children.
The kids were put into a waiting police bus, but is not clear where police took the children – some of whom were accompanied by women.
‘Why are they taking our children? We are comfortable here. We don’t have a problem here,’ one woman was heard yelling.
Believers described the compound as ‘their promised land’, with one of Chokurongerwa’s aides formerly telling the newspaper: ‘Our belief is not from scriptures, we got it directly from God who gave us rules on how we can enter heaven.
‘God forbids formal education because the lessons learnt at such schools go against his dictates. God told us that it won’t rain if we send our children to school. Look at the drought out there, yet we are receiving rains here. We have the gift of a spiritual ear to hear God’s voice.’
Apostolic groups that infuse traditional beliefs into a Pentecostal doctrine are popular in the deeply religious southern African country.
There has been little detailed research on Apostolic churches in Zimbabwe, but UNICEF studies estimate it is the largest religious denomination with around 2.5 million followers in a country of 15 million.
Some of the groups adhere to a doctrine demanding that followers avoid formal education for their children as well as medicines and medical care for members who must instead seek healing through their faith in prayer, holy water and anointed stones.
Some have recently started permitting their members to go to hospitals and register their children in school after strong campaigns by the government and non-profit groups.
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