POPULAR evangelist Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family Interdenominational (UFI) church yesterday breathed life into Bulawayo’s city centre seeking to woo residents to the much-talked about Judgment Night.
LINDA CHINOBVA / JUNIOR MOYO
The conference, which officials said is expected to draw 150 000 regional and international delegates, has been slated for April 19 at the giant National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Yesterday the Bulawayo central business district was a hive of activity as Makandiwa’s followers drove around the city drumming up support for the event.
Traffic came to a standstill along Fife Street and corner 10th Avenue as UFI members, clad in T-shirts emblazoned with “Judgment Day 2, A Night when Power meets Power” drove around in a haulage truck laden with a powerful sound system.
They jumped, prayed and gyrated to gospel music. Traffic police accompanied and monitored the roadshow which comprised of a long convoy of private cars plastered with posters emblazoned with Makandiwa and his wife’s pictures.
The conference would start at 8pm and end at dawn, part of the posters read.
Officials said they hoped more than a third of the estimated 150 000 delegates would come from Bulawayo and surrounding areas.
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UFI spokesperson Prime Kufakunesu said the roadshow was staged in a bid to invite people from Bulawayo and Matabeleland to the conference.
“The main purpose of the congress is to present various problems that people are faced with to God. They include poverty, sickness, disease and barrenness,” he said.
“We have been reaching out to all Zimbabwe citizens because we do not want to live any one out. The conference will be a life-changing event especially to Zimbabweans bedevilled by various situations,” Kufakunesu said.
The congress would see people from as far as Botswana, United States, Uganda, Namibia, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo participating.
Apart from roadshows and posters, UFI Christ TV channel, the official broadcaster of Judgment 2 Night, is publicising the conference where admission is free “to cater for everyone including those that are financially challenged.”
“The man of God will dedicate his time to help fellow people communicate with God and ask him to intervene in their different situations,” Kufakunesu said.
He said prominent business people and politicians were set to attend the conference, but he would not disclose their names.
Kufakunesu said international artists like South African gospel artistes Hlengiwe Mhlaba and Khaya would perform.
