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Zimbabwe bishop says sex charges were state-driven
Reuters
September 23, 2007

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=nw20070923141508805C715553

LONDON (Reuters) - The Zimbabwean archbishop who resigned after allegations of adultery, said on Sunday the charges were orchestrated by the state in order to prevent him from speaking out on human rights.

Bishop Pius Ncube told the BBC that images allegedly showing him in bed with his married female secretary had been produced by the government in order to try to "break" him.

"This was the evil plan of the government to isolate me and to cut me off from the human rights drive in the country, evil plans of trying to break me," Ncube said.

"That has not succeeded," he said. He did not deny the claims and said he could not discuss the case as yet.

The 60-year-old cleric, head of the southern Bulawayo archdiocese since
1997, resigned earlier this month after Zimbabwe's state-run media published what it said were photos of Ncube in bed with a woman.

Ncube's supporters said the report was part of a government smear campaign prompted by the archbishop's anti-Mugabe stance. The cleric has accused Mugabe and his government of human rights abuses and suppressing political dissent.

Ncube told the BBC that his accusers had not proved the adultery and that the video they produced was illegal and unjustified.

He said he would not categorically deny the allegations against him as the case was still under the judgement of a court, but added he expected the case to "fizzle out anyway" as "there is no case really."

Ncube said the government was using the allegations against him to distract people's attention from the country's problems.

Zimbabwe is mired in a deep economic and political crisis. The country faces chronic shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency, as well as unemployment over 80 percent and the highest inflation rate in the world of
6,600 percent.

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