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	Zimbabwe Airs Photos of Accused Cleric Associated Press, carried in The New York Times July 17, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Zimbabwe-Archbishop.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Harare, Zimbabwe (AP) — State media published photographs Tuesday allegedly taken by a camera hidden in a Roman Catholic archbishop's bedroom, claiming they show the outspoken government critic undressing beside a woman he is accused of having an affair with. Archbishop Pius Ncube's lawyer has called an adultery case filed Monday against the cleric an "orchestrated attempt" to embarrass him and said Ncube would deny the allegations in court when the case begins. 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. The archbishop declined to answer questions about his private life in a state television interview Monday, but spoke of the importance of forgiveness. Ncube's mobile phone was switched off Tuesday, there was no answer at his home and he was not in his office when The Associated Press tried to contact him. Court officials were accompanied by a state television crew when they delivered documents to Ncube on Monday at his office alleging he was involved in a two-year affair with a secretary whose husband was demanding damages in a civil suit. On Tuesday, a photograph in the state Herald of Harare depicted Ncube sitting on a bed taking off his shirt, obscuring a woman seated behind him. The Herald said many explicit pictures were taken by a private investigator hired by the man who filed the adultery case. The archbishop was also photographed "in the act with several other women in the supposedly holy bedroom," The Herald said. State radio said the government-controlled Bulawayo Chronicle newspaper printed other photographs, along with a front-page warning that they were not suitable to be viewed by anyone under 18. David Coltart, a democracy activist and longtime friend of Ncube, said the only incriminating photographs were blurred and did not conclusively show the archbishop. The husband who filed the suit is a railroad technician and was unlikely to have been able to mount an elaborate "sting operation" and litigation alone, Coltart said. State intelligence agents used a hidden camera in the treason case against Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai was acquitted in 2004 after more than a year of court hearings. State television repeated footage of Ncube speaking to journalists at St. Mary's Cathedral on Monday in which he spoke of forgiveness. "We all have weaknesses. That's why when we pray we always ask God for forgiveness," he said, adding: "I will not answer this question concerning my private life." The Vatican Embassy in Harare refused to comment Tuesday and asked a state television crew to submit questions in writing. No immediate comment was available from the Catholic Bishops Conference. Mugabe himself fathered two children with his secretary before his first wife died. He married Grace Marufu in 1996, and later said his first wife condoned his affair because she knew she was barren. Earlier this month, Mugabe urged his ruling party followers to disregard church leaders who have called for his ouster and accused Ncube and other clerics of "peddling falsehoods about Zimbabwe's governance." "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. Zimbabwe, which gained independence from Britain in 1980, once had one of the most diversified, vibrant economies in southern Africa. Its current decline, marked by inflation of 4,500 percent — unofficially 9,000 percent — had been linked to confiscation of farms from whites that started in 2000. Price cuts of at least 50 percent ordered by the government on June 26 in an attempt to curb rampant inflation have led to acute food shortages and near riots as cheaper goods went on sale. In Washington, the United States accused Mugabe's government of further eroding human and economic liberty and announced it would provide 52,000 tons of additional food assistance. The total U.S. effort will feed roughly 1.4 million people until the country's next harvest in early 2008. The White House also raised concerns about the Zimbabwean government's continued use of violence in its crackdown on political opponents.
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