30/08/2026
*✳️HIGH COURT ENDS MUGODHI FACTIONAL WAR DISMISSING EVICTION CLAIMS.*
✍️ Dj General – Brian Mhungu |
📰 Global Media Network News
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HARARE — The High Court has delivered a significant ruling in the long-running leadership and property battles that have rocked the Mugodhi Apostolic Church, absolving Washington Mugodhi and two other defendants from eviction claims involving key church properties.
In judgment HH 622-26, handed down by Justice Dembure on August 25, 2026, the court absolved Washington Mugodhi, Innocent Mugodhi and Enock Mugodhi from the instance with costs after finding that the church had failed to establish the necessary evidence to sustain claims relating to the Chitope National Shrine and Dombotombo Church.
The latest ruling comes against the backdrop of a bitter leadership conflict that has divided the church for years. The factional wars trace back to July 2017, when the late Bishop Tadewu Mugodhi, while battling cancer, attempted to alter the church's succession arrangements.
Following his death, a fierce contest emerged between the Aaron Munodawafa-aligned group and the Washington Mugodhi camp, resulting in protracted litigation and clashes within the church.
The judgment records that an earlier High Court decision had declared the late Aaron Munodawafa the substantive Bishop, while Washington Mugodhi's appointment as Vice Bishop by Tadewu Mugodhi was declared null and void. That decision was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court, while an application seeking leave to approach the Constitutional Court was refused.
In the latest property dispute, Justice Dembure found that the church had failed to prove ownership of the property described as Chitope National Shrine, producing neither title nor sufficient evidence of purchase or allocation. The court also found that the lease relied upon had expired in September 2022.
However, the litigation is not completely over. The court rejected fifth defendant Joseph Kutadzaushe's application for absolution, ruling that the case must proceed over his occupation of Stand 4552 Cherutombo, Nyameni, Marondera.
The ruling marks another decisive chapter in a church dispute that has travelled through Zimbabwe's superior courts, bringing greater legal clarity to a conflict that has deeply divided one of the country's prominent apostolic movements.
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