On Tuesday, 28 August 2007, ZimOnline carried a story that said the Solidarity Peace Trust had written to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) complaining over the “conduct” of its correspondent in Harare, Supa Mandiwanzira. 

The Trust alleged that Mandiwanzira had deliberately misled Archbishop Pius Ncube, who is embroiled in a court case over alleged adultery, to secure the interview. Below is Mandiwanzira’s full response: 

By Supa Mandiwanzira 

HARARE - I have noted your coverage of a letter by some organisation in Bulawayo and other stories relating to the alleged sexual scandal by the Archbishop of Bulawayo Diocese - Pius Ncube. In all articles, several fabricated and libelous allegations have been levelled about my conduct in getting the story. Let me put it on record that the allegations are malicious and only designed at discrediting my record as a professional journalist. 

I see these allegations as part of a wider campaign by reactionaries - who see any exposure of scandals by opposition and pro-opposition individuals or groups - to rid the international media in Zimbabwe of any balanced and objective journalists. I was never involved in any sting operation against Archbishop Ncube neither did I go to interview him in the company of Tazzen Mandizvidza and Happisson Muchechetere of the ZBC as alleged in several of your articles. 

Allegations that I gave these two SABC jackets so that Archbishop Ncube could see them as SABC journalists are therefore ridiculous. I have no SABC jacket and have not seen one in my term as an SABC journalist in Zimbabwe. A check at the SABC office in Auckland Park would have also revealed that that there are no such jackets and if at all they are there, none has ever been issued to me. The Archbishop himself, who as a Zimbabwean would definitely know Mandizvidza and Muchechetere, can confirm that none of those people where ever present at the interview. 

Allegations that I have "quoted" the Archbishop out of context are also ludicrous. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nowhere in the interview did I ever ask Archbishop Ncube on the goings on in the USA regarding Roman Catholic bishops who were facing allegations of abusing young children. An unedited copy of the interview is available from my office in Harare (productions@mightymoviespl.com) for anyone with interest to watch my entire 25-minute interview with the Archbishop. 

It is appalling that journalists who have jumped onto the bandwagon of repeating propaganda spewed by anti-Zimbabwe government websites which have no respect for the basic tenets of journalism (balance, objectivity and fairness), without even checking with me for my side of the story. I perceive this the lowest point of media polarisation in Zimbabwe. It is so sad that anybody seen to be writing anything critical of the government is seen as an enemy. 

In equal measure, anyone writing critically of the opposition or those opposed to President Mugabe is called names, not least that they are members of the Central Intelligence Organisation. I think this is a sorry state of Zimbabwean journalism and I think that your publication must take a position to end this kind of polarisation. Simply by tackling issues and not people, will our country move forward. If the media and media practitioners need to play a meaningful role in positively changing Zimbabwe, it must move from being a vehicle of hate propaganda. 

It must stop character assassinations of fellow professionals as is being done to me. I have not done anything wrong except do my work. Tough if anyone has found the story unpalatable but my facts are intact and it is undeniable that any allegations of sexual conduct by a Roman Catholic Archbishop would make headlines anywhere in the world. In Zimbabwe, the story is even more interesting because it has a political angle too. I do hope you publish these facts which form my side of the story. 

Supa Mandiwanzira