PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has questioned pastor Evan Mawarire’s religious credentials saying the leader of a fresh wave of recent anti-government protests in the country was not a true man of God.
President Mugabe was leading mourners during Tuesday’s burial of former Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Charles Utete at the national shrine.
Mawarire is the new face of the current protests by citizens demanding President Mugabe’s resignation for decades of poor leadership.
The Baptist church cleric has unsettled the state through continued calls for a work stay away by citizens through his #ThisFlag campaign via social media.
Following a successful stay away early this month, the state panicked and arrested the defiant church leader turned social and economic rights campaigner, but failed to press treason charges against him in court.
But speaking for the first time over the increasingly influential 39 year-old activist, President Mugabe branded Mawarire a liar saying men of God do not preach destruction but advocate love and unity.
“The Mawarires, I don’t even know him, and those who believe in that way of living, well, are not part of us in thinking; they are not part of us as we try to live together,” Mugabe said.
“If they don’t want to live with us they should go to those countries that are sponsoring them. We will say no forever, find another environment if you are a pastor, I don’t know if he is a man of religion.”
He continued: “A man of religion will speak the biblical truth. 1st Corinthians what does it say? Love one another. So beware these men of God, not all of them are true preachers of the bible. I don’t know whether they are serving God, well, we spell God G.O.D they spell in reverse.”
Mawarire says he has survived an abduction attempt by suspected state agents but remain defiant in the face of state repression.
