“Some of us are not just prophets, we are MEN”: Makandiwa threatens Chiwenga for questioning why he couldn’t foresee Chivayo’s death

United Family International Church (UFIC) founder and leader “Prophet” Emmanuel Makandiwa has hit back at Jesus Revelation Ministries founder and leader “Apostle” Talent Chiwenga after he questioned why prophets failed to foresee the helicopter crash that killed socialite Wicknell Chivayo.

Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke and the other occupants of their helicopter died when it crashed at a farm in Marondera on 30 September.

Chiwenga had asked why a “true man of God” had not foreseen the accident and warned Chivayo not to travel. The criticism was largely aimed at Makandiwa because of his close ties to Chivayo, who had given him and his wife three expensive vehicles, donated US$1 million towards UFIC’s church construction project, and had dinner with Makandiwa five days before his death.

The relationship prompted public debate about why Makandiwa had not anticipated the tragedy.

Makandiwa responded in a statement, saying he had never claimed to see everything.

“As for the question of whether I saw the accident prophetically before time or not, as some may wonder, that to me was rendered unimportant when I stated in time past my inability to see everything,” he said.

“I reiterate that I have never seen everything, I don’t see everything, and I won’t see everything. Only God does.”

During a recent church service, he returned to the issue and accused Chiwenga of hypocrisy, questioning why he, of all people, would criticise other prophets given his own experience.

In June 2019, Chiwenga was seriously injured in a road accident near Masvingo in which his wife and two other people travelling with him were killed.

Referring to that accident, Makandiwa said: “You had your husband in the car. It was you driving. Where was your God?”

He repeatedly referred to Chiwenga as a woman and described his late wife as his “husband” in an apparent attempt to ridicule him.

He also made an unsubstantiated personal allegation against Chiwenga, for which he provided no evidence.

Makandiwa said being a prophet did not mean he could foresee every death or that his own family was immune from tragedy.

“Some of us are smart enough to know that those issues should not be touched,” he said. “I can lose my family at any time. But no one is ever going to question me, ‘Why didn’t you see that?’ I’ve told you I don’t see everything.”

He ended with what appeared to be a warning that he was prepared to confront Chiwenga physically.

“Some of us, we are not just prophets; we are men. We are men,” he said.

More: Nehanda Radio