“An orphanage in Chikwakwa has been invaded by Nolbert Kunonga followers and there are five nuns and they are scared of what will happen if Kunonga takes over the orphanage,” said Rev. Clifford Dzavo, the secretary of the Anglican diocese of Harare and Mashonaland.

Kunonga’s supporters, armed with a recent court ruling in favour of the renegade bishop, have given Anglican sisters and the administrator a notice to vacate Sherry Creeps, an orphanage in Chikwakwa (50 km from Harare) that shelters a hundred children.

Scared, the nuns have been locking themselves inside their homes, as they are afraid of the wrath from the rampaging enforcers of the law. Doing it the way they are, these supporters of bishop Kunonga are also threatening the lives of the children, who have always been dependent on the nuns.

Unlike Kunonga, the nuns have remained in the original Anglican Church and continued taking care of the children, whose age ranges from six months to 18 years. 

The Anglican Church fears that Kunonga could replace the sisters with people who are not well-trained to look after children and also that these people could run down the orphanage. Kunonga has taken over schools and crèches, which he has run down previously. Children at schools such as Bernard Mzeki have complained that the standards at the school have been falling down since Kunonga became its custodian.

Fearful that Kunonga will run down church properties, the CCAP is currently seeking a reversal of the Supreme Court ruling that gave Kunonga control of the properties of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe.