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Abdullah Ncube who was assaulted by a mob in Nkulumane on Sunday night after claiming he was Jesus

Temba Dube Senior Reporter
A BULAWAYO man had to be rescued from an angry mob by anti-riot police on Sunday night after claiming to be Jesus. The self-proclaimed Son of God, identified as Abdullah Ncube, reportedly invited the wrath of the crowd at Nkulumane’s Sekusile Shopping Centre at about 7PM when he claimed he had power to perform miracles.

Witnesses said police in riot gear were called to the place at around 8PM after the man sought refuge at a nearby house.
He hid in a garage and the mob that was baying for his blood destroyed part of a brick wall surrounding the house in a mad push to get to him.

The crowd also made a hole in the garage through which they pelted him with stones.
Witnesses at Sekusile said Ncube claimed that he had power to perform miracles because he was “Jesus.”
“He said he could turn a piece of cloth into a snake and miraculously produce a cat out of his bag.

“He was dressed in a white robe and had a long beard. When people said they didn’t believe him, he shouted that he was Jesus. He said ‘nginguJesu mina. Ngilamandla okwenza izimanga!’,” said Zenzo Mpofu, a vendor.
Mpofu said a group of touts challenged Ncube to prove he was the Messiah.

He added: “They said he should prove that he was Jesus. He said he had heavenly authority to remove a curse from a nearby Choppies outlet that was raided by armed robbers thrice during the festive season.

“The man failed to work any miracle. The touts then demanded what they called a useful miracle.
“They said they did not want to see snakes and preferred him to produce a bag of money. He got into an argument with one of the touts and hit him with his walking stick until it broke into two pieces.

“All hell broke loose as people started attacking the fake Jesus. People who were waiting for transport at the terminus joined in. Within a few seconds, the ‘man of God’ was fleeing with the crowd in hot pursuit.
“He ran through a gate at that house and locked himself in a garage. The crowd did not relent.

“They tried to destroy the garage and only the riot police saved him.”
Prefer Moyo, who lives at the house where Ncube tried to hide, said if the police had not arrived, the crowd would have killed him.
“He tried to come into the house but we shut the door. He then went into the garage. The people who were chasing him destroyed part of that wall and made a hole in the garage,” she said pointing to the damaged wall.

“Luckily for him, the crowd dispersed when police in riot gear arrived. Those people were going to kill him. The police handcuffed him. He said the handcuffs would fall off because he was protected by ‘the truth’.”

Her sister Pretty Moyo related the horror the family went through as the mob tried to destroy the garage. She said they could hear the noise as they prayed that the crowd would not attack them as well.

Cynthia Moyo, 52, a mother to the two, showed our news crew a flower bed, which she said was trampled by the unruly crowd.
She said as police led Ncube away, he seemed to have hastily revised his lineage.

“Maybe the repeated blows to the head made him change his mind about being the ‘Messiah’. He told police that he was not Jesus. He said he had been preaching when he got into an argument with someone and had to fight to defend himself. He was limping slightly and had a cut on the head.”

Ncube is no stranger to religious controversy. Last week, our sister paper Umthunywa reported that he was nearly assaulted by another mob at Basch Street Terminus, popularly known as Egodini, after vendors saw a snake in his bag. He reportedly claimed to be the Biblical Moses.

Efforts to locate Ncube were fruitless yesterday.