HARARE – Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries founder Walter Magaya has been granted US$3,000 bail by the Harare High Court following his arrest last week on rape and fraud charges.
Magaya, who denies the allegations, was ordered to surrender his passport and title deeds as part of his bail conditions.
Justice Gibson Mandaza ordered Magaya’s release following a virtual hearing.
The preacher was arrested together with his wife, Tendai, and a company representative, who were each granted US$300 bail last week.
The couple faces 13 counts of fraud for allegedly swindling home-seekers through a failed housing and investment scheme operated under their companies, Planet Africa (Pvt) Ltd and Yadah Connect (Pvt) Ltd.
Prosecutors allege that Magaya and his wife misrepresented to their followers that they had secured large tracts of land for residential projects in Chishawasha, Norton, Westgate, Fern Valley (Mutare), Bulawayo, Kwekwe, Arcturus, Ruwa, Manyame and Nyatsime.
The firms allegedly collected about US$50,000 and R190,000 from prospective homeowners for stands that never materialised.
In his bail application, Magaya dwelt much on the rape charges. Represented by lawyer Admire Rubaya, he dismissed the allegations as fabrications “at the instance of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission” which he said “has misused its powers to force these two complainants into concocting all manner of allegations” against him.
He accused the commission of “a clear and brazen abuse of the criminal justice system,” saying it was “grandstanding and playing to the cameras” to appear as though it was defending women’s rights.
“The applicant is, in fact, the victim of a calculated campaign. This ploy appears designed to create a public spectacle of efficiency for the commission, achieved only through the wholesale vilification and character assassination of the applicant,” Rubaya argued in court papers.
Magaya further claimed that the rape complaints were not voluntary, but were made “after adverts were flighted in the media inviting alleged victims to approach the Gender Commission.”
He maintained his innocence, saying: “The applicant denies that he unlawfully and intentionally had sexual intercourse with the alleged complainants in the manner alleged or at all.”
Magaya also rejected claims that he interfered with the complainants, arguing that “he does not control the police and cannot be persecuted for the alleged conduct of other individuals not connected to him.”
The high-profile preacher, who has previously faced a number of legal disputes, said his detractors were working “day and night” to destroy him and his ministry.
The matter is scheduled to return to the Harare Magistrates’ Court on November 18 for routine remand. – ZimLive
