The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Correspondent
IN a week where American President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and two neighbours, Zimbabwe and Botswana, moved closer than ever, it was a video of a little-known 29-year-old Zimbabwean man, Brighton (Elliot) Moyo, that grabbed headlines.
The video of Moyo, dressed in a spotless white suit as if he had been wrapped for special delivery to the gates of heaven, has now no doubt become a part of legend beyond the borders of the country where his resurrection is said to have taken place.
According to South Africa’s eNCA news, Moyo had “allegedly told his colleagues that he was paid a R150 000 for the performance.”
Moyo’s employer, Vincent Amoretti, said the modern day Lazarus had been trying to recruit staff members at his timber company to take part in some of the “miracles”.
“From what I hear from my staff, he was trying to get people to come and do the act with him. So I believe he has done a stunt in the wheelchair where he has got up and walked away and he tried to, what do you say, solicit some of the people who work for me to come and do the shows with him. So it’s an ongoing thing,” he said.
Moyo has subsequently gone into hiding.
However, it has emerged that before he started doing “stunts” for Prophet Lukau, Moyo had allegedly been aggressively pursued for recruitment by people from the shamed prophet’s Alleluia Ministries International (AMI).
Moyo’s friend of five years, Nicky, claimed that his friend got involved with the church through people they knew from Jo’burg.
“He is a very good guy but I don’t know what happened because they had been trying to recruit him for quite a long time and he would say, ‘these people are calling me’, and they would even go to his home,” said Nicky.
While the heat is on Prophet Lukau and Moyo, it is easy to forget that outstanding miracles seem to be performed every week by Africa’s new breed of prophets. From miracle money to people who fall down or faint when the wave of their papa’s hand, miracles have become a staple whenever the Major Prophets roll into town. Prophet Lukau is not the only one in the business of paying actors to enact miracles in front of congregants that are only too eager to believe in them.
In 2016, a South African woman, Margaret Hlatshwayo, claimed the senior pastor of Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, ECG, in South Africa, Shepherd Bushiri, paid her to lie about miracles.
The 38-year-old woman recently narrated how the self-acclaimed man of God paid thousands per week to a team of actors to stage being healed.
Margaret said, “My conscience has been pricking me for about three months now and I am terrified that God might punish me. I knew what I was doing was wrong but I couldn’t resist the R500 money promised. This is because I needed the money to feed my 3 children and I couldn’t turn down the offer so I did what they told me,” she claimed.
However, all the prophets and churches accused of the tricks have denied any wrong doing, claiming they were being accused by those with a vendetta against their churches. And Prophet Lukau’s church, situated in Sandton in Johannersburg, has said the prophet did not perform any miracle and neither did he claim resurrecting the man from the dead, pointing out that Moyo came to church “already awaken” but still inside the coffin. The church said Moyo’s family said it was on its way to Zimbabwe to bury the body when it decided to pass through the church, though no paper work has been availed to prove the journey story.
In 2017, local media investigations revealed that a group of people from the poor settlement of Epworth on the outskirts of Harare have found an easy way to make money through prophets who lead charismatic churches.
The group are known as mabhidhiri (fake miracle actors) who pretend, after being gripped by the Holy Spirit, to have seizures and fall to the ground. This group of people moves from one church to another giving false testimonies and partake in fake miracles.
Investigations revealed that the actors are a well-knit network made up of tricksters and polished actors who charge $10 per church service.
A Johanne Masowe Yechishanu prophet, Madzibaba Emmanuel Mutumwa popularly known by many as Madzibaba Manu also alluded to the existence of this group of actors.
“Harare is full of fake prophets who stage manage miracles, vane vanhu vavo (they have their people) whom they call mabhidhiri and give them money to act like witches. Ruzhinji ruri muHarare umu vakubhadhara vanhu, (many in Harare pay people) except a few,” he said.
For stuntman Moyo, the alleged R150 000 seems to have cost him more than his dignity, as his fast rising career at the timber company seems to be effectively over.
“He became an assistant machinist and he was starting to climb the ladder. He was okay and I knew it could take him far,” Moyo’s employer Amoretti said.
