Godfrey Kudita Junior, the son of Word Impact Ministries leader Apostle Godfrey Kudita, has been remanded in custody after being accused of repeatedly raping his teenage sister while the pair were staying in South Africa last year.
Godfrey Junior, 30, appeared before Harare magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa, who postponed the matter to September 16 and ordered him to explain why the court should accept the State’s consent to bail.
The State had agreed to his release on bail. The magistrate, however, did not immediately grant it and instead kept him in custody while the court considers the circumstances surrounding the allegations and the proposed bail arrangement.
The girl’s identity is being withheld because she is a minor and is described in the case as a victim of a sexual offence.
The allegations relate to events said to have taken place in South Africa between February and June last year. Prosecutors allege that Godfrey Junior and the girl were staying with her parents, together with her two brothers and a housemaid.
Her parents later travelled to India for a medical procedure. The children remained in the house with Godfrey Junior and the housemaid. According to the State, the teenager was therefore left in the care of relatives while her parents were away.
A few days after the parents left, Godfrey Junior allegedly introduced the girl to drugs. Prosecutors say the two began taking them together during the period in which the alleged abuse occurred.
The State further alleges that he showed the teenager pornographic material on television before having sexual intercourse with her without her consent on several occasions. The alleged assaults are said to have continued over a number of months.
The abuse allegedly stopped after the teenager’s grandmother travelled to South Africa to visit the family. The matter later came to light when the girl wrote a letter to her grandmother describing what she said had happened.
She subsequently disclosed the allegations to her mother after the mother returned from India in July last year. The matter was not immediately reported to the police.
The teenager returned to Zimbabwe with her mother on September 3 this year. A police report was made four days later, on September 7. She was then medically examined, and the State intends to produce a medical affidavit as an exhibit during the proceedings.
The delayed report has become one of the most important features of the case. The allegations first emerged within the family, where relatives held discussions about what had happened and what should be done. Those discussions did not immediately lead to a police report, leaving the teenager’s family divided over how to respond.
The case has also raised questions about the danger children can face when responsibility for their care is placed in the hands of relatives or other trusted adults. Families often rely on close relations when parents must travel for work, medical treatment or other urgent reasons. That arrangement can provide practical support, but it can also leave children vulnerable if the person entrusted with their care abuses that position.
In this case, the girl was allegedly left in a home where Godfrey Junior had access to her while her parents were abroad. The State’s account places the alleged conduct within that period of dependence and family trust.
The allegations are also linked to claims that emergency contraceptive pills (morning after pills) were obtained after the alleged assaults. Relatives have said the medication was repeatedly sought from a pharmacy. They allege that the pharmacist became concerned about the frequency of the purchases and warned that the person taking the pills should attend the pharmacy so that she could be advised directly.
A relative later reportedly returned to the same pharmacy while discussing the matter and showed the pharmacist a photograph of Godfrey Junior. The pharmacist is said to have identified him as a client and spoken about concerns raised by the purchases.
Emergency contraceptive pills are intended to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex and can also be used after sexual assault. Medical guidance says they are not intended to replace regular contraception. Repeated use can cause side effects such as changes to the menstrual cycle, although it does not damage future fertility. In the allegations before the court, the dispute is not about the medicine itself but about the claim that it was obtained after repeated sexual attacks on a child.
Family members have also accused Godfrey Junior of trying to monitor communications between relatives. They allege that he hacked the mobile phone of an aunt who was helping to care for the children while their parents were away. The alleged purpose, according to relatives, was to discover whether the teenager had disclosed anything about the abuse.
The family relationship has added to the distress surrounding the case. Godfrey Junior’s father and the girl’s father are brothers. In African terms, that makes the teenager his sister. She had also previously stayed at the Kudita family home in Harare for about two years while attending Grade 6 and Grade 7, according to relatives familiar with the family’s history.
That earlier connection meant the teenager was not a stranger to the household. It also deepened the sense of betrayal felt by relatives who say they had trusted Godfrey Junior and his family.
Family meetings held after the disclosure were recorded. In one telephone exchange, Godfrey Junior is heard apologising to the teenager’s brother.
“I can’t justify anything. I’m saying I know you are angry and you’ve got a lot to say. I’m just calling to say if I said anything offensive yesterday, I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. I’m not trying to do any reverse psychology. Ndakama**** Maxwell, Ndakama***a and ndiri kuzviziva. I’m sorry if I said anything offensive yesterday. I’m very sorry,” he says.
The teenager’s brother responds by referring to money he had been sending Godfrey Junior. He alleges that the money was used to buy morning-after pills for his younger sister.
The recorded exchanges have become part of the family’s account of what happened after the allegations surfaced. They show the anger, confusion and competing loyalties that followed the teenager’s disclosure. Some relatives wanted the case taken to the police, while others focused on managing the dispute within the family and considering its effect on the wider ministry.
Apostle Godfrey Kudita, who leads Word Impact Ministries and is known for Christian broadcasting and faith-based programmes, also addressed the dispute in a recorded message. He said the family was devastated but would not dictate the next step to the teenager’s relatives.
“My position regarding this issue has always been the same,” he says in the recording.
“We’re all devastated and this has never been taken lightly but, at the end of the day, the bottom line is that every decision and the next move belongs to you. If there is collateral damage from whichever decision you take on the ministry, He who began the work is the one who knows what to do with (it). It’s something that we cannot do anything about but if it appeases you to take the next move in whatever decision you take, we will always understand where you’re coming from.”
He added: “At the end of the day, it’s your prerogative, if it goes a long way to fulfilling your objectives of appeasement, we will respect that. We are in solidarity with your position and we will not be able to take any position with regards to your next move because we are conflicted. As much as we love Nana, and he also remains our son, we will not get involved. You do not need any permission from us to do whatever you want to do. You can proceed in whatever direction the Lord leads you to. We will always understand and if it gives you peace and, maybe, settlement and closure of this issue, whatever direction it will take, it will always be respected. God bless you.”
The family’s delay in reporting the matter reflects a wider problem in cases of sexual abuse in Zimbabwe. Research on abuse and disclosure has found that many survivors do not report what happened because of shame, fear, stigma, financial dependence and concern about retaliation. These pressures can become even stronger when the alleged perpetrator is a relative and when the family fears public embarrassment or the collapse of relationships.