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Ncube case a state security job - analysts
Loughty Dube, Zimbabwe Independent
July 20, 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707200774.html

THE alleged adultery case involving Archbishop Pius Ncube, a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe, which has been sensationally playing out in the media, has a new twist to it after it emerged that the saga is a state security hatchet job to discredit the vocal cleric.

Analysts said events in the past week were reminiscent of the Cain Nkala and Ari Ben-Menashe issues and will collapse due to too many holes.

Archbishop Ncube is being sued for $20 billion by a Bulawayo man, Onesimus Sibanda, who alleges that he had an adulterous affair with his wife, Rosemary Sibanda.

Ncube's lawyer Nicholas Mathonsi, in a lengthy interview yesterday, said his client was not guilty and that it was for that reason he was contesting the case in court.

"My client is not guilty and that is the reason we are contesting the matter," said Mathonsi. "Unlike the other team that has played their case in the newspapers, it is incompetent to discuss the merits and demerits of the case before a wrong platform."

Questioned on the pictures showing Ncube in a compromising position with different women, Mathonsi said he did not know how authentic the pictures were but said his client was innocent.

"We do not know where the pictures are coming from and what they are or if they are authentic. We expect them to be produced in court as evidence but now they are already the property of everyone," Mathonsi said.

He also revealed that his client will sue media outlets that carried the pictures and the people who allegedly shot them once the courts have dealt with the matter.

The case has caused apprehensions in the Catholic Church, with a majority of people interviewed by the Zimbabwe Independent saying they did not believe that the video tape and the pictures being splashed by the media were original.

However, it emerged this week that the people involved in "nailing" Ncube have links to state security institutions.

The investigator cited in the state media as the mastermind behind the pictures, Ernest Tekere, is a former undercover agent while state newspapers claimed that he was a detective with the police Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Investigations and interviews with senior police officers in that department revealed that Tekere never worked for the CID. Most officers said they never knew him as a police officer but linked him to state security agents.

It also emerged that Sibanda was a solider with the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) based in Gweru, and not a National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) communication technician as claimed by state media.

NRZ public relations manager, Fanuel Masikati, refused to comment on whether Sibanda was a railways employee.

"I am sorry I have no comment on that matter. I cannot comment to you," Masikati said.

It also emerged that Sibanda has not been staying with his wife for a long period but is staying with another woman in Gweru.

The allegations against Ncube came after President Robert Mugabe told Zanu PF supporters in Harare last week that there were members of the clergy who were involved in illicit affairs with married women.

Mugabe warned that some of the clergy were going to be exposed for what they were.

Exactly a week later, state media was awash with pictures of Archbishop Ncube, indicating that Mugabe was aware of the impending smear campaign against Ncube.

The plot unravelled on Sunday when state reporters travelled all the way from Harare to Bulawayo to cover the story. The Herald sent Munyaradzi Huni to cover the case while SABC correspondent and ZTV part-timer Supa Mandiwanzira was already in Bulawayo on Sunday to cover the case.

Mandiwanzira's cameraman was on Sunday at the St Mary's Cathedral where he was seen filming the Sunday mass. Archbishop Ncube, who presides over St Mary's, was not present over the weekend.

A press conference was quickly arranged by Sibanda's lawyer, Munyaradzi Nzarayapenga, who announced the lawsuit before papers were delivered to Archbishop Ncube with a team of journalists in hot pursuit.

Zimrights chairman, Kucaca Phulu, said the pictures being shown by the state media violate the rights of people pictured.

"The whole episode violates privacy and the right to be protected from abuse. The pictures also violate the dignity of readers while traumatising children who read the newspapers," Phulu said.

The government-owned Herald and Chronicle newspapers ran photos showing a man identified as Ncube removing his clothes and lying in bed with a woman. Archbishop Ncube has filed a notice of defence at the Bulawayo High Court.

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