Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Jenfan Muswere, has labeled opposition politician Job Sikhala a “common criminal” and dismissed his claims of political persecution.
Sikhala, a prominent lawyer and former opposition member of Parliament, was arrested on 14 June 2022 for inciting public violence and spent the next 595 days in pre-trial detention.
His prolonged detention without bail was seen by critics as political persecution for speaking against ZANU PF excesses.
However, speaking during a recent post-Cabinet media briefing in Harare, Muswere said Sikhala was arrested for breaking the law and not political persecution. He said (via Nehanda Radio):
He is not a political prisoner, and his claims of political persecution are in sharp contrast to his indisputable violation of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act.
Sikhala alleged political persecution during a recent Human Rights and Democracy summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
He said his arrest was a result of his political activism and opposition to the government.
However, Muswere said Sikhala’s conviction and acquittal in some of the cases proves that Zimbabwe’s courts of law and independent and fair.
Sikhala delivered a speech at the Geneva Summit, detailing his traumatic experiences in prison.
The former Zengeza West MP claimed he was kept in solitary confinement and was denied food and visits from relatives as well as access to medical care. He said:
It is disheartening to disclose sad moments of traumatic experiences one has walked through in life as it gives persecutors the satisfaction of their evil deeds.
I’m just one among thousands of Zimbabweans who have become victims of persecution in my country. My arrest was nothing more than political persecution.
In my political career spanning more than three decades, I have been arrested 68 times by the authorities in Zimbabwe. In nearly all those cases, I was always found innocent.
But on the 14th of June 2022, when I was 49 years old, with a wife and 11 children at home, yes, 11 children, I was arrested and thrown into prison. This time around, they refused to release me on bail.
It was the only way Zimbabwe’s corrupt regime would distil the 2023 general elections, which they stopped me from contesting.
Sikhala also expressed his fears that he could be imprisoned for discussing Zimbabwe’s human rights situation under the “Patriotic Act”.
The Patriotic Act, officially known as the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Act, 2023, criminalises “wilfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe”.
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