Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday rebuked Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube for breaking his vow of celibacy after state media ran pictures of his arch-critic in bed with a married woman.
”Since you are my archbishop, Pius, and you swore to celibacy, keep your vows,” Mugabe said at the burial of a national hero and former army chief in the capital.
”Snatching other people’s wives is not fair play.”
Mugabe described himself an ordinary Catholic who knew God and urged church leaders to be exemplary.
Zimbabwe’s state-run media published pictures on Tuesday that it said showed Ncube, one of Mugabe’s harshest critics, naked in his bedroom with a woman whose husband is now suing the archbishop for adultery.
”I was born a Catholic but I did not swear to celibacy,” Mugabe said. ”That was my own area of weakness and I chose the path which led me to where I am. I am Catholic and I can say grace like Pius but I chose to marry and Pius chose not to.”
Mugabe said he would make a request when he goes to church for prayers for Ncube ”so that he can repent and return to morality”.
Ncube’s lawyer has said the cleric would fight the adultery suit.
Mugabe sparked controversy among Catholics in the early 1990s after revelations he had secretly married his former aide and fathered two children while still married to his late wife.
Ncube has been a constant thorn in the side of the Mugabe regime, calling for the people of Zimbabwe to rise up against his rule and declaring his readiness to ”go in front of blazing guns”.
Mugabe warned in May that church leaders who had become increasingly critical of him were treading a ”dangerous path”.
Two weeks ago the octogenarian ruler castigated some bishops for ”sleeping around” when they had sworn to celibacy.
”Some of them claim they swore to celibacy yet they sleep around with countless women,” he said.
Mugabe says military refused British coup bait
Meanwhile, Mugabe said on Wednesday that Zimbabwe’s military had rejected British encouragement to stage a coup and warned his government would press ahead with a price blitz that has left shop shelves empty.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader accused London of continuing to seek ways to topple him, suggesting that Britain had tried to encourage a coup in exchange for helping the country, which is mired in a deep political and economic crisis.
”They [the military] have refused to be tempted to go against their own people,” Mugabe said.
”The British thought that because of the suffering here there would be a coup. They were dangling the coup as if it were a cake … but they [the military] were able to distinguish the enemy’s bait from true help,” he said.
Mugabe (83), who plans to stand for another five-year presidential term next year, accuses the West of working with the opposition and businesses to overthrow his government.
Critics say Mugabe has increasingly relied on the military and other security agencies to hang on to power despite a severe economic crisis that has seen inflation spiralling above 4 500% and unemployment and poverty levels rising.
Last month the government imposed a blanket price freeze — which authorities intend to extend indefinitely — after accusing businesses of unfairly hiking prices as part of a wider plot by the West to remove Mugabe from office. — AFP, Reuters