A pastor, dubbed Morgan “Tsvangirai’s pimp”, for allegedly connecting Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister with a woman from his church, has been defrocked.
Lazarus Muriritirwa, who doubled up as a principal director in Morgan Tsvangirai’s office as well as being leader of the Johannesburg branch of the Gospel Assembly Church, was asked to stand down after the church’s senior leadership met in Bulawayo recently.
Murititirwa did not attend the gathering after excusing himself, according to minutes from the meeting of 24 pastors drawn from Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The minutes, signed by the church’s secretary Joseph Wafawarova, show that among the pastors present who adopted the resolution were Enos Imani of Pretoria, Langton Mboneka of Gaborone, Francis Mangani of Kitwe and Eddie Gatsi of Harare, who chaired the meeting.
The church leaders cited Muriritirwa’s political activities as the reason for asking him to step down, but they also pointed to him “offering sisters to ungodly men”.
“The meeting resolved that if Pastor Muriritirwa leaves politics, we will continue to fellowship with him, but if he continues being involved in politics, we will no longer fellowship with him,” the minutes say.
“He should step down from being the pastor of Johannesburg Assembly and put in someone to be in charge of that Assembly.”
The pastors also said being a pastor demanded that one should “live a clean life befitting a minister of the gospel”, adding: “Pastor Muriritirwa should stop offering sisters to ungodly men for relationships or marriage because his public image impacts on the image of the church.”
Muriritirwa was sucked into a political storm after a South African woman, Nosipho Regina Shilubane, a member of his congregation, revealed how he had arranged a date for her with Tsvangirai.
The single mum-of-one told how Muriritirwa approached her and told her that there was a friend who wanted to meet her.
Tsvangirai, who was battling allegations of multiple affairs, child and spousal maintenance claims, met Shilubane at the Pallazio Hotel in Fourways at the Monte Casino Mall.
In a court affidavit, she told how Tsvangirai then asked Muriritirwa and his son Edwin to “give us some privacy”.
Days later, she was flown to Harare, adding: “I stayed at my pastor’s house in Borrowdale and he [Tsvangirai] would come after work to see me. I stayed in Zimbabwe from September 18 to September 20, 2009.