Samuel Mutendi

Bishop Samuel Mutendi (c.1890-1976) was the founder of the Zimbabwean branch of the Zion Christian Church, which under his leadership grew to a membership of 250,000 at his death,^[1] and which is believed to be three times larger today^[2] and the largest religious organization in the country. As the religious leader responsible for the popularization of Zionist Christianity into Zimbabwe, he is arguably the most influential religious personality in the country's history.

Early Years and Religious Calling

Mutendi was born in the Bikita region of Zimbabwe, apparently to a family descended from the Rozvi royal line.^[3] Before the late 1920s he went by his birth name of Samuel Moyo, but later changed it to Mutendi as his stature as a leader was increasing. According to autobiographical sections of his sacred writings, Rungano Rwa Zion Christian Church,^[4] Mutendi was born prematurely and was expected to die. The name "Mutendi" is a shortened colloquial reference to his eyes opening after being left for dead by his family members.^[5]

Mutendi was literate, but it is unclear where he attended school. In his early adulthood he took a job with the British South Africa Police and was stationed at Chegutu.^[6] According to the Rungano, Mutendi was visited by the Angel Gabriel in 1913 at a time when he was not religious. Further visions, especially after 1919, encouraged him to seek a religious path and foretold his rise as a religious leader. In the early 1920s Mutendi quit his police job and returned to Bikita, where he joined the local Dutch Reformed Church mission. Mutendi felt compelled to preach as a layman, but his accounts of his visions and his calls for converts to experience "fire baptism" were unacceptable in the conservative DRC.^[7] During this time, three acquaintances of Mutendi's ventured to South Africa as migrant workers, and were converted to Zionist Christianity in the Transvaal. Mutendi then heard of his friends' experiences, and went to South Africa himself with a colleague named Andreas Shoko.^[8] During their time in the Transvaal, Mutendi and Shoko were baptized by Engenas Lekganyane—then a member of the Zion Apostolic Faith Mission.^[9]

Around 1923, Mutendi returned to Bikita as a ZAFM member and began preaching. Not too long afterwards, Engenas Lekganyane seceded from ZAFM to form the Zion Christian Church. Mutendi joined Lekganyane in Pretoria as a founding member of the ZCC, and then in early 1925 was part of a delegation that unsuccessfully sought to register the church with the South African government.^[10] Following the secession, Mutendi led the Zimbabwean branch of the ZCC until his death fifty years later.

Although Mutendi's biography is well known, it has recently been questioned as new documentation has come to light. In particular, it appears that he was never a member of the Zion Apostolic Faith Mission before he joined the ZCC as he claimed. As a result of this and other disparities, his life story is not clear-cut.^[11]

The Growth of the Zion Christian Church in Zimbabwe

Mutendi's new church faced considerable difficulties in its first decade or two. Due to the system of indirect rule, it was opposed by both the White authorities and the chiefs who they ruled the reserves through.^[12] Mutendi was unable to register the church in his own country, and faced considerable persecution during his evangelizing tours. According to the Rungano, many of his adherents' churches and schools were burned down, while he was arrested and imprisoned on numerous occasions.^[13] In some areas his followers were forced to conduct their services in secret in places such as caves.

Over time Mutendi's reputation as a faith healer, rain maker, and a man of immense spiritual power grew. He walked around with a large entourage that proclaimed his deeds. During his itinerant tours, Mutendi carried a "spriritual rod" named "Mapumhangozi" that was supposedly blessed by Engenas Lekganyane.^[14] This rod was used to heal the sick and to effectuate other miracles. Due to these successes Mutendi was able to win the support of a number of chiefs and thus to begin operating more in the open without fear of arrest. Eventually, after years of suppression, the government issued what Mutendi called a "Peace Order".^[15] People with illnesses or other issues began to venture from far and wide to seek his counsel and intervention.^[16]

After the nearly simultaneous death of Engenas Lekganyane and the beginning of apartheid in South Africa, Mutendi's branch of the ZCC became increasingly distinct from the main South African branch. Prior to 1948 Zimbabweans could travel freely to South Africa to visit the ZCC's two annual pilgrimages. The apartheid government's new travel requirements rendered these pilgrimages, as well as other contacts, far more difficult. In the early 1950s Mutendi built his own "Zion City" near Bikita and erected his headquarters there. This site became the new pilgrimage site for Zimbabwean ZCC members. As a result of the new reality, Mutendi wrote his sacred text, the Rungano Rwa Zion Christian Church, which included a new constitution that made it distinct from the Lekganyane ZCC.^[17] Mutendi also began to mandate the use of different sorts of sacred clothing by his members. Over the decades, Mutendi's organization continued to grow and evolved into Zimbabwe's largest church.

Mutendi's Death and the Modern Zimbabwean ZCC

Mutendi had a large family, and two of his sons, Nehemiah and Ruben, vied for the leadership of the ZCC following his death in 1976. Nehemiah Mutendi (born 1939), who was trained as a school teacher, was eventually appointed as the new Bishop of the ZCC after an internal power struggle in 1977.^[18] Under his control the ZCC grew to approximately half a million in 1996, and since then has spread rapidly across the world following the post-2000 Zimbabwean diaspora.^[19] Ruben Mutendi (1934-2010), the loser in the 1976 power struggle, eventually split from the ZCC with a smaller following.

References