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	Zimbabwe: Zimbabweans Slam Ncube's Attitude allAfrica September 13, 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200709130249.html Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde George Charamba said the Catholic Church and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference had no business to defend and protect disgraced former Archbishop of Bulawayo Pius Ncube. In an interview, Cde Charamba said Bishop Ncube's alleged adulterous affair with a married woman was not an issue for the whole church but the particular individual implicated. He said the good work being done by the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe in the provision of health and educational institutions could not be attributed to Bishop Ncube, but the church alone. He said indigenous people, including forefathers, were not mere beneficiaries of the church institutions but also broke their backs in the construction and establishment of the institutions. Cde Charamba said the good work of the church could not redress the misdemeanors of the disgraced cleric. Zimbabweans from all walks of life yesterday also condemned Bishop Ncube for being insensitive to his own vow of celibacy while continuing to maintain a holier-than-thou attitude. Bishop Ncube (60) was forced to resign by the Vatican, nearly two months after a Bulawayo man filed a $20 billion lawsuit against him for adultery. The Herald was yesterday inundated with calls from people who wanted to comment on the fallout of the beleaguered Bishop Ncube. They said Bishop Ncube presented the Catholic Church with more serious problems by failing to acknowledge that he had failed the church through his arrogance and moments of weakness following the expose, and after that being compelled to resign. "Here is a man who did not see that he was wrong even when the scandal was exposed in the media and had to be forced to resign as if he could not see that he had put the church's name and, indeed, the vow of celibacy into disrepute. "It is still shocking and it defies all logic that after his resignation, Ncube says he will continue with his combative and confrontational diatribe against the elected Government of Zimbabwe," said Harare resident Mr Moffat Murendo. "Resignation is not enough. Pius Ncube must apologise to all Catholics. He must apologise on bended knees to the church itself and to the people of Zimbabwe," said Chinhoyi resident Mrs Christina Murombedzi. "Naturally, he should be ashamed of even opening his mouth in public because he has lost his morality. He has no respect, even for himself. He failed to respect his vow to God, so who else can he respect?" Political analyst Dr Tafataona Mahoso said Bishop Ncube should have resigned "long ago" and that some of the bishops had been too lenient on him. He said Bishop Ncube had been involved in several scandals, before the latest one. "In 2005 in Scotland, he said Zimbabwe was worse than Darfur. And the other scandal was to pray for the death of the Head of State. "Those were some of the scandals even before the latest one. He should have resigned long ago," he said. Dr Mahoso said the church should have "booted him out" for all the scandals that he was involved in. "Zimbabwe is not in any way near Darfur and you can't pray for the Head of State to die," he said. Social commentator Professor Claude Mararike said that was the proper thing for Bishop Ncube to do since he had been shamed. "I think that was the proper thing to do for him, if the allegations we read in the media are correct. "The church, at least, if it is a respected church, should not have continued to accommodate him," he said. Prof Mararike said when you are ashamed like Bishop Ncube, there was need to withdraw from public duties. "Because if you are expected to lead by example and in any leadership position you are expected to lead by example," he said. He said they were rules and guidelines that guide leadership, particularly in church leadership. "More especially when you take religious vows, you bind yourself to very high moral standards and by the way, morality means how people react to the demands of the environment. "And if your behaviour is contrary to the environment then you should give way," said Prof Mararike. He said the next thing was for the society and the church to pray for Bishop Ncube so that he could repent from whatever he was alleged to have committed. "Even the women involved, we should pray for them too, so that they don't go to church to tempt religious leaders," said Prof Mararike. On Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Father Martin Schupp to act until the Holy See makes a substantive appointment. Roman Catholic Church priests and bishops are sworn to a vow of celibacy, meaning that they must never marry and must never engage in sexual intercourse. Bishop Ncube is embroiled in a $20 billion lawsuit brought against him by Mr Onesimus Sibanda, who alleges in papers filed at the High Court in Bulawayo in July that the cleric had an adulterous relationship with his wife, Mrs Rosemary Sibanda, who is also a member of his parish. Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference secretary-general Father Fradreck Chiromba said Archbishop Ncube's resignation was accepted in terms of the church's Code of Canon Law. Fr Chiromba said Fr Schupp, who is the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Bulawayo, would act "until the Holy See decides otherwise in terms of the Archdiocese that is now vacant". Bishop Ncube was quoted by the BBC as saying he had resigned as the Archbishop but remained a bishop in the church. The media in July published photographs of Bishop Ncube in bed with Mrs Sibanda. It also showed him being intimate with another woman. In March, Bishop Ncube -- who had developed a tendency to stray from holy preachings to attacking President Mugabe and the Government -- said he was prepared to stand in front of "blazing guns" in street protests to bring down the Government. He urged other Zimbabweans to do the same. Four months later, he was at it again, saying Britain should invade Zimbabwe to remove Cde Mugabe, claiming this would be "the lesser of two evils". He is also on record for declaring he was praying for President Mugabe's death.
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