by Lekan Olanrewaju

Prophecies from religious leaders are nothing out of the norm in Africa. T.B Joshua in particular has always been the subject of much controversy due to his prophecies, as well as his miracles, but we’ll leave talk of that aside for now.

Earlier this year he delivered a prophecy about the death of an African leader which many dismissed as just another of his many predictions.

“God loves us, you should pray for one African head of state,” he said in February. “When I say President… again the sickness that is likely to take life; sudden death, it could be sickness being in the body for a long time but God showed me the country and the place but I’m not here to say anything like that.”

On Sunday 1 April, he referred to that prediction once more. He narrowed down the prophecy, excluding West African leaders, but saying that it’s fulfillment was drawing closer

“What I was saying is very close now.” he said. “You want to hear more, and it is very, very close now. Whether you like it or not, this is what I’ve seen.

“When it is too close and I cannot do anything about it, I will say it. But I’m still talking to Father but if I realise there is nothing I can do, I will talk…Before I come out to say something, I have been praying and praying.

“God showed me but I am praying to see whether this can be changed…I see sudden death but this can be changed”

Here is a video of T.B Joshua delivering the prediction:

On Thursday the 5th of April, Malawian President, Bingu wa Mutharika died. This came exactly 60 days from the first prediction.

After this took place, T.B Joshua went on to speak about how Mutharika had written to him 6 days before his passing, releasing a picture as proof of this.

The evangelist has however come under fire from religious leaders and political analysts in Malawi, who insist he must have played a role in the death of the president.

Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop Conference Secretary General Father Frederick Chiromba said the it was impossible for anyone to receive prophecies about the death of another from God.

“When you go to the scriptures no one is sanctioned to predict someone’s death in the public forum,” he said. “God doesn’t give advance notices to individuals about their death. From the Catholic perspective it is not encouraged to give such prophecies. We don’t have such kind of prophecies in the Catholics.”

Also, the kind of death the president experienced has raised eyebrows. He suffered a cardiac arrest, which political analysts claimed may hint at the fact his death was a murder, as cardiac arrests can be artificially induced.

“It’s possible to medically induce a cardiac arrest no wonder why his death was first leaked by his doctors,” said Zanu-PF legislator for Tsholotsho North, Professor Jonathan Moyo.

According to him, TB Joshua must have been involved in, or aware of a plot to take the president’s life.

“This leaves open the questions as to what happened because to neutral people there appears to be more to the saga than meets the eye,” Moyo said.

“In some circles there is even spirited speculation in well-informed circles that TB Joshua had privileged intelligence information about a death plot against President wa Mutharika and the plotters used him as their microphone to divert attention from them and let the death appear like it was an act of God when it was an intelligence operation.

“The kind of exact alleged prophecy on when it was going to happen shows that this was being said by someone with medical information and not from God.”

Joyce Banda has since been sworn in as Malawi’s new president. Banda is said to have also been a follower of TB Joshua.