UNITED Family International Church (UFIC) leader Emmanuel Makandiwa on Sunday 10 July 2016 predicted more political turmoil which could degenerate into anarchy that requires foreign intervention.
Makandiwa told congregants in Harare yesterday that Zimbabwe was “on a verge of an implosion” and the situation could slide into serious proportions.
“There will be a wave of demonstrations, they would stop, and start again and on the fourth time the situation will get out of hand and foreign peace-keepers will be called (sic). Remember, my prophecy about bees flying to come to bite other bees that will be stinging the people,” Makandiwa said during his Sunday service streamed live on YouTube.
A few days before last week’s violent protests, Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader Walter Magaya made a similar prediction, saying he foresaw a southern African country in flames.
Although Magaya did not specifically mention Zimbabwe, the prediction was immediately linked to the chaotic scenes that rocked Beitbridge Border Post following the government’s decision to introduce an import ban on certain goods produced from South Africa.
Makandiwa’s claims come at a time a group of Zimbabweans have launched a social media campaign to petition United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon under the banner #Protect Zimbabweans pursuing their liberation and #thisflag, after State security agents ruthlessly crushed last week’s demonstrations and arrested hundreds of protestors countrywide.
The UFIC leader yesterday also blasted Industry and Trade minister Mike Bimha, describing his Statutory Instrument 64 banning imports as a “monumental joke”.
“I told you that it was a joke (import ban) because I did not think learned people can sit down and talk of industry without asking which industry to protect. Industry is industry because it produces, not just because you have machinery locked inside a precast wall somewhere,” he said.
Makandiwa, who commands a huge following warned President Robert Mugabe, to be wary of his Cabinet ministers saying some of them were clandestinely pushing Zimbabweans to revolt against him.
“We have a sad situation where there is no money and when you get some little money, the government is making sure there is nothing to buy. This is deliberate. It’s being planned by men who are close to the President. They are the ones planning the demonstrations,” he said.
“Our President is in trouble. There shall come time when these same men shall go door-to-door beating up people to join the demonstrations. They want to foment chaos.”
Turning to police brutality, Makandiwa said: “Zimbabweans are not asking for teargas, they are asking for bread, even Jesus said there is no father who can give his child a stone when he is asking for bread.”
“I was standing here in 2014 and I said children of Zimbabwe are going to erupt like a volcano. This is something we cannot afford to ignore,” he said.
Mugabe and his government ministers have dismissed the protests as a non-event and instead accused South Africa, United States of America and France of engineering the recent wave of protests.
Government has also threatened to descend heavily on “social media abusers”, but the organisers of the #ShutdownZimbabwe2016, #This Flag grassroots movement frontman Evan Mawarire, #Tajamuka/Sesijikile’s Promise Mkhwananzi, and various other pressure groups have vowed to roll out more protests until Mugabe’s regime has stepped down to pave way for fresh elections.
Mawarire also urged Zimbabweans to stay away again on Wednesday and Thursday to pile pressure on the defiant Mugabe government to resign enmasse.
Meanwhile, a man who claims to be a police officer yesterday launched a video urging Zimbabweans to heed the Wednesday and Thursday stay aways or risk heavy battering by riot police officers.
In the video clip, which has gone viral on social media platforms, the masked “police officer” warned that riot police officers would beat up anyone seen ‘loitering’ on the streets.
“Fellow Zimbabweans, let us help each other today on a Sunday morning and ensure that my video goes viral like cholera and gets to be seen by many people,” he said.
“I also want to caution
kombi drivers not to drive their vehicles during stay aways to ensure they are also safe. On Wednesday and Thursday during the forthcoming stay away, I caution everyone to ensure they stay at home because I am a policeman, and we have been given instructions to deal harshly with everyone seen on the streets.”
