Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has described the late Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa Forward in Faith (ZAOGA FIF) church Archbishop and founder, Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti, was a towering figure in Zimbabwe's Christian movement, nation building and preservation of the social fabric.
Archbishop Guti died in South Africa at the age of 100 on July 5, leaving behind an enormous history of evangelism spanning 63 years when he founded ZAOGA FIF.
Over and above his religious calling, Archbishop Guti also played a role in several other nation building initiatives including in the education and health sectors where he founded the Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University and the Mbuya Dorcas Hospital in Harare.
In his condolence message, VP Chiwenga said Zimbabwe's standing as a God-fearing and respectful nation owed in part, to the great work of the luminary that Archbishop Guti was.
Vice President Chiwenga
"Archbishop Guti's indigenous Pentecostal evangelism contributed immensely to Zimbabwe's nation building, hunhu/ubuntu, Christian values and the well-being of our people including the spirit of love, peace, unity and hard work," said VP Chiwenga.
"Not only did he turn many souls to God, but he passionately prayed for the country's leadership, national healing and prosperity to the people.
"Through his anointing and inspiration, many other great leaders in all spheres of life, in addition to apostles, have emerged.
"Apostle Guti's works were not only confined to the church but he was a true servant of God who built the state-of-the-art Mbuya Dorcas Hospital, Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, a dress Making centre, numerous bible colleges and churches across the world.
"Today, Zimbabwe remains a God-fearing and respectful nation, with guaranteed freedom of worship, through prayers and inspired teachings attributed to the great works of Archbishop Apostle Professor Ezekiel Guti.
"We say go well Archbishop Guti, you fought a good fight, you finished the race, you kept the faith and you will be forever a great apostle of our generation," said VP Chiwenga.
Meanwhile ZAOGA FIF Ministries International has declared 30-days of mourning following the death of arguably Zimbabwe's most famous clergyman. As of yesterday, there was still no word on when Archbishop Guti's burial arrangements as his body is still in South Africa.
Secretary General of ZAOGA FIF pastor Mishael Nyambo said the church's executive had declared 30 days of mourning and celebrating the life of their leader.
"ZAOGA Forward in Faith executive has declared 30 days of mourning, celebrating the life of legendary leader, our Father. We are thankful to God for the long life he gave him. For exactly 100 years and two months, he was alive on this planet earth.
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"We agreed as the executive that from the day he entered the glory which is the 5th of July up to the 5th of August these are days of mourning and we prefer to call them 30 days of celebration, celebrating the legacy that he has left us and we are happy to announce to the nation the programme.
Pastor Nyambo said there would no mega gathering at the moment but church members had been directed to gather at their respective parishes.
"Zaoga is a big family and there is no house we can go to gather, so what we have done is we have directed our church members to gather in the various places, centres of worship across the nation until the time we know when the body will arrive from South Africa," he said.
Condolence messages from across the world continued to pour in with the Christian Church elders of Zimbabwe under the coordination of the African Christian Council International yesterday requesting that Archbishop Guti be accorded national hero status.
"In terms of his contribution towards peace, unity and ambassadorship on the global level, we view him as an influential leader who brought together a lot of people to worship in Christianity," said Archbishop Bishop Johannes Ndanga, the ACCI president.
"We hereby propose that he be awarded the National Hero status as a step toward uniting the people of Zimbabwe during this critical time."
