Joylene Mtandwa| The latest in the tumble to shame of ‘bonking prophet’ Walter Magaya, the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries leader, has seen the preacher being stripped of his official government status.

The Zimbabwean government has removed the ‘bonking’ preacher’s honour badge of a goodwill ambassador.

The preacher confessed in a recent video with ZRP cops saying he has obtained sexual advantage from a female church member and afterwards cunningly paid thousands to cover it all up.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) says in a statement Magaya is now an outcast. In fact Magaya was never a Zimbabwe tourism envoy. The status was obtained corruptly, the government body says.

This follows reports that Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs minister Mirriam Chikukwa had last month appointed Magaya as Harare’s tourism brand ambassador.

“Magaya was never appointed tourism ambassador and he was never given that status. ZTA is the custodian of tourism and the appointer of brand ambassadors,” ZTA spokesperson, Sugar Chagonda was quoted by the Newsday paper.

The report continued saying, Chagonda added sounding that the authority was shocked to hear that Magaya had been appointed tourism ambassador without the consent of the regulatory board.

“We were surprised upon hearing that Magaya had been appointed the brand ambassador when we, the tourism authority, had nothing to do with it and we just want to set the record straight,” he said.

“We are not saying he is not worthy of being an ambassador, but the truth of the matter is he was not appointed.”

Contacted for comment over ZTA’s disclaimer, Jabulani Ndebele, a director in Chikukwa’s office, chose to be diplomatic, saying they only gave Magaya a religious tourism award and not an ambassadorial award.

“We do not have the jurisdiction to appoint a tourism ambassador and Magaya was not appointed. We only gave him a certificate of recognition for his efforts in the community. I think somewhere, somehow, someone misinterpreted the facts,” Ndebele said.

Magaya’s spokesperson, Admire Mhango, was unreachable for comment yesterday, although the cleric is on record paying gratitude to government for appointing him as religious tourism ambassador.

“I would like to thank the government of Zimbabwe for naming me the religious tourism ambassador through the Harare Metropolitan province. This shows that the government appreciates the role played by the church in bringing or attracting foreigners who throng PHD church services,” he said then. (Newsday/Agencies)