Harare — POLICE in Bulawayo raided members of a bizarre cult who have been living -- with very little to eat -- in a bush near Pumula South, claiming that they are waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Confirming the raid, Bulawayo acting police spokesman, Assistant Inspector Langa Ndlovu, said yesterday they picked up 13 members of the sect on Saturday afternoon.

"We picked them up after receiving complaints from Pumula residents who were not sure of the cult's motives. The residents were afraid that they could end up committing various crimes in the neighbourhood," he said.

"The other reason for picking them up was for their own safety. They are now frail possibly due to starvation."

However, Asst Insp Ndlovu said police officers had problems in extracting information from them. He said they only divulged their first names.

"They were told to go to their respective homes. Police would like to appeal to anyone who might encounter the cult committing any offence to report the matter to the police."

The members are known to defy lawful orders and it could not be established last night whether they had regrouped or decided to abandon their mission.

When a news crew visited the area where they have been camped for several weeks, it found the area deserted. Residents in the area said police rounded up the cult members and took them away.

"The police later took them to Pumula Police Station where they were later released and were seen heading towards a bushy area on the outskirts of Pumula North and Old Pumula," said one of the residents.

Over the weekend, The Sunday News reported that the cult members were looking frail, bony and sapped of energy. The report indicated that it was clear that the cult members had gone for several days without food.

Some of the cult members were reportedly sweating profusely and coughing uncontrollably.

The paper revealed that seven children, who were severely malnourished, were taken to church pastors in Luveve following fears that they would starve to death.

Earlier this month a Chronicle news crew visited the bushy area where the members were camped.

There were bags full clothes, which were packed in one place in the open.

The cult members, understood to have broken away from the Seventh Day Adventist, came into the limelight late last year when they brought business to a standstill at the Bulawayo Central Police Station as they blocked the main entrance to the station's courtyard, singing religious songs.

That was after they had been arrested for protesting against the arrest of four of their members, who had caused a scene at a building society.

They warned the police and the army that their reign was over and would be destroyed by God.

Officers on duty at the station tried in vain to disperse them and had to seek the assistance of riot police which used minimum force and eventually drove the cult members into the court yard so that they could be detained.

They reportedly knelt down, prayed and sang when the riot squad pounced on them. Female members of the group were singing and intermittently reading scriptures from their bibles.