"No Amount Of Gold Will Break My Enduring Spirit," Says Job Sikhala
Jailed Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala, says he will not be bought by money or be cowed into abandoning the fight for democracy.
Sikhala has been in pre-trial detention at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison since June this year on allegations of inciting public violence and has been denied bail by the courts more than eight times.
The CCC vice chairman was arrested in the aftermath of violence that rocked the Nyatsime area in June this year following the murder of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali.
In his latest letter from prison shared on social media by his spokesperson, Freddy Michael Masarirevu, Sikhala characterised his imprisonment as persecution. Reads the letter:
No amount of gold or silver or superlatives will break the solidity of my enduring spirit against all forms of persecution, machinations, plots, and conspiracies against myself. Ask those who know me better.
I urge all of you, dearest compatriots, to also remain resolute and unshaken in light of the vices in our nation. Keep your eyes on the ball.
I find bright spots in my willingness to make sacrifices, even against all forms of adversity. People are not freed by doing nothing but by making selfless sacrifices.
I might be suffering in prison because the precious life of Moreblessing Ali was terminated by those who have arrogated themselves that power, but my ‘persecution’ goes beyond that.
It is, to me, an effort to eliminate me politically and silence us all. Despite the laurel wreath of the present, I am resolute, unmoved, and unshaken here at Chikurubhi Maximum Security Prison.
Great men and women are remembered and counted among the marathon runners of history. The vicissitudes of the present are a test of endurance. I am prepared to run this race to the finish. This, let me emphasize, I am prepared to do.
The great warriors of the world are those not understood by the present but remembered by history in a legacy that will span centuries.
This will be the mark of men and women who are prepared to carry the fight for their ideas and ideals to the end, damn the consequences.
I am embodied by the great observation of the greatest man ever to live. In Africa, the good guys usually lose; they are imprisoned, tormented, tortured, killed, beaten up, or simply beaten down, but they are immortalized by history.
Let them throw me in jail, no matter how insurmountable the situation appears. I see victory all around. We shall be victorious.
May the Gracious Almighty God bless and protect all of you!
