CCC deputy spokesperson Gift “Ostallos” Siziva has suggested that former Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala, is ungrateful after he said the opposition party abandoned him during his incarceration at Chikurubu Maximum Security Prison for nearly 600 days.
Sikhala was freed on Tuesday, 30 January, after spending nearly 600 days of pre-trial detention for inciting public violence in Nyatsime in 2022.
Speaking to SABC News at his home in Chitungwiza, hours after his release, Sikhala said that only his family and close associates pushed for his freedom during his incarceration. He said:
Neither of the current protagonists in the quarrel and conflict in the opposition ranks did absolutely nothing about me when I was in incarceration for the sake of my freedom.
However, Siziva, who worked closely with former party leader Nelson Chamisa during campaigns ahead of the August 2023 general elections, said they visited Sikhala’s family several times and also donated cash as well as groceries for their upkeep. Said Siziva:
We accompanied President Chamisa several times to the Chitown house during the campaign, the motorcade was diverted to pass there and even gave the family $ and the wife knows it.
After the presidential dinner, I personally was sent to deliver groceries there. Our diaspora teams communicated and supported the family with our knowledge, coordination and approval.
Sikhala and his co-accused CCC activist Godfrey Karakadzayi Sithole were convicted on the 24th of January 2024 on charges of inciting public violence by Harare Magistrate Tafadzwa Miti.
Miti sentenced Sikhala to serve two years in prison, which she however wholly suspended on condition of good behaviour.
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