Harare, Zimbabwe - THE Catholic Church has opened its own investigations into allegations that Bulawayo Archbishop Pius Ncube had an affair with a married parishioner.
The office of the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference (ZCBC) said it would only comment on the controversy dogging the Bulawayo Diocese after the conclusion of its investigations.
Archbishop Ncube, a strident critic of President Robert Mugabe, has been sued for $20 billion by Onesimus Sibanda, the husband of Rosemary Sibanda, the woman at the centre of the alleged affair.
"The media has reached its own verdict, but the church has its own process presently going on," said the office of ZCBC secretary general, Frederick Chiromba. "When the process has been completed, also taking into consideration the legal process underway in the courts, we will then be in a position to inform the media of the Church's position."
The ZCBC spoke as it emerged that Archbishop Ncube's lawyers were due to file an application in the Bulawayo High Court seeking an order to compel the plaintiff to avail information, documents and other details requested by the defence team.
"I am going to seek an order from the court, probably by Friday, to compel them (plaintiff's lawyers) to make available to us the evidence," Nicholas Mathonsi, Archbishop Ncube's legal representative, told The Financial Gazette.
Archbishop Ncube's lawyers want to have access to the video shown on ZBC TV, and pictures published in The Chronicle and The Herald.
Mathonsi wants the dates, times and venues of the alleged sexual acts, and details of witnesses that Sibanda's lawyers claim to have lined up.
Zimbabwe woke up on Tuesday July 17 to shocking reportage of the alleged adultery case. State media showed nude pictures of what it said were Archbishop Ncube and Rosemary Sibanda in compromising positions.
Munyaradzi Nzarayapenga, Sibanda's lawyer, said in papers filed with the Bulawayo High Court that submitting the requested evidence would be tantamount to "converting a Summons to a Synopsis of Evidence."