ABSTRACT
Accordingly, for the white garment churches, Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe from 1980 until he was ousted by the Zimbabwean Army on 21 November 2017, was not only a human leader, but the Angel Gabriel incarnate. This chapter discusses the role that white garment churches played in legitimising Mugabe's long stay in power. It revisits the usual Shona Church songs the white garment churches would sing during such public gatherings and, more particularly, during Mugabe's visits to their church gatherings. Angels played an important role in both the Old and New Testaments. However, the two angels, Gabriel and Michael, particularly feature in the religious discourses of white garment churches in Zimbabwe. When politicians such as Chipanga contended that Mugabe would assist God in vetting those who qualified to pass through the gates of heaven, they were drawing on a pre-existing white garment church theology in which Gabhurona/Gabriel/Mugabe enjoyed that prerogative.
