Kunonga demands huge rentals from church tenants

Tenants at St. Faith’s Anglican Church in Budiriro, grabbed from the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa by Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, are finding it difficult to pay monthly rentals.

St. Faith Anglican Church in Budiriro - converted into Bethel Academy by unemployed university graduates.
St. Faith Anglican Church in Budiriro – converted into Bethel Academy by unemployed university graduates.

Following the expulsion of worshippers aligned to the CPCA from their church premises in Budiriro, Kunonga remained with only six congregants, including the pastor and his family. The remaining worshippers were no longer able to pay assessment to Kunonga. So a group of unemployed university graduates approached Kunonga for a permission to use the big church to open a school.

Kunonga embraced the idea and Bethel Academy opened its doors to the public and enrolled students for O’ Level, A’ Level and professional studies tutorials. Enrolment at the college was so overwhelming that the students now do hot-seating.

Armed with the information that the college was making good money, Kunonga increased the monthly rent from $500 to $650 per month, excluding water and electricity.

The college authorities, who requested anonymity, said they were surprised that a man of the cloth like Kunonga had abandoned evangelizing the gospel of Christ in preference to lining his own pocket. They said that there was need to look for alternative accommodation since the church premises were at the centre of controversy between Kunonga and Bishop Chad Gandiya’s followers in the Harare Diocese Anglican dispute.

Post published in: News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *