Harare, 21 August, 2021 / 9:30 pm (ACI Africa).
The leadership of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has called on Christian leaders in Zimbabwe to disown “heretical” faith-based entities following the death of a 14-year-old girl while giving birth at a shrine.
Memory Machaya is reported to have died on July 15 at the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church in Manicaland Province while giving birth to a child she allegedly conceived with Evans Momberume, a member of the church and to whom she was married to at the age of 13.
“We call on churches in Zimbabwe to clearly disown heretical denominations, which support such evils in the name of faith,” AACC leadership says in the Monday, August 16 statement shared with ACI Africa.
Religious leaders in the Southern African country should “take a clear stand within churches to not only condemn but also work with government and other leaders to expose, prosecute and bring to justice all perpetrators in their midst,” AACC officials further say.
They further calls on Zimbabwean church leaders to “take up on a priority basis, advocacy to push for the enactment of the Marriage Bill that is currently before Parliament.”
