Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association (Zinatha) yesterday laid into vapostori, making sensational claims that some of the white-garmented sect goers were their members.
by Jairos Saunyama
This is the second attack on vapostori in a week after Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries leader Walter Magaya claimed they used ungodly spirits as the source of their power.
Traditional healers were responding to Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe president Johannes Ndanga’s utterances last week that Magaya was “worse than local traditional healers”.
Ndanga’s remarks came after Magaya last Sunday launched a second unsolicited attack on the vapostori in his second book Marine Spirits Part 2.
He labelled practices by vapostori sects as ungodly and claimed they use marine spirits. He also said the vapostori were a “hub of sexual immorality”.
But Ndanga fumed and said that Magaya used “sacrificial blood” to perform his miracles, derived his powers from marine spirits and was “worse than traditional healers”.
Zinatha director-general George Kandiero said some of the vapostori were members of Zinatha and utterances by Ndanga could fuel tension among faith healers.
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“That statement is not good at all. We are all into medicine — medicine that is not Western. It is not a good statement at all. It promotes hate and friction among us,” Kandiero said.
“Zinatha is a registered organisation and for your own information, we have some vapostori who are members of Zinatha. We are under one umbrella and all fall under TMPC (Traditional Medicine Practitioners’ Council) that registers healers, vapostori and herbalists.”
Zinatha claimed that it had more than 45 000 registered members who included pastors and apostolic prophets.
Efforts to get a comment from Ndanga were fruitless as he was reported to be in Masvingo.
The war of words between PHD and vapostori was ignited after the launch of the book Marine Spirits Part 1 by Magaya in which he discouraged people from seeking assistance at apostolic shrines, alleging sect leaders were possessed with marine spirits.
In retaliation, Ndanga said he was aware that Magaya derived his powers from snakes.
