Harare, Zimbabwe – Former Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala has dismissed rumors of his exile, asserting his intention to return to Zimbabwe as soon as his medical team gives clearance.
After spending 595 days in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on charges of inciting public violence—charges that pro-democracy activists claim were politically motivated—Sikhala left the country. He recently spoke at the United Nations Human Rights and Democracy Summit in Geneva, where his comments on Zimbabwe’s human rights situation drew criticism from authorities back home.
Speaking to NewsDay on Sunday, Sikhala, who has faced over 60 arrests for his political activism, remained unshaken by the State’s threats. “The threats of my arrest are not something new that I can be afraid of,” he stated. “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.”
Sikhala defended his Geneva speech, emphasizing that it did not breach any national laws. “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,” he said.
Despite threats of arrest, Sikhala affirmed his commitment to returning home once his medical team deems him fit. “When my medical issues are completed and my medical team has released me, I will jet back to the country the following day,” he declared. “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.”
In related news, five members of the National Democratic Working Group (NDWG), a political group led by Sikhala, were arrested in Kuwadzana, Harare, on Saturday. The NDWG stated that its members were distributing monthly food handouts to less privileged Kuwadzana residents.
