Catholic love triangle raises stink

11 Sep, 2020 - 15:09 0 Views
Catholic love triangle  raises stink

The ManicaPost

Post Reporters

A messy affair involving a married Watsomba field officer and an intern at the Roman Catholic-run Diocese of Mutare Community Care Programme (DOMCCP) has sucked in the organisation’s director, The Manica Post has established.

Counter-accusations between the field officer, Mr Ian Munhungewarwa; the intern Ms Faith Kamusona and the director Mr Robert Munhenga; have seen Ms Kamusona filing a police report against Mr Munhenga’s conduct while Mr Munhungewarwa has been suspended from work for dating the intern. While Mr Munhungewarwa insists that he is being framed by Mr Munhenga, The Manica Post is in possession of a video in which the former was found holed up in Ms Kamusona’s hotel room at 4am about a fortnight ago.

In the video, Mr Munhungewarwa is heard saying Mr Munhenga is his ‘competitor’. Ms Kamusona, on the other hand, is seen in the video dressed in her night dress as she uncomfortably stands in a corner.

DOMCCP board chairperson, Mrs Getrude Shumba said a four-member board of inquiry has since been instituted to probe Mr Munhungewarwa’s alleged improper association with Ms Kamusona as well as Mr Munhenga’s involvement in the whole issue.

The Roman Catholic Church Mutare Diocese Bishop Paul Horan’s office has already been informed of the development.

However, Ms Kamusona claims that Mr Munhungewarwa is her relative who had come to her room to collect a parcel from her. She has since lodged an unlawful detention report against Mr Munhenga at Mutare Central Police Station under case number IR2439/20 after the director locked her up in her room following his ‘discovery’ of Mr Munhungewarwa in her hotel room.

Police confirmed receiving the report, adding that they interviewed Mr Munhenga over the issue early this week.

The director has since appeared in court to answer to the unlawful detention charges and was granted $3 000 bail. In an interview with The Manica Post on Monday, Mrs Shumba said, “We received a report of improper association involving our employees and an intern. We have instituted a board of inquiry which is already receiving preliminary reports from the parties involved.

“From what we have gathered so far, during a workshop at a local hotel, Mr Munhenga went to Ms Kamusona’s hotel room to investigate an alleged affair between Mr Munhungewarwa and her. The intern is stationed at the Bemhiwa office in Mutare District.

“The director had received a tip-off from some of the girls who were also part of the group that Mr Munhungewarwa was coming to spend the night in Ms Kamusona’s room. As a Christian organisation, we don’t tolerate such abuse.

“In the video filmed in that hotel room, Mr Munhungewarwa is heard saying Mr Munhenga is his competitor. We need to get to the bottom of this matter through thorough investigations,” said Mrs Shumba.

In a letter of complaint addressed to Mrs Shumba, which this publication has a copy, Ms Kamusona accused Mr Munhenga of unlawful detention and sexual harassment.

She alleged that she has been subjected to unfair treatment by Mr Munhenga ever since she joined the organisation early this year.  “My experiences at the organisation have been full of ups and downs. Around February 2020, Mr Munhenga started proposing love to me and I turned him down. I was upset and almost left the organisation until I was counselled by my parents who told me to pray about it and turn down the director’s proposal.

“Although I followed my parents’ advice, the director started harassing me for rejecting him. He promised to fix me, but I took the threat lightly. However, he ceased my allowances after paying me once, while my colleague, another intern, continued getting her monthly allowances,” claimed Ms Kamusona.  She, however, admitted that Mr Munhungewarwa was in her room on August 31. “Mr Munhungewarwa happens to be both my workmate and relative (his mother is my grandmother’s cousin). Earlier on, he had come to my hotel room to collect a parcel for our less-privileged relatives in Rusape.

“However, when he came l could not give him the parcel as I was late for a work assignment. We therefore arranged that he would come back to collect it the following day before 5am.

“Just after Mr Munhungewarwa entered my room, female colleagues knocked at my door and told me that l had a visitor outside. On opening the door, I discovered that it was Mr Munhenga.  He walked into the room and when he met Mr Munhungewarwa in there, he accused us of having an affair,” she said. Ms Kamusona went on to highlight that Mr Munhenga then locked them inside the room and only returned with the hotel’s security personnel about 20 minutes later.

But Mr Munhenga denies ever pursuing Ms Kamusona romantically.

“I never made any advances on her as I am a father figure to her. For the young lady to claim that I proposed love to her is all hogwash,” said Mr Munhenga.

However, there is no love lost between the two warring men. With Mr Munhungewarwa suspended, Mr Munhenga has also handed him a warning letter for a ‘poor work ethic’.

Mr Munhungewarwa claims that Mr Munhenga is taking advantage of his position of authority to victimise him after he raised a number of issues regarding some irregularities in the organisation’s transactions.

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