Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said he would pray for Zimbabwean Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, an outspoken government critic named in an alleged adultery case.
Though he was speaking at a state funeral on Wednesday, Mugabe smiled when he raised the Ncube affair, which has been a fixture in state media for three days and which Ncube's lawyer has called an "orchestrated attempt" to embarrass the cleric.
"To take other people's wives, is that a good game?" Mugabe asked mourners during the nationally televised funeral for Brigadier General Fakazi Muleya, a former guerrilla leader who died of cancer.
adultery suit
Ncube was named on Monday in a civil adultery suit filed by a railroad worker who alleged his wife, a secretary in Ncube's office, had a two-year affair with the archbishop of the second city of Bulawayo. Court officials were accompanied by a state television crew on Monday when they delivered the suit's documents to Ncube, who has repeatedly accused Mugabe of human rights violations and called for him to step down. The cleric has also urged Zimbabweans to take to the streets to demonstrate against the government amid the nation's worst economic crisis since independence.
Mugabe said Ncube took an oath choosing a life of celibacy as Catholic cleric.
"I also know God, I am a Roman Catholic. I am a person who belongs to the church but I didn't have an affair with anyone," he said at Heroes Acre, a shrine for former guerrillas in the bush war that led to independence and political leaders.
indiscretion
Mugabe, however, fathered two children with his secretary before his first wife died. He married Grace Marufu in 1996, and said later his first wife condoned his relationship with Marufu because she knew she was barren.
In 2005, Ncube said he prayed for Mugabe to die.
"To pray for people to die is bad. God is for us all ... I will pray for him so he has some good manners," Mugabe said on Wednesday.
Mugabe said the nation's rampant inflation was orchestrated to bring about "regime change" by Britain, the former colonial ruler, the US, other Western nations and "enemies" within the country. The government ordered all prices cut by around 50 percent on June 26, leading to hoarding and acute shortages at the stores of cornmeal, meat, most staples and gasoline.
Mugabe said manufacturers, suppliers and profiteers for "mistreating" consumers with inflated prices and forcing the government to intervene.
"If things are not found on the shelves it's not our fault, it's their fault," Mugabe said.
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday accused Harvard University of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students, and threatened to cut off all federal funding if the university does not take urgent action. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top US universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” Trump and his allies claim that Harvard and other prestigious universities are unaccountable bastions of liberal, anti-conservative bias and anti-Semitism. In a letter sent to the president of Harvard, a federal task
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa