Saving 251 children from the clutches of a man who declared himself a prophet

Zimbabwe police announced the arrest of a man who claimed to be the prophet of an apostolic sect, the discovery of 16 graves, some of which were of infants, and the release of more than 250 children who had been exploited.

Police spokesman Paul Nyathi said that Ismail Chukurungirwa (56 years old) is a self-proclaimed prophet and leads a sect with more than 1,000 members on a farm about 34 kilometers northwest of the capital, Harare, where the children were staying alongside other devotees.

He added: "The children were used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect leaders," and of the 251 children, 246 of them did not have birth certificates.

He stated, "The police proved that all the children were of school age and had not attended formal education. They were abused as cheap labor and carried out manual labor under the slogan: learning life skills."

Police reported that they found the graves of seven infants whose details were not registered with the authorities.

Chukurungirwa, who called himself Prophet Ishmael, was arrested along with seven of his aides for criminal activities including “abuse of minors.”

Zimbabwe's official newspaper H-Metro, which accompanied police during the raid, showed soldiers wearing riot gear engaging in heated discussions with women from the plane wearing white clothes and headscarves, demanding the return of children who had been placed on a police bus.