A Zimbabwean pastor and human rights activist, Patrick Mugadza, who ‘predicted’ that President Robert Mugabe would die this year is expected in court today to answer to charges of ‘undermining the President’s authority’.

Patrick Mugadza, the founder and leader of Remnant Church, was picked up by police yesterday, as he walked out of the Harare Magistrates’ Court, where he was facing a separate charge of abusing the national flag, where his trial has been set for February 22.

The cleric told journalists in Harare last week that on December 26 last year, he received a prophecy that Mugabe, who turns 93 next month, would “die on October 17” this year.

Mugadza’s lawyer, Gift Mtisi, confirmed that his client was arrested by police officers from Criminal Investigation Department Law and Order Section over his ‘prophecy’.

“Yes, it is true, we are aware that he has been picked up by the police. We do not have details at the moment, but we understand it is in connection with the prophecy he issued last week,” Mtisi said.

Announcing his prophecy last week, Mugadza said: “It’s not to say that I am glad to announce this, but I am just saying it because that is what the Lord has revealed to me. It was on December 26, when I was in prayer and God said to me this coming year, in 2017, the President is dying. He told me that he is dying on October 17.

“I am not saying I am going to be killing him on October 17, so there is no way anybody can say to me what you have done is wrong. I am not going to be killing anybody, I am only saying what God told me that he is going to die.

“He is old and I think it’s time for him to go home, as simple as that … If people think Mugabe is sticking around because he wants power, then they are wrong, I believe right now the old man is serving his jail term while alive.”

The cleric vowed that he was prepared to go to jail over the prophecy.

Mugadza’s prophecy comes after Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya passed an almost similar prophecy on New Year’s Day, declaring that a top politician would die this year.

On Sunday, Zanu PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere admonished clerics prophesying Mugabe’s death, warning of unspecified action.

This is not the first time prophecies have been made of Mugabe’s ‘looming death’, but the veteran politician has laughed off the predictions, jokingly saying he had surpassed Jesus Christ’s record, dying and resurrecting several times.

Mugadza’s brush with the law started in December 2015, when he staged a solo demonstration at the Zanu PF conference in Victoria Falls, denouncing Mugabe and calling for his resignation over his failed economic policies.

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Embattled Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has declared a 90-day state of emergency a day before his official mandate ends.

He decried ‘extraordinary’ foreign interference in his country’s affairs and December’s election.

Regional leaders have been unsuccessfully trying to persuade Mr Jammeh to hand over power to Adama Barrow, who won the polls.

The move comes after Nigeria deployed a warship to put further pressure on Mr Jammeh to step down. A military source says that the vessel – the NNS Unity – is currently sailing off the coast of Ghana.

Senegal is leading Ecowas’ standby regional force and is also preparing its ground troops ahead of Thursday’s deadline but the regional body maintains that military intervention would be a last resort.

The Gambia’s small army is not expected to put up a fight in the event of an intervention, but even if it did, its forces would be quickly overrun.

Meanwhile, in his televised announcement, Mr Jammeh said ‘any acts of disobedience to the laws The Gambia, incitement of violence and acts intended to disturb public order and peace’ are banned under the state of emergency.

He said security forces were instructed to ‘maintain absolute peace, law and order’.

Earlier, the National Assembly passed a motion condemning what it called the ‘unlawful and malicious interference’ of the African Union and the country’s neighbour, Senegal, in The Gambia’s affairs.

Mr Barrow, a property developer, is meant to be inaugurated as the new president on Thursday and his spokesperson expressed shock and sadness at Parliament’s declaration.

It is remains unclear if a curfew is being imposed.

Mr Jammeh initially accepted the election results but then decided he wanted them annulled after the electoral commission admitted some errors, although it insists this did not affect the final outcome.

The Supreme Court is unable to hear the challenge until May because of a shortage of judges, and Mr Jammeh has said he will not step down until then.

At least three Gambian ministers, including the foreign minister, have resigned in recent days. Thousands of Gambians have also fled to Senegal, and further afield to Guinea-Bissau, amid fears of violence.

In the December polls, Mr Barrow won 43.3% of the vote compared with Mr Jammeh’s 39.6%. A third candidate, Mama Kandeh, got 17.1%.

Yahya Jammeh seized power in the tiny West African country in 1994 and has been accused of human rights abuses, although he has held regular elections.

The African Union has said it will no longer recognise Mr Jammeh’s authority after his term ends. Mr Barrow is currently in Senegal.

There has been an outpouring of grief over the death of Mr Barrow’s eight-year-old son – and many Gambians on social media have been changing their profile photos to his image to show their sympathy.

Habibu Barrow died in hospital after being bitten by a dog on Sunday at his aunt’s house in Fajara, a coastal resort near Banjul. He was mauled by the dog and sustained a head injury.

Many residences in Fajara, an upmarket area, have security dogs to ward off intruders.

Mr Barrow was unable to attend Monday’s funeral as he intends to remain in neighbouring Senegal until his return on Thursday for his swearing-in. But his second wife Sarjo, Habibu’s mother, was there along with her two other children.

Since Mr Jammeh announced he was contesting the vote on 9 December, Mr Barrow, a devout Muslim with two wives, moved his children to stay with relatives for safety.

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