Former Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala, has been fined US$500 by Harare regional magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka for communicating falsehoods.
The magistrate also gave Sikhala a nine-month wholly suspended sentence on the condition he does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.
Sikhala was arrested and charged in 2021 after he tweeted that a junior police officer had killed a baby with a baton in Harare.
Chakanyuka delivered the ruling this Thursday, 15 February after convicting Sikhala of publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the state on Wednesday last week.
Former Mt Pleasant MP, Fadzayi Mahere was convicted of publishing falsehoods in April 2023 after she allegedly posted the same video on X (formerly Twitter). She was fined US$500.
Amnesty International condemned Mahere’s conviction saying it was an assault on freedom of expression, and the government was using a non-existent law to prosecute her.
Sikhala’s lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, said they will appeal against both conviction and sentence. He said:
<blockquote>
We disagree with judgment. It has no foundation at law. It’s not sound. This law no longer exists. It’s wrong for a court to convict with a law that no longer exists. That law is dead. How does it resuscitate?
</blockquote>
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Job Sikhala Fined US$500 For Publishing Falsehoods

Former Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala, has been found guilty of publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the state when he allegedly tweeted that a police officer fatally struck an infant with a baton.
The alleged crime dates back to 2021 and relates to a viral video of a woman holding a baby in one hand and clutching onto a police officer with the other claiming the cop had killed the infant. 
In a post in X this Wednesday, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said Sikhala was convicted by Harare Magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka for allegedly communicating falsehoods but did not state if Sikhala has been sentenced for the crime. Said ZLHR:
<blockquote>
Magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka convicts former Zengeza West MP Hon. Job Sikhala for publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the state in a case in which he was arrested in 2021 for allegedly communicating falsehoods on X, when he allegedly tweeted that an infant had died on the spot in Harare after a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer had struck the baby with a truncheon.
</blockquote>
Former Mt Pleasant MP, Fadzayi Mahere was convicted of publishing falsehoods in April 2023 after she allegedly posted the same on video on X (formerly Twitter). She was fined US$500.
Amnesty International condemned Mahere’s conviction saying it was an assault on freedom of expression, and the government was using a non-existent law to prosecute her.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Sikhala Found Guilty Of Publishing Falsehoods

Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere plans to appeal her conviction and sentence for communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the state following a two-year trial.
Mahere was on Wednesday ordered to pay a US$500 fine by Harare magistrate Taurai Manuwere or spend three months in jail.
Her lawyer David Drury told <a href="https://www.zimlive.com/mahere-set-to-appeal-conviction-and-sentence/">ZimLive</a> that the appeal process will start as soon as they obtain a transcript of the judgment. Said Drury:
<blockquote>
That process will be done in terms of the time limits provided by the rules and pragmatically, we await a transcript of the judgment which has been urgently requested but is not available today.
As soon as the appeal notice and grounds are settled and served, this will be shared given that the area of law is important, speaking as it does to freedom of expression which is a recognised constitutional right not only domestically but also in terms of international customary law instruments which ought to resonate and apply to our Law.
</blockquote>
Mahere was arrested in January 2021 for reposting on her Twitter handle, a video of a mother who was filmed tussling a uniformed police officer along Harare’s Second Street.
The unidentified woman was clinging to the police officer while holding a motionless baby with her other hand.
She was claiming that the cop had fatally struck her baby with his baton.
The police officer had been enforcing COVID-19 restrictions against pirate taxis at an illegal bus stop in Harare.
It later turned out that the child was not dead.
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Mahere Plans To Appeal Conviction And Sentence

The United States Embassy in Harare has urged the government of Zimbabwe to respect the country’s constitution and desist from prosecuting citizens under laws that have been declared unconstitutional.
In a post on Twitter this Wednesday, the embassy reminded Harare that the country’s 2013 constitution protects free speech and called upon the government to uphold the human rights of all citizens. <a href="https://twitter.com/usembassyharare/status/1354307952895782914" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">It said</a>:
<blockquote>Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution protects speech and the rights of the arrested and detained. All Zimbabweans should benefit from these fundamental freedoms equally. No citizen should face prosecution under laws already declared unconstitutional.</blockquote>
This follows the arrest and detention of MDC Alliance senior officials, the party’s spokesperson Fadzayi Mahare and vice-chairperson Job Sikhala as well as prominent journalist Hopewell Chin’ono on allegations of communication falsehoods.
The trio was arrested early this month for allegedly claiming on social media that a police officer had fatally assaulted a baby strapped to its mother’s back in Harare.
They are charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State.”
However, legal experts and human rights defenders argue the law under which the trio are being charged was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 2014 in a matter brought by two Zimbabwe Independent newspaper journalists.

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