Caption:Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, was a ‘self-styled’ prophet (Picture: AP)
Zimbabwe police have arrested a self-proclaimed prophet and saved the lives of 250 children who were members of his cult.
Police said Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, led a sect with more than 1,000 members at a farm about 21 miles north-west of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Children were living alongside other ‘believers’ while ‘being used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect’s leadership’, police spokesman Paul Nyathi said.
Of the 251 children, 246 had no birth certificates.
Mr Nyathi said: ‘Police established that all children of school-going age did not attend formal education and were subjected to abuse as cheap labor, doing manual work in the name of being taught life skills.
They were being used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect’s leadership.
‘Police established that all children of school-going age did not attend formal education and were subjected to abuse as cheap labor, doing manual work in the name of being taught life skills.’
Among the graves found, seven were for infants whose burials were not registered with local authorities.
Zimbabwean police raided the shrine earlier this week, arresting Chokurongerwa, who called himself the Prophet Ishmael, alongside seven of his aides ‘for criminal activities which include abuse of minors.’
A state-run newspaper, H-Metro, accompanied police during the raid and showed police in riot gear arguing with female believers in white garments and head cloths who demanded the return of children.
The children were put into a waiting police bus, but is not clear where police took the children – some of whom were accompanied by women.
‘Why are they taking our children? We are comfortable here. We don’t have a problem here,’ one woman was heard yelling.
Believers described the compound as ‘their promised land’, with one of Chokurongerwa’s aides formerly telling the newspaper: ‘Our belief is not from scriptures, we got it directly from God who gave us rules on how we can enter heaven
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