Sikhala Denies Exile Rumours, Plans Return to Zimbabwe Upon Medical Clearance
Former Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala has refuted rumours of being in exile, affirming that he plans to return to Zimbabwe once cleared by his medical team.
Following his release from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after a 595-day incarceration on charges of inciting public violence—allegedly politically motivated according to pro-democracy activists—Sikhala departed the country.
Sikhala delivered a speech at the United Nations Human Rights and Democracy Summit in Geneva last month.
His remarks, highlighting the dire state of human rights in Zimbabwe, drew ire from authorities at home.
However, speaking to NewsDay on Sunday, Sikhala, who has been arrested more than 60 times for his political activism, said he was not bothered by the State’s threats. He said:
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The threats of my arrest are not something new that I can be afraid of.
It has been the habit of the regime to persecute me every time things become untenable for them to run the country to the satisfaction of the citizenry.
I wonder whether my arrest will assist them in delivering miracles to solve the challenges our country is gripped with. Desperation leads to desperate actions.
He said his speech in Geneva before an international audience did not contravene national laws. Said Sikhala:
I was invited and accredited by the United Nations Human Rights Council, one of the six organs of the United Nations.
The content of my speech was unadulterated and the truthful expression of the experience I went through for a period of two years I was kept incommunicado by the regime.
What I went through and the obtaining human rights situation in Zimbabwe and the examples of concrete human rights abuses that were committed are unassailable.
Sikhala affirmed that despite threats of arrest, he intends to return home as soon as his doctors declare him fit to do so. He said:
When my medical issues are completed and my medical team has released me, I will jet back to the country the following day.
On whether my security will be guaranteed or whether it is safe to come back to my country, I don’t have two homes. I don’t have any other country. Zimbabwe is my home and country.
I will prosper or fail in my country. I am rooted in Zimbabwe. I will live and die in Zimbabwe. Whatever happens can happen and I will never be a fugitive from my own country.
On Saturday, five members of the National Democratic Working Group (NDWG), a political group led by Sikhala, were arrested in Kuwadzana, Harare.
The NDWG said its arrested members were distributing monthly food handouts to less privileged Kuwadzana residents.
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