JACINTA NGOBESE-ZUMA QUESTIONS ZIMBABWEAN PROPHET OVER KARIBA FERRY TRAGEDY
By Gabriel Manyati
South African activist and March and March movement founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has sparked fresh debate with a Facebook post questioning a controversial Zimbabwean prophet after the deadly capsizing of a ferry on Lake Kariba.
Ngobese-Zuma wrote: “Why didn’t the famous Zimbabwean Prophet who knows all our days on earth and how we will die prophesy this???” Her comment refers to the recent ferry disaster on Lake Kariba, which left at least 44 people dead.
The overloaded government operated ferry, known as the Mbuya Nehanda and run by the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, capsized on 11 August 2026 while travelling from Kariba towards fishing camps and islands.
Authorities confirmed the vessel had a capacity of 90 people but was carrying at least 114 adult passengers, five crew members and an unknown number of children. Strong waves, described locally as the Binga Wave, struck the boat. Survivors later said passengers had pleaded with the captain to turn back as water entered the vessel, but their warnings were ignored.
At least 77 people were rescued, many reaching a small island before being brought ashore. President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a state of disaster as search and recovery operations continued.
Ngobese-Zuma’s post draws a direct contrast with an earlier prophecy issued by the same Zimbabwean cleric, Prophet Mellontik Orasi, also known as Dr Obey Tichafa Mukanhairi. In mid-July 2026 the prophet claimed on Facebook that he had seen a vision of hitmen monitoring Ngobese-Zuma. He wrote that she would be shot by a stray bullet and would not survive to see November if she did not reform. He described the vision in graphic detail: “I see three gunshots, three in the chest, one on the forehead.”
That earlier message drew strong condemnation from South African social media users, many of whom called it a threat rather than a prophecy and demanded that the prophet face legal consequences. Orasi later insisted his words were a warning meant to protect her, stating that the streets hungered for her blood and ending with the phrase “Bark or cry, I fear fokol.”
Ngobese-Zuma’s latest question has revived the controversy. Online reactions have been mixed. Some users supported her challenge, arguing that a prophet claiming detailed knowledge of death should have foreseen a major public tragedy involving dozens of ordinary Zimbabweans. Others defended the cleric, saying prophecies are selective or that public figures attract different spiritual attention.
A number of comments criticised the activist for focusing on the prophet amid a national disaster, while others used the exchange to renew broader debates about the credibility of self-proclaimed prophets.
The Kariba tragedy remains under investigation, with the death toll still subject to change as recovery efforts continue on the vast lake that forms part of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.