On 26 April 2026, in Harare, Zimbabwe, an elderly woman collapsed to the floor during a church service.

Her name is our most respected mother  Tarukwasha. She is the widow of the late Bishop Rev Dr Josiah Tarukwasha who was  the first Black National Overseer of the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe.

She collapsed in grief in her late husband's own church, during a service she had not been asked to approve, presided over by men who had not been invited by her church's own council. P

The man running the service  appointing his friend Pastor Maushe forcing a congregation to accept a pastor they dont want at the  Malbereign Church .

The man is Pastor Abel Zindati Gonese, the who is the current Secretary General of the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe, he saw  our mother fall. His documented response, in his own language, was this:

"Vasiyei, vachapora."

Leave her. She will heal.

And he continued.

The service did not finish. Our mother  was taken for medical attention. No officer present stopped to help her. No apology has been issued. No pastoral acknowledgment has been made to her or her family to this day.

We are asking Bishop Abel Zindati Gonese to resign. He is the biggest hinderance in the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe and singlehandedly holding the church ransom. 

he is being asked to resign , Not only because of what he said to a collapsing widow.

But because that moment is not isolated. It is the clearest expression of who this leadership has become, and what it is doing to the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe.

 WHO WE ARE

We are members, former members, ministers, pastors, wives of pastors, children of pastors, and friends of the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe,  a church that has served Zimbabwe faithfully since 1920.

Over one hundred years of ministry. Over 23,000 members. Thousands of families across every province of Zimbabwe and in the diaspora across South Africa, the United Kingdom, and aborad, the United States, and beyond.

We love this Church. We are signing this petition because that love is the reason we cannot be silent.

 WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR CHURCH

In May 2024, our church held its National General Council, the democratic gathering of ministers and delegates from every province of Zimbabwe.

That council elected Bishop Patrick Maiwasha as National Overseer with 89 votes. The result was declared by the presiding Moderator.

Pastor  Gonese, who administered that election and who contested it and lost, raised an objection after the result was announced.

The dispute was not resolved through the Constitution. It was not resolved through mediation. It was not resolved through the National Council being called again.

In March 2025, a second National Council elected Bishop Maiwasha again,  this time with 80 votes.

The same man administered the same election, lost the same election, and the same objection remained unresolved because the same man who was constitutionally required to resolve it through the proper process had not done so.

On 17 April 2026, letters were issued without constitutional authority declaring Bishop Maiwasha's office vacant and appointing a replacement.

Those letters were not issued by the World Missions Board as required by Article 7.2.4.3(9) of our Constitution. They were issued by one man acting alone. The High Court of Zimbabwe has received this matter for determination.

Pastor Gonese is the Secretary General. Article 8.2.1 of our Constitution requires him to give 21 days written notice convening the National Council. He has not done so.

The National Council,  the democratic voice of this Church, the body that elected Bishop Maiwasha twice,  has not been permitted to meet and resolve this crisis because one man will not perform one constitutional function.

He will not call the meeting because he knows what the meeting will decide.

 THE SIX REASONS WE ARE CALLING FOR HIS RESIGNATION

1. He caused this crisis.

In 2024 the Moderator directed him to implement a constitutional amendment process to resolve the full-time employment question.

He did not do it. Every consequence of this crisis, the court case, the divided Church, the departed members, the suspended programmes,  flows directly from his failure to perform that specific directed constitutional function.

2. There are allegations that the Church funds have not been accounted for. 

There are serious allegations that require immediate investigation on financial misconduct. We have heard that at the 2023 National Conference in Kwekwe, approximately USD4,000 was raised from the membership. That money has not appeared in any financial report. No receipts have been produced. No disbursement record has been shown. Additionally, donor funds received for COVID-19 relief and Cyclone Idai disaster relief were never recorded in the official books of accounts of this Church. The members of this Church received  during a pandemic and a cyclone. They deserve to know where their giving went.

3. He imposes pastors on congregations that have the constitutional right to choose their own.

Our Constitution requires every congregation to participate in selecting their pastor through an Electoral College process.

Pastor  Gonese has applied this right to some congregations and denied it to others.

Mucheke Assembly in Masvingo. Sakubva Assembly in Mutare , Mabelreign Assembly in Harare,  Mbare Assembly in Harare and right now him and his friend are about to destroy the Mkoba Gweru assemblies as there is a meeting that was recently had planning to target another church led by a widow of the late Pastor Mhunduru.  Local councils are being overruled. Congregations are  splitting. Communities that took generations to build were damaged in weeks.

4. He walked past a collapsing widow.

We have described this above. We will not describe it again. You have read it. You know what it means.

5. He dragged this Church into court.

When ministers, Provincial Overseers, and legal representatives wrote to the NEC seeking resolution, their correspondence was met with silence.

Courts are not where churches are supposed to resolve their disputes.

The High Court of Zimbabwe is now involved because Pastor  Gonese refused to respond to correspondence, refused to call the National Council, and refused to perform the functions of his office.

Every cent of legal fees paid by this Church is a cent that should have gone to ministry.

6. He will not let the people decide.

The National Council,  the democratic gathering of this Church, has the constitutional power to resolve every question currently before the court.

Pastor  Gonese's only constitutional function in that process is to give 21 days written notice.

He refuses to give it.

He has now formally proposed that the National Council meet in February 2027,  by which time the elected National Overseer's term will have effectively expired without him serving a single day in the office the membership gave him.

He is not protecting the Constitution. He is using it as a shield while he runs out the clock on a democratic result he does not accept.

 THERE IS ONE MORE ALLEGATION

We state this carefully because it is under formal investigation and we will not name the person involved without her consent.

A formal complaint has been made that Bishop Gonese exposed a female member of the Church's administrative staff to pornographic material.

That complaint has been received and is being processed through the appropriate channels. We include it here not to convict but to inform,  because the members of this Church are entitled to know that this complaint exists and that it will not be suppressed. Allegations of Sexual misconduct of this nature should be taken very seriously and the vulnerable protected. 

 WHAT WE ARE ASKING

We are asking one thing.

Pastor  Abel Zindati Gonese must resign as Secretary General of the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe.

Not because we are your enemies. We are your brothers and sisters in Christ and we will remain so.

But because you have held an office whose primary function is to serve this Church and you have used it to serve yourself.

Because you administered two elections you lost and spent two years preventing the implementation of both results.

Because you walked past a our most respected mother  who collapsed on the floor of her late husband's church.

Because of allegations you have not responded to about how you have not accounted for funds entrusted to you by the membership.

Because you have given our Church's name to the High Court of Zimbabwe when a single letter from your office as the Secretary General could have prevented it.

Because you have dragged the most respected Executives of the International Church to write letters to the High Court of Zimbabwe when a single letter from the office of the secretary General could have prevented dragging the church most trusted partners. 

The Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe was not built for this.

It was built for Zimbabwe. It was built for the Gospel.

It was built for the 23,000 members whose pastors do not know who their National Overseer is because you will not call the meeting that would tell them.

Step down.

Let the people decide.

 Let the Church govern itself.

 TO EVERYONE READING THIS

You do not need to be a member of the Full Gospel Church of God in Zimbabwe to sign this petition.

You need only to believe that a church leader who walks past a collapsing widow and says "leave her, she will heal" should not be leading a church.

You need only to believe that democratic elections should be implemented and not buried.

You need only to believe that people who give money to a church during a pandemic and a cyclone deserve to know where it went.

Sign. Share with every Zimbabwean you know. Share with every Christian you know. Share with every person who believes that leadership is a sacred trust,  not a personal possession.

There is always hope. But hope requires honesty. And honesty requires this.