By Farai Mungoshi

IT’s been proven that when the West invaded Africa, they also colonised us spiritually, severing the link with our spiritual realm.
However, there are Africans who have maintained their traditional way of worshipping and praising Musikavanhu, where others have adopted Christianity.
Is it wrong that they adopted this new form of religion?
Do we fully understand what Christianity is, judging from the way we now conduct ourselves?
Movies and television programmes like Spiritual Highway are now being shown in a bid to help people understand their ‘spirituality’.
Religion is supposed to help build and shape one’s character and should make a person accommodative, making one honest, blameless and considerate towards all things.
But with all this effort at ‘spirituality’, it seems Africans have lost their sense of identity and, by the day, we are becoming something that even Musikavanhu cannot approve of and does not recognise.
Our conduct and hunhu have become questionable over time.
Televangelism has taken the world by storm, with pastors and prophets using television as a tool for reaching out to more people.
But despite this ‘soul’-winning quest, we’ve witnessed a lot of questionable conduct.
Others claim on television to have gone to heaven and met Jesus, who then gave them his phone number! Others have been shown walking on water, even though we, as film-makers, also know that some of this stuff is all made up, created to entice the viewer into believing more in the prophet or pastor instead of God.
Just recently, one prophet commanded his congregation to remove their underwear in a church service and told them to wave them in the air.
Prophet Paseka Motsoeneng from South Africa, who is also popularly known by a name I find too rude for me to even mention on this platform, is one such person.
Having been personally involved in a church where television was immensely used to reach out to people, I also know how challenging it is to run a television station – it requires a lot of financial muscle to stay afloat and most of that money comes from the partners and church members.
If one televises boring services and there are no miracles taking place, chances are he/she is likely to lose viewership and finances along with that.
However, it is advisable for us to test all things — are they of God or not, are they biblical or not, do they promote hunhu/ubuntu or not?
I believe that all religions, whether they be African Tradition Religion, Christianity, Bhuddist or whatever, they should still promote hunhu wemunhu.
If they do not we raise eyebrows, questioning the spirituality behind the conduct of these prophets.
What does waving one’s underwear in church have to do with God?
Yet you see throngs of people flocking there.
The very same prophet, Motsoeneng, has a history of controversy when it comes to subjects of a sexual nature.
In 2011, he claimed he could cast out demons via the private parts of women.
Meanwhile, here in Zimbabwe, we have also had several cases involving mapostori commanding followers with marital problems, due to their inability to conceive, to strip so they could perform acts which are sometimes sexual in order for them to give them spiritual help, placing their hands on private parts no other man has a right to touch except the husband.
We find that people who normally fall prey to this kind of abuse are women.
I do not believe that Musikavanhu would allow people to be humiliated in such a manner and for it all to be televised to the rest of the world and make mockery of God and Africans!
Are we (Africans) that spiritually starved that we agree to such abuse?
Or is it because we know not what we worship?
What then can be done, even by Government, to ensure its country’s subjects are not taken advantage of?
We must not allow desperation or the need to fit in get the better of us.
I could see how uncomfortable some congregants were in the video in which prophet Motsoeneng told women to wave their underwear in the air, yet they continued regardless.
It is high time we wake up, use our brains and refer to hunhu/ubuntu to make us a better people.