International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press Published: July 16, 2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe:
Zimbabwean Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube was named
in an adultery case Monday in what his lawyers called an “orchestrated
attempt” to embarrass the outspoken government critic.
Attorney Nick Matonzi said Ncube was in his office in the second city of
Bulawayo when documents were delivered by court officials accompanied by a
state television crew alleging he was involved in a two-year affair with a
secretary in his office whose husband was demanding damages in a civil suit.
Matonzi said Ncube will deny the allegations in the civil court when it
convenes at an unspecified date.
State radio reported in its afternoon bulletins that the woman, identified
as Rosemary Sibanda who worked at Ncube’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, “admitted
the affair to” the state broadcasting company.
Matonzi said “a sort of press conference” was held in the cathedral
courtyard by court officials.
“The case is unique. From the manner the papers were served, you can see it
is some kind of orchestrated attempt to embarrass the Archbishop,” he said.
State radio said the woman’s husband, Onesimus Sibanda, was demanding 20
billion Zimbabwe dollars (about US$160,000; ?118,000 at the dominant black
market exchange rate) in damages.
At the legal official exchange rate the damages demanded – one of the
highest demands in the nation’s legal history – would exceed US$1.3 million
(?1 million).
Ncube has repeatedly accused President Robert Mugabe of human rights
violations and called for him to step down. The cleric has also urged
Zimbabweans to take to the streets to demonstrate against the government
amid the nation’s worst economic crisis since independence.
Earlier this month, Mugabe urged his ruling party militants to disregard
church leaders who have called for his forced ouster while criticizing the
chaotic and often violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial
farms that disrupted the economy since 2000.
He accused Ncube and other church leaders of “peddling falsehoods about
Zimbabwe’s governance.”
“Where is the godliness? Don’t listen to what they say …. One cannot tell
the difference between a bishop and a layman anymore. Some of them have
sworn to celibacy but they sleep around,” Mugabe told supporters on July 7.
David Coltart, a Bulawayo attorney and longtime friend of Ncube, said the
archbishop’s integrity had never before been questioned.
“Fascist dictators have used this means to attack opponents through the
ages. The law is used as a weapon,” he said.
Ncube has demanded disclosure by Mugabe on the massacre of thousands of
civilians in the western Matabeland province by troops who crushed an armed
rebellion against Mugabe’s rule there after independence in 1980.
He has said Mugabe was responsible for economic policies that have led to
acute food shortages and starvation among children, the elderly and other
vulnerable groups across the nation.
In March, Ncube said he was ready to lead a popular uprising against Mugabe.
A pastoral letter by the nation’s nine Roman Catholic bishops circulated at
Easter calling for an end to state oppression angered Mugabe, 83, a
self-avowed Catholic.
The state media described the bishops, including Ncube, as leaders of “the
settler church” with origins in the colonial era that backed Mugabe’s
opponents and Western governments campaigning against him.