Zimbabwe: Defrocked Priest Sires Kids With Wife's Sister

By Prosper Dembedza
allAfrica
February 3, 2015

http://allafrica.com/stories/201502030709.html

The former Roman Catholic priest who was recently ordered to pay $80 maintenance for a child he sired while still serving, also sired two other children with his wife's sister during the same period.

Roman Catholic church priests pledge to celibacy, but it emerged at the Harare Civil Court last week that not only did Mathew Jonga, who was based in Guruve, break the cardinal rule by marrying, he went on to sire two children with his wife's sister.

Jonga was recently ordered to pay $80 per month for the upkeep of a child he had with wife Emma Mutaka.

It was revealed that Jonga sired two other children with Mutaka's sister Trinity (54) after he went to court applying for custody of the seven-year daughter he had with Mutaka.

"I came to know that Jonga was in love with my elder sister Trinity only last week after I caught him in her house," said Mutaka.

She told magistrate Ms Ruth Kamangira that Jonga secretly sired two children with Trinity and they were now living as husband and wife.

"My sister is an evil person," said Mutaka. "How could she sleep with my husband and have children behind my back?"

Mutaka said Trinity had been avoiding her over the past years because she was sleeping with Jonga.

She said Jonga was applying for custody of their child to shield himself from paying maintenance.

In his application, Jonga accused Mutaka of being a bad mother, saying she was disturbing the child's education.

"She is not a good mother to take care of the minor child because she is in the habit of taking her away from school and insulting her with vulgar words," he said.

Jonga accused Mutaka of being in the habit of threatening to commit suicide, but Ms Kamangira dismissed his application due to lack of merit.

"The court is of the view that the applicant is trying to run away from paying maintenance for his child," she said. Ms Kamangira said Mutaka was a good and hard working mother considering that she was the one who had been taking care of the child since birth.

"As a hair dresser, she managed to take care of the child while you were still serving as a priest, which clearly indicates that she is a good mother and is able to take proper care of the child," she said.