Bishop Mutendi gives Mugabe lifespan limit

Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi stunned thousands of Zanu-PF supporters gathered at the Great Zimbabwe monuments to celebrate President Robert Mugabe’s 92nd birthday last Saturday when he prayed for the veteran leader not to live for more than 120 years. After going over-drive, praising Mugabe saying the Biblical Moses was far inferior to the Zimbabwean President, Bishop Mutendi made a sudden turn in his prayer, asking God to grant Mugabe 28 more years to live — and nothing more, nothing less.

ZCC Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi

“I pray that President Mugabe lives up to 120 years,” Mutendi said, much to the surprise of thousands of party supporters. However, people who spoke to this publication at the Great Zimbabwe monuments said it was not proper for a Bishop to give limits to someone’s lifespan. “What if God wanted Mugabe to live up to 130 years or more . . . we have a problem when Bishops start to make controversial prayers,” said a Zanu-PF supporter who refused to be named.
Mutendi said Moses only managed to free Israelites from the Egyptian bondage but failed to take them all the way to Canaan while on the contrary, President Mugabe freed Zimbabweans from their colonisers and managed to be with them for 35 years now after bondage. The Bishop said the fact that President Mugabe was still the leader years after independence was a clear sign that he has done greater works as compared to Biblical Moses, who could not be with the people in Canaan.
“You (Mugabe) did what Moses could not do . . . Moses did not go with the people to Canaan but you were with us even after independence . . . even this day, you are still leading us,” said Mutendi before he went into the shocking prayer. Some pastors reacted angrily to Mutendi’s prayer saying it was not good for Mutendi to be overzealous in praising Mugabe.
“The president has played his role as the leader of Zimbabwe and this far he has taken us but the exegesis to idolise him and equate him to biblical figures is totally out of context. The bible does not allow us to idolise people,” said Christian Voice International Zimbabwe president Prophet Clement Zenda.
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