Opposition politician Job Sikhala has been in remand prison for more than 500 days.
Former Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo said the right to bail is a fundamental right under the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Sikhala’s ordeal, therefore, smacks of heartless vindictiveness.
But he asks a fundamental question: “Why have Sikhala’s lawyers not approached the Constitutional Court for his bail?”
He goes on: “Is there a conspiracy of inaction at play here or what?”
“Sadly, it’s now impossible to reflect on Sikhala’s unfolding tragedy without being consumed by an uncanny feeling that Sikhala is being cruelly punished for an undisclosed sin known only to those who are keeping him in jail without bail, but which sin is not a crime in the country’s criminal code,” Moyo says.
“This should disturb and shame every right thinking and fair-minded Zimbabwean, and should jolt them into doing something right and just for Sikhala.”
Moyo says that there is now a real risk and possibility of the Sikhala issue becoming vulnerable to all manner of uncontrollable collateral damage to the detriment of both the national interest and national security.
“Yet there is still an opportunity for things not to get there, and things should not be allowed to get there, and this can be best done by having Sikhala bailed out of jail as an expression of the justice he has deserved ab initio.”
Former CCC spokesperson and lawyer, Fadzayi Mahere says the Constitutional Court does not hear bail applications.
“What procedure is that? Read about the doctrine of subsidiarity. Job Sikhala’s case has nothing to do with the law or the conduct of CCC & everything to do with the weaponisation of the legal system by a violent, illegitimate dictatorship that’s happy to do violence to basic tenets of democracy,” she said.
Sikhala’s case has raised eyebrows after Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa refused to answer whether Sikhala was a member of CCC or not.
When one of Chamisa’s X followers asked whether Sikhala was a member of the movement or not, Chamisa responded: “Job is a Zimbabwean. He deserves freedom. His case is our cause and collective fight!!”
Reacting to Chamisa’s response Hopewell Chin’ono said: “The question was not whether Job Sikhala is Zimbabwean or not, it was whether Job Sikhaka is still seen as part of CCC or not.
“This evasiveness is what makes people think and say that the CCC leadership is not doing enough. The question was a missed opportunity to unite us all by not being evasive but straight up.
“The response has othered Job Sikhala as just a Zimbabwean and not CCC, it has subcontracted the job to fight to everyone who is Zimbabwean and not CCC which is supposed to be his political home. But I know that there are some who are not yet ready to call a spade a spade.”
The Insider reported three days before the elections in August that it had heard as far back as February that Chamisa had thrown away but part of the deal was that Sikhala should be kept in prison as he could scuttle the deal.
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