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-purpose Mbungo Conference Centre in Bikita, Masvingo.
The centre has 5 000 square metres of conference space, which accommodates 40 000 people.
The conference centre, built using locally mobilised resources, will also have catering facilities, a guest house, library and a communications centre.
According to church officials, preliminary estimates showed that the conference centre would cost US$1 million, but funds used surpassed the estimated costs.
“So far, the project used nearly US$2 million.”
ZCC is one of the oldest indigenous churches in Zimbabwe, having been founded in 1913.
The church regards the year 1913 as the year that God remembered them after the founding father Reverend Samuel Mutendi received his spiritual bath while he was serving as a police officer in Chegutu (then Hartley).
Reverend Mutendi was a powerful preacher, who also had the rare gifts of faith healing and rain-making, which made him very popular among the rural folk.
He healed people with holy water, his holy rod (Mapumhangozi), ordinary salt and coffee.
Rev Mutendi taught his patients to pray and acknowledge the love of God. This saw many people being converted and joining him in ministering the word of God. In Harare many women have testified to having been cured of obstetric and gynaecological problems.
In the 1960s, Rev Mutendi’s father prayed for one Frenchwoman, Jacqueline, who was barren and she gave birth to a baby girl who she named Chipo (Gift).
Addressing guests at the official opening, President Mugabe said Zimbabwe no longer has a place for churches and bishops still inclined to serve the interests of the country’s former colonisers.
He hailed the emergence of churches led by indigenous Zimbabweans and praised them for their role in promoting the aspirations of the majority blacks.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-In-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said it was encouraging that many churches led by indigenous black people were breaking new ground and fostering the aspirations of African people.
President Mugabe was addressing over 40 000 members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), after officially opening the church’s multi-purpose conference centre at Mbungo Estates, built at a cost of US$2 million, 54 kilometres east of Masvingo City.
President Mugabe emphasised that the advent of Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 opened floodgates for indigenous people to set up their own churches and develop morally and spiritually upright people.
“Ngativambei machechi anotungamirirwa nesuwo vatema, uyezve pfungwa idzodzo dzekuti ngativambe chechi dzedu isuwo vatema tinodzitsigira nekuti nyika ino yave nyika yedu isu vatema. Tinoda kuona munhu mutemawo achitungamirirawo vatema kudivi iroro nekuti tsika dzedu isu vatema dzinogona kunge dzakati siyanei nemaitiro avange vachizivikanwa kuti ndivo vanotungamirira machechi kubva kare; ivo vachena.
“Ndozvatinoda isu kusimudzira vatema even kunyaya dzemachechi nekuti this is our country. We no longer want bishops and church leaders who have mindsets that are similar to people like Smith (Ian) and Rhodes (Cecil). We want bishops and church leaders who think like Africans and seek for the fulfilment of the aspirations of the African people,” he said.
President Mugabe said it was disturbing to note that in most established churches, the voice of the white man was still dominant, adding that it was even more disheartening that there still remained pockets of black bishops who were prepared to follow the whims of those white church leaders.
He decried that there were some white-led churches that were even at the forefront of peddling falsehoods about Zimbabwe with the blind support and approval of some black bishops who were there only to rubber stamp decisions made by a few.
“There are other so-called bishops who fall under what is called the Bishops’ Conference vanotaura nhema dzoga dzoga, pasina chokwadi chakadzama, asi ipapo panenge pane some few bishops vanotaura pfungwa dzavo, asi vamwe vose vatema vongotevedzera zvinodiwa nevachena vacho, zvonzi Bishops’ Conference yati zvakati idzo dzirivanhu vashoma,” said President Mugabe.

The President pointed out that there were some Bishops in his Catholic Church who had developed a nauseating habit of unnecessarily attacking his person and Government over unsubstantiated allegations because their thinking was out of sync with the interests of the majority Zimbabweans.
“Chionai zvandinoitwa gore negore nemabishops, nanga nanga neni, mabishops echechi yangu yandinonamatira yeRoma (Catholic Church). Vanondinanga gore negore, nanga, nanga nehurumende yedu ichinzi yaitamhosva yakati, hanzi vanhu vanodzvanyirirwa munyika, asi chokwadi chinenge chiri chekuti havanzwisisi zvido zvedu, zvido zveruzhinji rwevanhu vatema,” said the President.
He said the church in pre-colonial Zimbabwe had been tailored to make sure that only whites became bishops while blacks were supposed to be perpetual followers, hence the move by the colonial regime then, to restrict the emergence of new churches.
President Mugabe said the church and the State were partners in development of a society where people were both spiritually, morally as well as intellectually and physically strong.
The church and the State, said President Mugabe, were critical pillars necessary for the creation of a morally upright and harmonious society.
He said the failure of any of the two arms to effectively play its role would compromise society.
President Mugabe reiterated his appeal to Zimbabweans, including those in churches, to shun violence and promote peace and harmony in communities which they lived.
He said it was disappointing to note that cases of violence in Zimbabwe were being exaggerated by the country’s enemies and detractors.
“Ngatirege kugara tichitatsurana munyika tinoda rugare, runyararo mukati matinogara tinoda runyararo pakati pevanopinda machechi akasiyana chero vanhu vemapato akasiyana ezvenyika, hatidi mhirizhonga. Tinoda kuti chero tichida kuti vatsigire gwara remusangano wedu ngatisavarova asi kuti let’s persuade them. We want to say no to violence and down with violence.”
He said fighting would attract the attention of the British and their media.
President Mugabe called for self-reliance and unity among Zimbabweans but said he was disappointed that 31 years after independence, there were still some Zimbabweans, even in Government who looked up to the white man for advice and guidance.
“There are some of us in Government chero tichikurukurirana unonzwa voti chimbomirai timboita consult . . . Kuconsulter ani? Ukazotarisa kuti who has been consulted, unoona kuti ko zvaari mabhunu mamwe acho asina kana nekudzidza kwese. Consulting mabhunu nhasi independence yakauya muna 1980! Let’s be self reliant,” he said.
The President said Government would continue with the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme to open up opportunities for the majority black people, adding everyone was supposed to control and benefit from the country’s resources.
He said Government would continue looking for land to resettle landless people pointing out that if need be, some areas that were currently under wildlife operations could be acquired to resettle landless people.
President Mugabe also took a swipe at some churches for refusing to embrace modern trends such as immunisation of children and refusing to seek treatment in hospitals.
He praised the ZCC church leader, Bishop Nehemia Mutendi for carrying on the legacy that was left by his father by not only overseeing the construction of the state-of-the-art multi-conference centre, built with the church’s internal resources, but improved the education system by building schools across the country and carrying out farming activities.
Construction of the ZCC multi-conference centre started in 2005 and was completed late last year with almost no foreign donations.
President Mugabe said Government had offered the ZCC church a farm in Makonde District in Mashonaland West province to build a university that will specialise in agriculture.
This was after Bishop Mutendi had said the church was still waiting for a response to its application for land to set up a specialist university in Mashonaland West province.
President Mugabe donated 10 computers to Mutendi High School and pledged to source generators for backup power in the event of power cuts.
Earlier President Mugabe had unveiled a plaque at the newly-built conference centre’s foundation stone before getting an opportunity to watch a digital recording chronicling the history of the founding of the church by the late Reverend Samuel Mutendi.
President Mugabe toured Mutendi High School where he was introduced to members of staff and pupils.
He was accompanied by Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga among others.