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	In Video Interview, Zimbabwean Archbishop Admits He Had Affair By Bronwen Dachs Catholic News Service March 26, 2008 http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801643.htm CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) — Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube, who resigned as archbishop of Bulawayo last year after a sex scandal, has admitted he had an affair with a woman. The archbishop, one of the most outspoken critics of Zimbabwe's political leadership, made the admission to Frontier Africa TV, an independent film production company, in Zimbabwe before he boarded a plane for Rome in November 2007. One of the directors of Frontier Africa TV, Fred Bridgland, released the archbishop's remarks from the interview in a March 23 story in the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald. In the piece, Archbishop Ncube also spoke out against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who was widely expected to win re-election March 29. "It is true, I do admit that I did fail in keeping God's commandment with regard to adultery," Archbishop Ncube said. "Having failed in keeping the Seventh Commandment ... I would like to apologize to you (the people of Zimbabwe); I'd like to apologize that so many of you were praying for me, for the fact that so many of you standing with me in fact suffered so much," he said. Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, told Catholic News Service the news of Archbishop Ncube's admission "is very depressing, to say the least. ... Everything about it — that this is what took place, that he is not here anymore." Chaumba spoke by phone March 25 from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. The Sunday Herald said Archbishop Ncube was called to the Vatican to explain the allegations that he broke his vow of celibacy. Father Frederick Chiromba, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, said that he does not know where Archbishop Ncube is living. However, many people believe he is in hiding in Great Britain. "Now that he has retired, we are not following his movements," Father Chiromba told CNS March 25. The archbishop's retreat from public life in Zimbabwe is a "big loss" to the country, where most people are afraid to speak out against Mugabe's government, Father Chiromba said, noting that "as a conference we were very concerned that he decided to resign." In an undated letter written by the archbishop and released by the Vatican press office Sept. 11, the archbishop wrote that he offered his resignation to Vatican officials in July to spare the image of the church. The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI accepted the archbishop's resignation under Canon 401.2, which covers resignations for illness or some other grave reason. A lawsuit alleging that the archbishop committed adultery was made public in July and state-run newspapers published photos they said were of Archbishop Ncube and a woman, taken with a concealed camera placed in the archbishop's bedroom. Chaumba said Archbishop Ncube "has asked us to forgive him, which as Christians we must do." It is "good to see the archbishop standing by his word," Chaumba said. Frontier Africa TV, an independent broadcast company run by three journalists based in London and Johannesburg, South Africa, was making a documentary on the archbishop last year when the adultery story broke. In the March 23 newspaper article, Archbishop Ncube was quoted as saying, "I became outspoken because I got extremely hurt and broken by the way the Zimbabwean government has been treating people — treating them like things, killing them, depriving them of food, depriving them of voting rights, destroying their houses, harassing them, imprisoning them, torturing them, killing the economy. "I'm not going to be silenced. I don't mind so much what people do to me personally, but what I do mind is the damage and evil to the people coming from the government of Zimbabwe," he said, noting that Mugabe has a "big zest" for power and has committed crimes against humanity that could have him jailed. Archbishop Ncube said he was "very traumatized" by his situation. "I did fail my vows. The problem is how do you repent, how do you turn round, how do you regain your integrity? I need to explain to the pope's people my situation and the situation of the diocese. I need a bit of time to rest and to discern, to think about the future and perhaps get counseling," he said, before leaving Zimbabwe. He said he feared the elections would be rigged again and that Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980, would win another five-year term. Father Sean O'Leary, director of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute in Pretoria, South Africa, said in a Sept. 25 report that Archbishop Ncube believes his life is in danger and said that he frequently has been warned by secret supporters within Zimbabwe's ruling party "to be very cautious about where he goes." Zimbabwe is crippled by the highest rate of inflation in the world, unemployment of more than 80 percent, and acute shortages of food, foreign currency and fuel.
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