Sun, 21 Jan 2018 09:39:12 +0000
By Batuke Aaron Mwanza
MEKELESI Mafuta had been married to Shaft Mafuta for almost two years despite him being jobless and the two had no children. Shaft used to work for the mines in Chingola but was later retrenched and had been jobless ever since. |
The 29-year-old went through a lot of challenges as his wife was forced to become a bread winner since she was the one who was employed as a pre-school teacher in Ndeke Township in Kitwe, where the couple relocated to after her husband lost his job.
Whilst working for the mines, he had at least built a three-bedroom house in Ndeke and after losing his job, he suggested that they move to Kitwe were they would be rent-free.
It was very unfortunate for him to lose his job almost immediately he got married to 25-year-old Mekelesi. Mekelesi was unemployed by then but didn’t take long to find a job as a pre-school teacher in Ndeke.
She was a very understanding woman and didn’t complain about their current situation. Shaft had to rent out two of his rooms to two other couples so that he gets something at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Mekelesi had found a new friend called Bupe who had always invited her to start congregating at her church, a Pentecostal church called THE ARMOUR OF GOD MINISTRIES. She would tell Mekelesi of how powerful her church was and how people almost every Sunday testify of the greatness of their overseer Prophet Abraham Bunene from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The man is very anointed” Bupe would always praise the Congolese clergyman. “People who are jobless are finding jobs, the sick are getting healed, people with businesses are prospering and those who want marriages are finding true partners and the prophet can also prophesy about your future.
“I was jobless once but the man of God told me to give a sacrificial offering and buy anointed oil and water. I offered my four-plate stove and radio since they were the only things I had and bought anointed oil and water. I was prayed for and after a month, I was called at the shopping mall. I applied for a job and I was given a job, here I am working now” said Bupe.
Mekelesi thought it would be a good idea to see the much praised man of God, maybe if she and her husband started going to Bupe’s church, her husband might get a miracle job.
Then one Sunday, she attended the church service at the ARMOUR OF GOD. After the service, Bupe encouraged her to see the man of God, Prophet Bunene who asked her to see him on Tuesday since Tuesday evenings where days the prophet would prophesy and tell his congregants their life history and future. Mekelesi was curious and attended the Tuesday evening prophesy at 17:30hrs.
When Mekelesi went for the Tuesday evening prophesy, she well received Prophet Bunene. After he had prayed and prophesied for others he also did the same to her and told her life history starting from when she got married to Mr. Mafuta.
“You and your husband were living much better than your current situation but this time around your husband is failing to provide for you, am I not correct my sister? He began. Mekelesi was shocked to hear that. “Yes man of God, that’s very true,” she answered. “And you were forced to leave your previous place to come to this town because of financial challenges? Asked Prophet Bunene to which she answered in the affirmative.
Prophet Bunene then prayed for her and sprinkled anointed oil on her forehead. He gave her another bottle of anointed oil and water to sprinkle in her house and continue coming for prayers with her husband.
But Shaft only attended her new church once and was always busy doing odd jobs and chasing after application letters he had been sending to companies he had applied for work. He then told his wife that he wasn’t comfortable with her church which was money-oriented, sowing seeds, miracles husbands or wives and chasing demons. Shaft was raised in the Catholic Church and was not used to the Pentecostal type of worship. “These churches rarely preach about salvation, it’s always about prosperity, miracles and giving” he told Mekelesi one Sunday. “And be careful with these foreign pastors whose backgrounds you are not sure of,” he warned his wife.
But Mekelesi paid no attention to her husband’s warning and instead became even more committed. She never missed any of the church services and programmes.
However, this brought some conflicts in the home as her husband would not find her at home on time to perform her household duties and would shout at her and condemn her church. “You see what these stupid churches can do to you? “You now have forgotten your role as a wife at home” he thundered at her one day. When she informed Prophet Bunene about it, he advised her to just be strong and keep on praying hard.
“The devil is the one bringing conflicts in your home, just be strong.” I can see a blessing coming your way from God but the devil does not want that to happen.
“The devil is the liar and wants you to give up in your prayers so that you miss your blessings” said the prophet. But still despite the assurance of great things to come her way, the conflicts between her and the husband continued but when she told the prophet about it again, he was silent for a while then told her what she didn’t not expect.
“Sister Mekelesi, remember when I told you that a blessing is coming your way? he asked. “I saw it in my vision again and a man you are staying with in your house as your husband is not your God given husband and that’s why you have these problems. “In my vision, I saw your God-given husband and you will be very happy and blessed with him.”
“He will be five times richer than your current husband and prosperity will be forever be your potion with healthy and good children,” said Prophet Bunene.
“But with your current husband standing in your way, you will live a miserable life so you must leave him.”
That evening Mekelesi spent her night thinking about what her man of God had told her. Her husband didn’t sleep at home that evening as he was out of town in Chingola to visit a friend over some work issues he was pushing and was told to travel to visit him.
When he came returned, problems were far from over as she continued to disobey him. One Saturday evening when he came home to find that she had not cooked because she was at church, hell broke loose and he lost his temper and slapped her.
Whilst crying she left her home and ran to the prophet’s house. Prophet Bunene and his wife gave her an extra room and she made up her mind and decided to do what the man of God had told her, to divorce her husband.
Shaft pleaded with her even in the local court to reconsider her decision as he still loved her, but she told the court that she couldn’t stand her abusive husband and one might do worse things to her like killing her, and a divorce was granted.
Two weeks later, a man from Congo was introduced to her as Pastor Bolingo, a good friend to Prophet Bunene. He was friendly to her and after a month, their friendship developed and Prophet Bunene told Mekelesi that he was her God’s chosen husband he had been seeing in his vision.
After about five months, Pastor Bolingo and Mekelesi got married and were staying in a house the church was renting for them. After about a year and some months Mekelesi and Pastor Bolingo had a baby girl but still there was no sign of prosperity between them. Prophet Bunene encouraged her to be patient as a blessing was coming her way but some more months passed on and still there was no signs of blessings and she became frustrated.
Her friend Bupe who introduced her to the church was nowhere to be seen as she had long stopped coming to church and she had no idea where she was.
Prophet Bunene “disappeared” for about three months with the church money and that’s when it was reveaed that he was just a conman and a magician from Congo and had since fled with his family to South Africa.
Her God-sent husband, Pastor Bolingo, also left her as it came to be discovered that he was a married man with four children in Congo and he was a first cousin to Prophet Bunene.
He was just waiting for his work permits and immigration issues to be sorted out in Zambia and got his family from Congo and went to an undisclosed place believed to be in Lusaka.
It was even more misery for Mekelesi as her former husband had got the job he was promised in Chingola at a newly opened mine and was getting paid more than six times what he used to earn. Desperate and frustrated, Mekelesi, tried to locate him but it was too late for her as Shaft got married some seven months earlier and his new wife was expecting a baby.
