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Sect Members Clash Over Shrine
Ten people were injured while property worth at least $30 million was destroyed and $4 million in cash disappeared when rival members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church clashed over the use of the sect’s headquarters in Marange, Manicaland.
The incident, the second such in a little over two years, occurred at Mafararikwa Village at about 7pm on May 30, according to Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Edmund Maingire.
Insp Maingire said yesterday that trouble began when Momberume’s followers arrived at the church’s shrine on the day in question intending to hold a gathering ahead of the church’s annual Passover feast scheduled for sometime this month.
Momberume’s followers apparently went to the shrine on the strength of a provisional High Court order granting his and the rival faction led by Noah Taguta, access to the facility which serves as the church’s headquarters.
Momberume is the son of the founder member of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church, while Noah is his relative.
Insp Maingire said Momberume’s followers intended to remain at the shrine until June 2.
“No sooner had his followers settled than about 50 members of Taguta’s faction stormed the premises to deny them access.
“Fights broke out and in the ensuing pandemonium a new Nissan twin cab was extensively damaged while property including blankets and other personal effects was burnt.
“Cash totalling $4 million was also reportedly stolen,” Insp Maingire said.
He said the rival sect members spent the rest of the night lunging at each other with staffs and other weapons before the police moved in to prevent further bloodletting.
The police counted eight injured from Momberume’s faction.
There were no reports of casualties from the alleged assailants.
Insp Maingire said when the police tried to arbitrate, about 3000 of Taguta’s followers became violent and “tried to scare the police off by speaking in tongues (an unintelligible language presumably inspired by God or the Holy Spirit and spoken by Jesus’ apostles on the first Pentecost)”.
Two more of Momberume’s followers were injured in the ensuing clashes.
“The police, who included members of the riot squad, managed to contain the situation,” Insp Maingire said without elaborating.
Following the death of the founder, Johanne Momberume Marange on October 1 1963, a vicious power struggle emerged which culminated in the church splitting into two factions.
The two factions are sworn enemies and bloody – often-prolonged – fights invariably break out whenever they meet.
In a similar incident in July 2001, several people were injured, some of them seriously, while property worth millions of dollars, including a coffin bearing a dead body, was destroyed when the two factions clashed over the right to bury one of the founder’s son’s, Oliver.
The Johanne Marange Apostolic Church is considered one of the biggest African independent churches, with an estimated 10 million followers worldwide.
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