The Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe Room Ministries (PAOZ), one of the largest churches in the country, has dismissed rumours that its senior pastor, Bishop Berry Dambaza, committed suicide after he walked in on his “cheating” wife.
Dambaza, who died aged 59, jumped four stories to his death from a local car park in Harare on Monday, September 23, local media reported.
Dambaza’s fellow preachers at his church denied that he was sent over the edge after discovering that his wife, Sithembeni Dambaza, was unfaithful to him.
“Those rumours are entirely and wholly untrue. They are malicious and extremely regrettable,” PAOZ spokesman Reverend Craig Ndoro told ZimLive on Tuesday, September 24.
Monday, September 23, when this tragic incident happened involving the bishop, his wife was actually at home nursing the bishop’s mother, and we have just received terrible news that she has also died,” said Rev. Ndoro.
The news outlet said the bishop’s wife was so overwhelmed by the loss of her husband and mother-in-law that she was hospitalised briefly as well.
Rev. Ndoro added: “Bishop Dambaza’s wife of over 30 years was not cheating on him, and no, he did not find her in a compromising position in the office. We’re not sure who has been generating these rumours, and spreading them. They are very hurtful not just to the family but the church as well. Bishop Dambaza touched many lives in Zimbabwe and internationally, perhaps that’s why we have rumours flying quicker than facts. But those that know him, his wife and children know that no such issues are true, and that gives us a bit of comfort.”
Addressing the rumours of her alleged unfaithfulness at her late husband’s funeral this week, Sithembeni Dambaza said: “I was not interested in following what was being posted on social media although someone wanted to share that with me. I just became emotional and promised to take legal action about it.”
“People who know me know that whenever I stand on a pulpit to preach, I am not that kind of a person who is of loose morals. In fact, my job is to correct what is not right and to rebuke what needs to be rebuked. That is me and my husband was different from me. If people tell you different stories it’s not true. I was not there when my husband passed on. I was attending to my mother-in-law.”
Sithembeni said the day before the death of her husband, they were involved in a car accident in which he was assaulted at the scene.
“Things were not all good that Bishop Dambaza was nearly attacked by the person who was driving an unregistered vehicle,” she said.
Sithembeni said she suspects her husband took his own life due to financial woes.
She said she loved her husband “very much”.
The couple were blessed with four children.
Family spokesperson Tonderayi Ian Chimhuwa, who is the late bishop’s brother also revealed in his eulogy that their family has a history of suicides including their grandfather who hung himself.
“For your family, please plead his protection from controversial deaths, the death that saw our great grandfather drown in a river. Your grandfather Dambaza was also found hanging himself from a slippery and tall gum tree just after independence. Your sister also perished in that fatal accident in Harare, 200 meters before her destination,” he said as mourners listened.
Zimbabwe Police spokesperson, deputy commissioner Paul Nyathi, said authorities are yet to establish why Dambaza took his own life.
It is alleged that a note was found in Dambaza’s pocket, which suggested he killed himself as a result of his “sins”.
“I have commited many wrongs, I have stolen so much money,” read the alleged letter.
