By Desire Tshuma
Harare – Popular apostolic leader Daniel Matamba, widely known as Madzibaba Benjy, has thrown his weight behind the CAB3 initiative, saying it aligns with Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 and urging stronger action against drug abuse and early marriages.
Speaking during a prayer gathering in Harare this week, Madzibaba Benjy said the Citizens Advocating for a Better Zimbabwe, CAB3, was supporting the government’s development blueprint and calling for unity around the 2030 agenda.
“Vision 2030 is our roadmap to prosperity,” Madzibaba Benjy told congregants. “CAB3 has come to support that vision, to push for development, discipline, and for our children to have a future rooted in our values.”
The cleric, who leads large prayer services attended by thousands across the country, has built a following for combining spiritual teaching with social messaging. His recent services have focused heavily on moral conduct, youth behavior, and national development.
Madzibaba Benjy singled out two issues he said were undermining progress: drug and substance abuse, and early marriages.
> “Drug and substance abuse must be stopped. It is destroying our sons and daughters,” he said. “Early marriages must also be stopped. Our children need to go to school, to grow, to build themselves before they carry the burden of family.”
He also waded into national politics, linking the success of Vision 2030 to continued leadership. Madzibaba Benjy said if President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa is given a term extension to 7 years running through to 2030, Zimbabwe’s development trajectory would accelerate.
> “If President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa is given a term extension to 7 years and we go through to the 2030 agenda, Zimbabwe shall be a mini United Arab Emirates, a Dubai,” he said.
The apostolic leader’s background is rooted in the Johanne Marange apostolic tradition. He conducts regular prayer services that draw large crowds seeking healing, guidance, and deliverance. In recent years he has increasingly used his platform to speak on social issues, positioning his ministry as both spiritual and civic.
CAB3 has positioned itself as a citizens’ movement supporting development targets set out in Vision 2030, the government’s plan to attain upper-middle-income status by 2030. Madzibaba Benjy’s endorsement adds to growing backing from religious leaders who say faith communities have a role in mobilizing communities around national goals.
He closed his address with a call for prayer and discipline: “Let us pray for our country, let us protect our children, and let us work together so that by 2030 we see the Zimbabwe we dream of.”