GWERU – Before June 28, 2020, few Zimbabweans had heard the name Jacob Ngarivhume.

But with a single tweet, the 42-year-old leader of the small Christian-based opposition Transform Zimbabwe party sent his political stock soaring.

“On the 31st of July I’m proposing a national demonstration. People are suffering so that (Emmerson) Mnangagwa can live out his fantasy to be a president. As a people, we need to think logically,” Ngarivhume wrote on Twitter.

A month later, just 11 days before the planned march, he would be arrested and accused of inciting Zimbabweans to carry out an unconstitutional overthrow of the government.

He has twice been denied bail before his latest freedom bid which will be decided by a magistrate on Friday.

The government deployed security services to block access to towns and cities to prevent protests from taking place. Dozens of people were arrested or abducted and tortured in a crackdown on dissent which the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference has described as “unprecedented”.

The demonstration may have been thwarted, but Ngarivhume’s arrest together with journalist Hopewell Chin’ono entrenched a deep sense of injustice among Zimbabweans at home and abroad, leading to a global social media hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter which has focused the world’s attention on human rights abuses under Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa’s regime has been buffeted by condemnation from the United Nations, the African Union and even the Vatican after one of his ministers dismissed Catholic bishops as evil. South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has also sent special envoys to Harare – attention which Mnangagwa detests.

Every struggle has its heroes – and Jacob Ngarivhume’s name will now forever be associated with a citizens’ movement to free Zimbabwe from a rapacious tyrant who went back on promises to pursue democratic reforms after seizing power following a military coup that ousted despot Robert Mugabe in November 2017.

Ngarivhume was born in Chimanimani on February 20, 1978, but his polygamous father relocated the family Bikita in Masvingo province when he was still young.

He had the Christian faith drilled into him from an early age, with his parents devout members of the white-garment Johane Marange Apostolic Church.

Later, when he went to the University of Zimbabwe to pursue degree studies in Mathematics and Statistics, he joined the Apostolic Faith Mission Church where he is now a pastor.

To those who know him, Ngarivhume’s rise to prominence was a long time coming – particularly for as long as injustice and misrule exist.

“He’s a dedicated Christian who loves God and his family, and hates evil,” according to Rabson Shirichena, a member of his party.

Married to Nyashadzashe with whom he has three children – two girls and a boy – Ngarivhume is not new to political activism.

At the University of Zimbabwe, he was the branch chairman for the main opposition MDC and also a member of the student representative council.

After forming Transform Zimbabwe in 2014, Ngarivhume was arrested and accused of addressing an unsanctioned political meeting in Mkoba, Gweru. His supporters rallied outside the court as he was brought in from a police station before being granted bail.

As he left court, Ngarivhume was re-arrested with 13 of his supporters including his wife accused of disturbing public order.

In August 2014, Ngarivhume was arrested again, this time in Nyanga after attending a church service where he delivered a politically-charged sermon.

“He’s quite a brave guy and I’ve no doubt that he was prepared for the fate that has befallen him,” Shirichena said.

“He knows what it takes to oppose an oppressive system. He would now be convinced more than ever about the correctness of his fight. He has always believed that Zimbabwe’s problem is a leadership one, and that Zimbabwe will only prosper if it is led by a God-fearing leader.”

It was perhaps this quest for a Christian leader that saw him suspend his presidential campaign in 2018 as his party joined the MDC Alliance election coalition led by Nelson Chamisa, who attends the same church as Ngarivhume.

Before forming Transform Zimbabwe, Ngarivhume founded an NGO, Voice of Democracy, which was dedicated to researching and documenting incidents of political violence and how communities could protect themselves from political violence.

He also founded Prayer Network Zimbabwe, a prayer group formed with the purpose of praying for Zimbabwe.

Ngarivhume now works as a research consultant.

The polygamous family set-up in which he grew up has seen him look after and send to school many members of his family, Shirichena said. They would be hoping Friday is when he is returned to them – almost exactly a month following his arrest.