Bushiri in Vic Falls

Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
MALAWIAN Prophet Shepherd Bushiri whose Enlightened Christian Gathering Church recently came under fire for exposing a child living with HIV, made a private visit to Victoria Falls last week to spend time with his legion of pastors at a retreat.

A total of 105 ECG pastors from southern Africa attended a four-day retreat at a local hotel and were on Saturday joined by their “Father or Papa” as Prophet Bushiri is known by his followers.

The visit comes at a time when the church leadership left many confused after disowning the local church following the little boy’s incident which was widely condemned by HIV and Aids as well as child activists.

In an interview in Victoria Falls, a senior pastor in the church, Apostle Innocent Bekezela Nkomo who is ECG international deputy director, said Prophet Bushiri secretly flew into the resort town on Saturday last week in a private jet to grace the retreat and flew out the same day later in the afternoon.

However, some locals closer to the church politics said Prophet arrived Thursday morning and was holed up at Elephant Hills Resort until his departure Saturday. They said on Friday he had dinner with the pastors at the Boma, where members of the church paid $30 each to eat with him. Apostle Nkomo insisted that he arrived Saturday.

Speaking about the church, Apostle Nkomo said: “There was no truth that our father has no church in Zimbabwe. Our father has a church headquartered in Bulawayo. We have churches in Harare and all over the country.”

He said there was nothing unusual about the healing of the little boy whose picture the church allegedly posted on a Facebook page, claiming to have healed him of the disease.

“This was a retreat for our pastors which our father made for them. You know our ministry is international, hence pastors are busy globally so we don’t have time to rest. Our father thought of giving them a time to relax at a scenic place like Victoria Falls,” said Apostle Nkomo.

“Miracles talk for themselves. We don’t want to talk for a miracle because when it happens it speaks for itself. We experience these miracles on a daily basis in Pretoria. This is why you find Germans, Australians, Canadians, Americans all come to Pretoria to see God in action. The Acts of the Apostles which we read as a book happens in ECG in Pretoria.”

He said Prophet Bushiri’s visit was a blessing to the country. Prophet Bushiri, about 3,4 million Facebook followers and had sparked a lot of debate locally and internationally with his prophecies.

@ncubeleon