Kasi admits: Sammy Joe is my child

Kasi admits: Sammy Joe is my child

SHE IS MINE: The moment Kasi admitted Sammy Joe's paternity

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By Showbiz Reporter

PASTOR Admire Kasi has admitted Ivy Kombo’s daughter, Sammy Joe, is HIS child and begged for forgiveness from those hurt by his lies.

Kasi, back in the United Kingdom after paying bride price for the singer, has previously denied Sammy Joe is his child.

Kombo, due to release a new album within weeks, had previously claimed Sammy Joe was fathered by her ex-husband, Edmore Moyo. Moyo’s family denied paternity, and divorce proceedings went through against Kombo in May this year.

Moyo cited an “irretrievable breakdown of marriage occasioned by deprivation of conjugal rights” as his reason for seeking divorce after the singer went off with Kasi, who also abandoned his wife simultaneously.

Kasi has three children – Tinodaishe, Linda and Lorraine -- with his first wife, Sarah. They have all refused to live with their father, accusing him of betraying their mother.

In a dramatic interview with web-based TV station ZimdiTV posted this week, Kasi referred to Sammy Joe as “our beautiful Sammy Joe”.

Kasi also allowed the TV station’s cameras to film their two-month-old baby, Atipa, whom he referred to as “the latest kid”.

The interview unearthed a deep moral dilemma for Kasi, who was defrocked by the ZAOGA church when his secret liaison with Kombo was made public, sparking an intense media scrum.

Striking a conciliatory tone after the long running saga punctuated by an intense media interest, Kasi admitted mistakes had been made, and thanked those who prayed for him.

He said his marriage had “failed”.

He said: “The work of God is not done by angels. It’s done by man. We are man, we have problems too which we may not come with to the public. How would you feel if I were going to come to the public every day I have a fight (and say) ‘we have had a fight’?”

Kasi said he took responsibility for the circus.

He said: “I take responsibility for all what happened. I don’t blame anybody. All I can tell you is that my first marriage failed. It’s not like I am shifting blame and saying somebody failed me, no, no, no.

“If somebody is hurt by that, I am sorry. I love you and God loves me. I have to carry on.”

Kasi and Kombo hope to finally put the drama behind them, and they carefully chose their words in the interview to soften public criticism of their affair which has hurt their business and religious interests.

Refusing to be drawn into why his marriage failed, Kasi said he had deliberately avoided talking in the past because “I have a responsibility to myself and others who are involved, or who are close to the situation.”

Kasi repeatedly referred to the “hurt” he caused in the 29-minute interview posted on the ZimdiTV website.

He said he was very keen to move on, insisting he was still the “same person” thousands of followers knew before the scandal broke. He understood the intense media and public interest in the affair, he told reporter Sylvester Tapfumaneyi.

“I don’t want to justify it, I don’t want to say ah, don’t bother (asking), it’s your right because you love me. The work goes on, I go on. Should I kill myself, should I be killed? No, you want me alive! Should I stop preaching the gospel? No! You want me to preach the gospel.”

Kasi is now a bishop at his Upperview Ministries, a church based in Luton, England, and with branches in Zimbabwe.

WATCH KASI& KOMBO INTERVIEW: CLICK HERE (NEEDS FREE REGISTRATION)

Has the public and media given Kasi and Kombo a raw deal? Send us your shouts to letters@newzimbabwe.com

Kasi insisted his affair with Kombo started only after her “marriage failed”, avoiding a question which asked if Kombo was divorced when they got together. Kombo’s divorce only went through in May this year, although she is thought to have been already seeing Kasi in 2001 leading to Sammy Joe’s birth in 2002.

Edmore Moyo’s mother, who gave interviews to the media rejecting Kombo’s claims that her son was Sammy Joe’s father, claimed Kombo had lied that she can’t conceive soon after her wedding.

“The next time I was to read in the papers that Ivy was pregnant…There she was, my daughter-in-law, who could not conceive now being rumoured to be pregnant by someone else," Febby Chawunoita said.

Kasi admitted his affair with Kombo had tested his faith, and that of his followers.

“It’s not as easy when the situation is on another person for you to understand it, but when it comes near you, you understand these are issues of life and it happens. Some got depressed, but they realised being depressed is not enough, I was a person in need of prayer.

“I am this strong today because of your prayers. Just imagine with all the barrage of criticism and newspapers and everyone shouting abuse I am still standing, preaching Jesus Christ.”

Kombo gave details of her new album, This Is My Now, due for release anytime. In one of the tracks, Handei Chete, Kombo said she felt the worst was behind them and they now have to look ahead.

“We are saying whatever comes, we have to keep going. No matter what happens, we might face difficulties, we might face controversies in the newspapers but we are going.”

It’s a theme she also pursues in the title track, betraying an underlying uneasiness with their relationship.

Kombo, who claimed she was grateful for the media coverage because it was boosting her CD sales, added: “We have gone through the valley; climbed all the mountains; crossed all the flooded rivers and it was not a smooth road. But I am saying: This Is My Now. We have to move on.”

Introducing her two daughters, Kombo said “…God has given me another girl”, before quickly revising her statement to say “…given us another girl called Atipa”.

Kasi also tried to deflate accusations that Kombo was his "daughter" since she raised her and her sister.

He said: "This is the work of pastors. Everyone is my child, in their thousands. If you stopped me from marrying those who are in the church, you are pointing me elsewhere which I can't go. The more they (women) are built into the church and the more we feel they fit into the work of God, then the more we feel they are candidates for pastoral marriages."

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