Lawyer: Adultery claims against Zimbabwean archbishop remain unproven

Published: 2007-08-07

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- A man who has charged Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo with adultery has not substantiated his allegations, said the archbishop's lawyer. The Zimbabwean plaintiff's lawyer filed an amendment to the original charges "in an attempt to correct grammatical errors and other mistakes in the original document" but "his basic demand hasn't changed much," said Nicholas Mathonsi, Archbishop Ncube's lawyer. In an Aug. 7 telephone interview from Bulawayo, Mathonsi said that the following day he would file a request in Bulawayo's civil court for "particulars of the allegations that we are entitled to as a matter of law." In documents handed to Archbishop Ncube July 16, Onesimus Sibanda claimed $160,000 in damages from the archbishop for an alleged affair with his wife, Rosemary Sibanda. In his revised charges, Sibanda claimed $80,000 for loss of company, affection, assistance and sexual relations and $80,000 for loss of comfort. Mathonsi noted that a report in the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper Aug. 5 that the adultery charges were dropped indicated a "misunderstanding of the documents filed" by the plaintiff's lawyer.

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