Former Zengeza West legislator who spent almost two years in remand prison says he is assessing the current state of his fragmented Citizens Coalition for Change, which was recently abandoned by its leader Nelson Chamisa claiming that it has been hijacked by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF.
In an interview with journalists in Harare on Wednesday, Sikhala said he is unhappy that he was abandoned by CCC colleagues until he got support from the Job Sikhala Solidarity Movement led by Obert Masaraure.
He said, "I am not interested at the moment form to involve myself into the chaos which I don’t know its origins. I’m not interested. I need to be given the time for me to reflect on what has been happening and what position I need to take as a political leader in this country. So, in the short term, I shall announce where does Job Sikhala stand on all this. Be prepared that at any given day I shall release a statement stating where I stand on all the things that are happening but in the meantime I need to know and study and reflect on what has been happening, what has been transpiring.”
He said many people are contacting him privately about his next move.
“At the moment I have received a lot of messages in my inbox of people who are telling me that so and so please be careful about him, they are unreliable they are being used by Zanu PF and they are there to destroy you if you are not very careful. So, as much as I obtain a lot of unverified information at the present moment I don’t want to be put into confusion for me to make a rushed decision. A proper decision and an announcement shall come at a proper time, not in the distant future.”
He dismissed reports that he met with defacto interim Citizens Coalition for Change secretary general Sengezo Tshabangu’s attorney to discuss his future.
Sikhala, who started politics in 1999, said he will work hand-in-glove with the Job SIkhala Solidarity Movement Trust, which campaigned vigorously for his release.
“Those people have been the missing link in the Zimbabwe’s political trajectory. The way they have changed the political landscape of this country, the moment from they came from God is still shockingly astonishing. You have to understand that I am an individual who was abandoned and neglected by anyone whom I thought would come to my assistance only for them to emerge to become the rescue package for me. So, look at work Obert and his team did in this country is unprecedented, it’s revolutionary. It has never been witnessed and I saw the commitment and determination of all the cadres who were involved in the mobilization for solidarity.”
He said his colleagues greatly let him down.
“Neither of the current protagonists in the conflict in the opposition did absolutely nothing about me when I was under incarceration. So, there is nothing much that will interest me in their conflict. These are the people who neglected me whilst I was in prison. They never raised a finger, there isn’t even nothing one can be pointed out that they did for the sake of my freedom.”
In his message on X Wednesday, Chamisa said, “A milestone in the struggle for freedom that @jobsikhala and Godfrey Sithole are finally free after a prolonged pre-trial incarceration on account of politics. All glory be to God!! Their much awaited release is a reversal of one of the extremely of errors in the politics of Zimbabwe. Their incarceration stands out as an act of gross injustice, a vivid example of Zimbabwe’s broken, vindictive and toxic politics. As #CitizensMatter we continue to push for the freedom of #MRP-9 and a cessation to all persecutions and hostilities on account of politics in Zimbabwe.”
He was unreachable on his mobile phone for a response on SIkhala’s claims that his party did nothing for him.
On his response on Sikhala’s release, Tshabangu said Sikhala is expected to take time to reflect on what has happened, reenergize and reconnect with citizens “who have steadfastly stood with him throughout his painful ordeal.”
He said Sikhala remains the chairperson of the opposition party that was deserted by Chamisa, who said it has been hijacked by President Emmerson Mnnagagwa’s ruling party.
“He was the chairman of the party when he was arrested and he remains in that CCC position.”
Human Rights Watch (HRW)also noted t Sikhala’s release saying the justice system is being abused in Zimbabwe by the ruling elite.
In a statement, HRW said, "Human Rights Watch documented ahead of national elections last year that Zimbabwe authorities were increasingly misusing the law against opposition politicians and critics of the government. Many of those arrested were denied basic due process, including the presumption of innocence and the right to bail.”
But Zanu PF’s former Pelandaba-Mpopoma lawmaker who is currently a Central Committee member, one of the top decision-making organs outside Congress, said his release is purely a legal issue.
“It’s not true that he was in the hands of Zanu PF. The law has taken its course like what I have said in the past. Zanu PF does not play any role in court proceedings.”
Sikhala was arrested in 2022 and spent over one and half years at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison until he was early January convicted for inciting violence and sentenced yesterday to two years in prison wholly suspended for give years. He was released last night from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. His client the late Moreblessing Ali of CCC was killed by Pius Jamba Mutandi of the ruling party and sentenced a few weeks ago to a 30 –year prison term. The state claimed that he made a statement inciting public violence in a speech he made following Ali’s death. He denied the charges.