Father Alex Takes over Scandal Ridden Zimbabwe Catholic Archdiocese, The Zimbabwe Tribune, July 4, 2009

Father Alex Takes over Scandal-ridden Zimbabwe Catholic Archdiocese

The Zimbabwe Tribune
July 4, 2009

http://zimtribune.com/news_article.php?cat=17&id=228

PIUS NCUBE

ZIMBABWE – BULAWAYO – Father Alex Thomas Kaliyanil, the new Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bulawayo; who replaces Pius Ncube, one of Africa’s most respected churchmen who was dethroned in 2007 after a damaging sex scandal with a married woman, takes over the archdiocese on Sunday.

Father Alex, appointed by the Catholic Pope, Benedict the XVI, two weeks ago to lead the flock at the scandal-ridden Bulaw ayo Archdiocese, is expected to celebrate Mass on Sunday at the Cathedral in the city.

As the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Father Alex becomes the second highest Roman Catholic official in a predominantly Catholic Zimbabwe.

Father Alex replaces Ncube, who was dethroned in 2007 after grainy video images aired on Zimbabwean state television showed the 60-year-old Archbishop naked in bed with a married parishioner, in what the state newspapers called his “love nest”.

Two months after the scandal broke, the Archbishop Ncube tendered his resignation saying he did not want to drag the name of the Church through the mud as he fought off a Z$20 billion adultery lawsuit brought against him by Mrs Rosemary Sibanda’s husband, Onesimus Sibanda.

Ncube was recalled to the Vatican ostensibly to regain spiritual strength. The cleric’s alleged lover Mrs Sibanda, who later passed on after a short illness, claimed she agreed to have sex with the Archbishop in exchange for money to look after her family.

Ncube’s successor, Father Alex was born in India in 1960.

In Zimbabwe Father Alex was first assigned as Assistant Priest at Holy Cross Parish in Tshabalala between 1990 and 1992. Currently, Father Alex is Regional Superior of the Divine Word Missionaries in Zimbabwe.

While it is now generally accepted that Bishop Ncube indeed infringed his Catholic vow of celibacy, there is almost universal consensus in Zimbabwe that Mr Sibanda, a lowly rail worker, would not have financed and overseen the operation that brought down the Archbishop on his own. Ncube, it seems fell victim to one of the regime’s carefully orchestrated sting operations.

Ncube had emerged as a symbol of the opposition. The camera that captured the damning sex footage was placed in the ceiling of the cleric’s bedroom, apparently by Mugabe’s spy Central Intelligence Organisation.

And with his fierce criticism of Mugabe, the cleric had become, in the place of a weakened and fractured political opposition, the most articulate and outspoken figure of resistance to the regime, frequently condemning the veteran President as a “megalomaniac” and encouraging worshippers to pray for Mugabe’s death. World leaders hailed his courage.

The Archbishop said he would not hesitate to face Mugabe’s blazing guns and lead a revolution when Zimbabwean people showed themselves willing to sacrifice their lives for their freedom.