MASVINGO – Apostle Talent Chiwenga, who bashes the corrupt and calls out Zanu PF leaders for misrule during his sermons, says an accident that claimed the lives of his wife and two others on Wednesday was an assassination attempt.
Chiwenga was the only survivor after his vehicle rolled several times near Masvingo, he says after he was forced off the road by a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
Before going into surgery on Thursday, Chiwenga recorded a video from his hospital bed, blaming the accident on “cruel politicians” and adding: “If God wants me to live and continue with my assignment, he will save my life. I’m not afraid of dying, there is a better place than this earth.”
Two weeks ago, Chiwenga wrote to President Emmerson Mnangagwa complaining that he was being followed by state security agents. He has previously been in the crosshairs of vice president Constantino Chiwenga for giving a prophecy about the imminent death of two high-profile politicians.
Chiwenga is being treated at Makurira Memorial Clinic in Masvingo for concussion to his head, a fractured arm, three broken fingers and broken ribs, he revealed.
Chiwenga, who was driving to Harare after attending church conferences in South Africa, recalled how they arrived in Masvingo at about 4PM on Tuesday and sought a mechanic to fix a broken fan belt. The repair took three hours, he said.
After the vehicle was fixed, he said he decided to relieve one Baba Kanyuchi, who had driven up to Masvingo.
“About 20km after passing the tollgate, I looked around and everyone was asleep. My average speed was 100km/h, and the maximum I drove was 120km/h owing to the fan belt problem. I then saw a car coming from the Harare side, that car swerved into my lane and I flashed the driver with my headlights to show him that he was doing something wrong,” Chiwenga said, speaking with surprising clarity but appearing to be in pain.
“The other driver appeared like he wanted to have a collision with me. It looked like a Toyota one tonne truck or Toyota Hilux, but it had a bumper on it and some yellow lamps on top of the roof. When I tried to avoid the other vehicle by leaving the road, both front wheels got into a ditch or went over a hump, producing a great noise. My car swerved back into the road but I realised I was no longer in control, the steering wheel was more loose than it usually is.
“When we crossed the road, we faced directly to a tree. When I tried to turn the car back to avoid that tree, it overturned and that was the last time I remember. I woke up after an hour maybe, there were a lot of people around. Baba Kanyuchi said don’t mention your name, they (assassins) could be still here. People used axes to get me out.
“It is sad to realise that my colleagues have lost their lives. I can assure you that this was not an ordinary accident. When we arrived at Beitbridge, the immigration officer took my passport and went away for about two-and-a-half minutes, saying he wanted to use another scanner. My suspicion is that there were people who knew we had gone to South Africa and they were waiting for us.”
Chiwenga is in no doubt that the other vehicle involved in the incident had forced him off the road. He believes they did not finish him off “because they thought I was dying; I was bleeding a lot.”
His wife, Baba Kanyuchi and a Mai Vhurumuku died at the accident scene.
“I don’t think it was necessary for them to kill my wife… this is the cruelty of our politicians. I hope God is going to forgive those that are behind this,” he said.
Apostle Chiwenga was driven to hospital by another motorist, he says after an ambulance called to the crash scene took too long.
“If that well-wisher had not driven me to the hospital on time, I would be dead. I don’t know who that person was, but I’m grateful to them, and all the others that helped me. I’m in pain because I lost the mother of my children. Who’s going to take care of my children? I don’t know,” Chiwenga said in the 13-minute video.
He said should he not survive the operation, he was assigning a Pastor Baloyi, and a Pastor Marange to take over as leaders of his church, the Jesus Revelation Ministries.
“In my absence, God is going to help you to steer this ministry wherever it wants to go. You need to be stronger than you were before. The doctrine of Christ that I taught you, there’s no way you can forget it,” he said.
“I don’t have any regret. I have preached the word with a clear conscience. If the will of God is that this is my time to go, I have no better place to go than where he wants me to go.”
