The leader of the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD), Walter Magaya, was arrested late Friday evening around 11pm over rape allegations.
Magaya spent the night at Rhodesville Police Station, and he was released on US$2 000 bail by a magistrate the following day on Saturday.
The controversial preacher appeared before Harare magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe just before lunch, and in addition to the US$2 000 was ordered to surrender his passport, not to interfere with witnesses and report to Harare Central Police Station three times weekly as part of his bail conditions. He was not asked to plead.
The State says sometime in June 2015, Magaya invited the 25-year-old complainant to a house in Mount Pleasant, Harare and allegedly showed her around the place before leaving her alone in a room.
A while later, it is alleged, Magaya returned to the room in the nude and raped her once, thereafter giving her US$200.
The prosecution says the woman told her lover about the alleged abuse in July 2016 and a police report was made.
The State also says there are audio recordings of Magaya and the woman with issues surrounding the alleged rape.
Magaya was represented by Mr Everson Chatambudza of Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practioneers, assisted by Mr Oliver Marawa. Mr Gwinyiya Shumba prosecuted.
Magaya arrived at the court uncuffed in a double-cab vehicle and escorted by two police detectives. He chuckled as photojournalists captured him entering the building where some of his congregants knelt and greeted him as he walked into Court 6.
Sporting a blue shirt, black trousers and black shoes, Magaya appeared relaxed and occasionally chatted with a Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services officer as his wife sat in the gallery.
He showed no reaction throughout the proceedings and walked outside after being granted bail to the sight of some PHD congregants kneeling followers singing the popular chorus “Mhururu Kumatenga”.
Magaya laid hands on them before being whisked away in an orange Ford Ranger truck.
Magaya is popular within the region and commands a huge following. He has toured South Africa and Botswana, where he has taken along a huge entourage of more than 15 buses and several escort cars.
