Harare - More details emerged in Zimbabwe on Tuesday of the adultery allegations against respected Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, one of President Robert Mugabe's most fearless critics.
Secret cameras allegedly planted by a private investigator, were used to film the archbishop in his bedroom, allegedly with a woman.
The state-controlled Herald daily newspaper published two photographs, which it said showed the archbishop in his room, waiting for a mistress and later in a state of undress.
Ncube, 60, is being sued for 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars - more than $1,3-million (about R9-million) at the official rate - by a man who claims his wife had been having an adulterous liaison with the archbishop for the last two years.
Ncube's lawyer has reportedly said the allegations are an orchestrated attempt to frame his client, who has repeatedly spoken out against alleged rights abuses by the Mugabe government.
State media, which closely reflects the government line - has seized on the allegations with glee, making it a top news item on both radio and television and in official papers.
Unusually, reporters from the government-owned press on Monday accompanied the deputy sheriff the city of Bulawayo, where Ncube is based, when he went to deliver court summons on the archbishop.
The usually arrogant Archbishop Ncube went ashen, was at a loss of words and could hardly contain the shock, the Herald said in a front-page story Tuesday.
It has emerged in reports that the woman at the centre of the scandal, whose identity has been revealed, was separated from her husband at the time the alleged liaison began.
The husband has married another woman since the separation, the Herald said. But he still wanted to sue the church leader. - Sapa-dpa