Pastor kidnapped by his rival, told to surrender church property if he wants to live

A Zimbabwean Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) pastor and his wife were allegedly kidnapped and held for five hours by a rival faction on 15 August, local publication MbareTimes reports.

According to reports, the pastor filed a report for kidnapping at a local Police Station.

“After the Supreme Court ruling, in which we won the right to control the church; we went to court so that Simbarashe Chizunza from Chiyangwa’s faction return our church property, Chizunza was ordered to return the property to me,” pastor Veru is quoted saying.

Chizunza complied and returned the property, but recently, when the government ordered that the churches should be reopened on August 15, the pastor went to church with his wife so that he could reopen the church only to be shocked to see Chizunza and members of his faction camped at the church premises.

“I was manhandled, threatened with death and kidnapped together with my wife. They held me captive for almost five hours; they told me never to set my foot at the church as they would kill me,” he said.

He added that his rivals forcibly took away keys to the church building and took musical instruments and chairs.

Pastor Veru was recently declared the legitimate AFM leader by the Supreme Court, following a similar ruling by the High Court in 2019.