BishopAccountability.org
	Zimbabwe: Manhanga Blasts Pius Ncube By Caesar Zvayi allAfrica July 24, 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200707240252.html Zimbabwe — Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe, Bishop Trevor Manhanga yesterday blasted Roman Catholic Archbishop for Bulawayo Diocese, Pius Ncube for seeking earthly and not heavenly repentance following his notice to oppose the $20 billion adultery lawsuit filed by a man accusing him of having an adulterous relationship with his wife. Bishop Manhanga urged errant church leaders to repent to God for their sins and not seek repentance in courts of law. This followed the lawsuit for adultery damages lodged against Archbishop Ncube by a Bulawayo man, Mr Onesmus Sibanda who accuses him of having a two-year adulterous relationship with his wife, Rosemary. The lawsuit was filed at the Bulawayo High Court on July 16 with Archbishop Ncube's lawyer, Advocate Nicholas Mathonsi, filing a notice to defend latter the same day. "Repentance cannot be found in a court of law for it is a matter of an individual and God. Whatever the findings of the courts of law, if an individual has sought repentance, he or she can find forgiveness. "And the church must understand that when God forgives, there is no need to continue to hold against someone what God has forgiven," said Bishop Manhanga, who is also chairman of the Heads of Christian Denominations behind the Ecumenical Peace Initiative. Bishop Manhanga said the church was not a perfect institution since it was led by imperfect mortals, but its good work must not be diminished by the apparent fall from grace of a senior church leader. "We need to let the nation, and the people we lead know that, if indeed what is alleged to have happened did happen, we do not condone it and it does not reflect what the church stands for. "If indeed the alleged incidents took place I do not doubt the integrity of the Catholic Church in instituting their disciplinary measures that such an incident warrants. If sin has taken place there will be consequences, the Christian community must be cognisant of that," he said. Bishop Manhanga said it would be wrong for the Christian community to question how the alleged failure was exposed because that was not the issue. "The issue is moral failure and a violation of Christian teaching and conduct, which even if was not exposed by man has been known by God. Ultimately as the church, we serve God not man and we should seek to be behave in a manner that is acceptable to God," said Bishop Manhanga. He said the Church had a right to criticise those in leadership but should never adopt a holier than thou attitude or personalise the issues. "The church and its leadership have every right to disagree with those that exercise leadership over us. The church has a right to point out their wrong doings or policies as we see them, but we should never personalise issues or demonise people. After all these same people are souls that we as the church need to bring to the redemptive love of Jesus Christ. "We as the church also need to understand that we are not always right. The Word of God is, but our own perceptions or interpretations are not," he said. Bishop Manhanga criticised at Archbishop Ncube for issuing un-Godly comments about the country's leadership, saying it was wrong to issue comments of a personal nature. "We also need to reflect on the manner in which we have responded or reacted to national matters and those who are involved in political leadership in the nation. "It is no secret that the relationship between Archbishop Ncube and the Head of State, President R.G. Mugabe has not been cordial. This is very unfortunate and it was wrong for the Archbishop to have issued communication of a personal nature against the Head of State," he said. Archbishop Ncube shocked many when, on March 25 2005, he told a British magazine, The Economist, that he prayed for President Mugabe's death, which statements he repeated, four days later, in another interview he had with a South African newspaper, The Star. Bishop Manhanga becomes the first Church leader to openly speak about the adultery case.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.