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	Church at Logger-Heads with Priest By Fatima Schroeder IOL [South Africa] February 12, 2007 http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20070212021604110C669316 The Catholic Church is embroiled in a legal conflict with a priest who has been accused of fathering a child with a poor young woman, having several girlfriends and failing to account for church funds. The Archdiocese of Cape Town has asked the Cape High Court to grant it an interdict against former Langa parish priest Father Fano Ngcobo to prevent him from entering the church in Langa and to stop him organising protests against it there. For his part, Father Ngcobo has accused colleagues of racist motives for moving him to Claremont to isolate him from the Langa community. The church also wants him to return the car it provided him. 'Catholic priests such as (Ngcobo) take a promise of celibacy' In an affidavit, Archbishop Lawrence Henry said the church had discussed the parish's financial position with Ngcobo after a parishioner made financial and personal allegations about the priest to him and other church officials. Monsignor Clifford Stokes, Ngcobo's immediate superior, and financial administrator Graham Wilson were at the meeting. Minutes were recorded, but the parishioner's name was deleted for protection. The parishioner claimed Ngcobo had several girlfriends and had fathered a child with a young woman from a poor family. One of Ngcobo's girlfriends had damaged the car the church had given him, the parishioner also claimed. "With regard to the allegations made on a personal level, I need hardly point out that Catholic priests such as (Ngcobo) take a promise of celibacy. The allegations of sexual relations levelled against (him) not only cast him in an unfavourable light in the eyes of Catholics, but are indicative of a serious breach of Canon Law on his part," Henry said. He said the truth of the claims had not been established, but he had to take them into account and added that Ngcobo would be dealt with in terms of Canon Law. The parishioner also claimed the collection was not accounted for and that rentals paid by tenants were not recorded. Ngcobo had also vacated the presbytery and had rented a flat in Athlone, frequently changed the mag wheels on his car and went on shopping sprees, it was alleged. Church property in the parish had also been let as doctor's rooms without diocesan approval, the papers said. Henry said he had met Ngcobo in August last year after the priest had resigned as a parochial administrator because he said he needed time to sort out personal issues. Henry told him the following month that he should temporarily move into a section of the Claremont presbytery. Ngcobo did not object, but Henry later learnt he had organised a protest outside the chancery offices in which he claimed his move to Claremont was racially motivated. Ngcobo accused Stokes, who is white, of being racist and wanting to isolate him from the community. In December, the Cape High Court granted an interim interdict and the case is expected to be heard on February 28.
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