As the world falls apart for firebrand evangelist Emmanuel Makandiwa, with lawsuits and claims that he has fled the country, Zimbabwe takes a breath to see what will happen to perhaps the greatest prophet ever to come from the country.

A tall lithe figure, Makandiwa has in a space of nine years transformed himself into one of the top prophets not only in Zimbabwe but across the continent and even beyond. He is the only person in the country to have filled the giant National Stadium which has a capacity to carry 60,000 people.

Multitudes have flocked to his services, where the sick are healed, the blind see and the deaf are made to talk. Some even claim to have been cured of HIV. As the volumes have swelled, Makandiwa, a man from Muzarabani, a remote rural area in  Mashonaland Central, has decided to use technology as a means to get closer to believers who do not have the luck to get closer to him. He introduced “Christian Spiritual Link”, a means through which his sermons can permeate across the country via mobile phone communications.

Perhaps he should have prophesied better, for that very noble idea has now landed him in a hot spot. First, it was the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) that alleged that ‘the man of God’ has broken the laws and is actually investigating him now. Meanwhile, Pascal Nyasha, who operates Daily Inspiration and Extreme Motivation Centre Private Limited that trades as Pascal Nyasha Seminars International, alleges that the airtime communication project was his idea and that Makandiwa stole it.

Nyasha wants US$680,000 from Makandiwa for having used his idea. He contends that prophet Makandiwa and his team simply changed the name from the original “Evangelicard.” He issued summons in which he is claiming 180,000 USD for patrimonial loss and 500,000 USD for copyright infringement.

The problems for Makandiwa, however, do not end with lawsuit but with a possible arrest. Potraz say that he has a case to answer. Be that as it may, his disciples have not forsaken him and say that the media has gone into an overdrive criticizing their spiritual leader. They prophesise hell on his critics.

Makandiwa’s spokesperson Pastor Kufa, said that the ‘man of God’ has gone on a sabbatical and will be back after three weeks regardless of prison or lawsuit. “I know that people want to play with the man of God. The truth is that he has gone on a three-week holiday with his spiritual father and family,” said Kufa.

Makandiwa on a poster of an event by Heartfelt International to take place in Harare in mid-August

His disciples have also threatened people who are crucifying their leader. They say God will punish those who speak adversely of the “annointed one”.

Wherever he is, Makandiwa should come to Zimbabwe by the 15th as he is prior engaged by the Heartfelt International.  He is supposed to be the star attraction at a conference in which he appears on billboard adverts.

And so Zimbabwe remains in suspense to see what will happen next.