Sikhala, Ngarivhume Say Ready To Lead Citizen Protests Against State Corruption
Prominent opposition politicians Job Sikhala and Jacob Ngarivhume have declared their readiness to spearhead citizen protests against the high-level corruption, plunder of natural resources, and poor governance under the ZANU PF-led government, reported NewZimbabwe.com.
Sikhala, who leads the National Democratic Working Group (NDWG) pressure group, and Ngarivhume, the leader of the Transform Zimbabwe (TZ) political party, made these comments during a joint media conference held at the Media Centre in Harare on Friday.
It is worth noting that both Sikhala and Ngarivhume have been jailed on what their supporters consider to be trumped-up charges, a development that has been widely condemned as an attempt by the ruling party to silence dissenting voices. Said Sikhala:
We are coming together as democratic forces in Zimbabwe. This agreement is not between Jacob Ngarivhume and Job Sikhala, it is the agreement of the people of Zimbabwe over their desires to see all democrats coalescing to deal with the challenges we are facing as a nation.
So as a nation, ladies and gentlemen, we welcome this major development. It was after consultation with the majority of the people of Zimbabwe.
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According to Job Sikhala, the agreement they have put forward seeks to garner the support of all “change agents” to tackle the myriad problems plaguing the country.
Sikhala, along with his counterpart Jacob Ngarivhume, stated that this coalition is open to individuals or democratic forces that are not affiliated with or have previously collaborated with the ruling ZANU-PF party. Said Sikhala:
There are so many people who want to understand what we mean about the coalition of democratic forces and progressive forces.
What are progressive forces? Progressive forces are the following; organisations or persons who have not been involved, one way or the other, in abetting the agenda of the current Zanu PF regime.
Someone who has never at one time or moment been dealing covertly or overtly with ZANU PF to the detriment of our crises.
If you realise that at one particular time you have been hobnobbing with ZANU PF, to the masses of our nation, you are not a progressive force.
We are not interested in working with you, we are prepared to work with those people who have identified our primary enemy and our primary enemy in Zimbabwe is ZANU PF.
Number two, progressive forces are those who believe in the democratic rule of law and constitutionalism, those who believe in collective decision-making by the masses of our people.
Number three, these are people who believe that the interests of our people must be at the centre, the issues that affect our masses in Zimbabwe must be at the centre of every individual self interest.
Number four, progressive forces are those who believe that Zimbabwe one day must be free, those who believe that through the power of the people, our people will be free one day.
So, the parameters are very clear those people who have never been dining with our primary enemy in Zimbabwe are progressive forces.
Ngarivhume made it clear that he and his counterpart Job Sikhala are willing to personally lead protests against the government, should that be the desire of the Zimbabwean people.
He said they will not adopt the approach of sending others out to demonstrate while they remain at home He said:
If the people say they want protests, like l have said over and over, section 59 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe allows for protests.
There are guidelines within the constitutional framework that allow for protests, that is not illegal for the people of Zimbabwe to protest.
The thing that the regime doesn’t entertain protests shows that there is something wrong with it because protests are provided in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
If people say, okay we want to protest we are very much prepared to lead from the front. We don’t want to send the people of Zimbabwe to places that we can’t be, we don’t want them to go into the streets while we are basking in the comfort of our homes and in any case, there is nothing comfortable in our homes anymore because everything comfortable has been destroyed and plundered by corruption.
So, we will be guided by what the people of Zimbabwe want and because we are not made of cheap steel, we are not violent we are not advocating for violence, we are calling for peaceful engagement in terms of what the people of Zimbabwe want and if it is there in the Constitution, it’s fine we will do it.
Sikhala, who was then the Member of Parliament for Zengeza West, was arrested in June 2022 and spent a prolonged period of 595 days in pre-trial detention. He faced several charges, including incitement to commit public violence.
Meanwhile, Ngarivhume was sentenced to four years in prison in April 2023 for his role in inciting public violence.
This conviction stemmed from a video he posted on the social media platform X in 2020, in which he called for protests against the rampant corruption plaguing Zimbabwe.
However, the High Court later set aside Ngarivhume’s conviction and sentence in December 2023, effectively securing his release from prison.
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