Sikhala’s Arrest Follows Zanu PF Stern Warning

HARARE – Four days after ZANU PF Director of Information Farai Marapira warned that opposition figures Job Sikhala and Tendai Biti were plotting to create instability, Sikhala has reportedly been arrested in South Africa after police allegedly found explosives in his vehicle.

The 53-year-old former legislator was detained in Pretoria and is currently being held at the city’s main police station. Sources say he was apprehended shortly after meeting a group claiming to represent former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president Joseph Kabila’s party, who had allegedly pledged support for his pro-democracy campaign in Zimbabwe.

Images circulating on social media show Sikhala in handcuffs, seated on a roadside barrier alongside an elderly man believed to be his associate. Another picture appears to show explosives wrapped in a yellow plastic bag.

The arrest comes just days after Marapira delivered a stern warning during a media interview, accusing Sikhala and Biti of thriving on political disorder and foreign sponsorship.

“These people have never written a single letter calling for dialogue, and I do not believe they ever will because they feed off chaos,” Marapira said. “When there is political violence, that is when they feed their families. They get neo-imperialist funding to cause destabilisation at the cost of the people in the streets and the country’s economic progress.”

He further accused the opposition figures of lacking sincerity in their political pursuits, claiming they “prosper when there is confusion and collapse when there is peace.”

Days before Sikhala’s arrest, Marapira had also warned that those allegedly plotting unrest “under the pretext of defending the constitution” would be “met head-on and crushed.”

Authorities in South Africa have not yet issued an official statement regarding the arrest or the alleged discovery of explosives.