H-Metro Reporter
FIVE years ago, Prophet T.B. Joshua announced that Knowledge Musona, who was the Warriors captain at the time, had been “HEALED INSTANTLY” from an “ankle injury” which had been dogging him for five years.
It triggered a wave of mixed reactions among Zimbabweans.
The announcement was made by the late Nigerian televangelist on his personal X, formerly Twitter, account.
“Mr Knowledge Musona, captain of the Zimbabwe national football team, had suffered from an ankle injury for five years,” said T.B. Joshua.
“As the Belgium-based footballer refused the surgery the doctor suggested, he ran to the SCOAN (Synagogue Church Of All Nations) for divine restoration and was healed instantly.”
However, focus has now been thrown on T.B. Joshua’s “healings” after a BBC investigation, and reports, claimed the late prophet faked miracles at his SCOAN headquarters.
In some cases, claims the BBC investigation, those seeking “healing” were given fruit drinks, filled with the same medication, which they had been taking before their arrival at the SCOAN.
“Every foreign visitor who came to the church to be healed had to fill out a medical report, detailing their illness and the medication they were currently prescribed,” says the BBC report. “They would be told to stop taking them, but Joshua would order pharmacists to procure the same medicine.
“Without their knowledge they would ‘put those drugs in their fruit drinks,’ explains Mr (Agomoh) Paul (who supervised T.B. Joshua’s emergency department for 10 years), who said people would be urged to drink the cocktail that had been blessed by Joshua.
“This meant while visitors were residing at SCOAN, they would not become unwell and would believe in the divine healing powers of their pastor.”
Musona first visited the SCOAN complex in Lagos, Nigeria, in December 2018, and returned in May the following year where the announcement was made that he had been healed.
But, in the wake of the BBC investigation, there is a big question which needs to be asked: WAS MUSONA HEALED BY T.B. JOSHUA OR IT WAS JUST ANOTHER HOAX BY THE LATE NIGERIAN TELEVANGELIST?
Statistics show that Musona’s battles with the ankle injury, which had dogged his career, became few and far between after his visit to seek T.B. Joshua’s intervention.
This is the same injury which saw his return to Kaizer Chiefs, on loan, end prematurely when he was ruled out for the rest of the season in March 2014.
By the time the new season opened in August that year, he had reverted to being a TSG Hoffenheim player in the Germany Bundesliga, but the injury nightmare meant his future that was uncertain.
Musona joined another Belgian side, KV Oostende, in December that year and played nine games until the end of the season.
The ankle woes continued to trouble him.
However, those who believe in the late T.B. Joshua will argue that Musona has played more game for his clubs and country, without being sidelined by his ankle injury, since his visit to the SCOAN headquarters.
After making only 14 Belgian Pro League matches during the 2018/2019 season, ahead of his visit to the SCOAN headquarters, and only seven appearances during the 2020/2021 season, for a combined 21 appearances across two seasons, things started getting better for Musona.
During the 2020/2021 season, he made 24 appearances in the Belgian Pro League, which was three more games than he had managed across two seasons between 2018 and 2020.
There was another improvement, during the 2022/2023 season, in his first appearance in the Saudi Pro League, as he managed 29 out of the 30 top-flight league matches.
He then clocked another 24 out of 30 league matches the following season and, so far, he has managed 13 out of the 19 league matches which his club, Al Riyadh, has played.
They will also probably argue that Musona completed three transfers, from the time he went to the SCOAN headquarters, and the doctors at Eupen, Al Tai and Al Riyadh could have picked his ankle injury, and abort the transfers, if it was still nagging him.