Job Sikhala sentenced to six months in prison, fin...

Job Sikhala sentenced to six months in prison, fined US$600

Job Sikhala denies inciting public violence - ZiMetro News — Job Sikhala

Zim Now Writer

Zengeza West legislator Job Sikhala has today been handed a sixth suspended sentence plus US$600 fine with the latter having an option of another six month sentence should he fail to pay the fine.

That also means he is no longer eligible to contest in the forthcoming harmonised elections slated for later this year.

Sikhala found guilty by a Harare court after having spent more than 300 days in remand pending the verdict.

"The state has proved its case beyond any reasonable doubt," magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa told the court.

"The accused has no defence at all and is hereby found guilty and convicted of the offence".

He will however remain in jail pending other cases against him. In other cases, he is accused of inciting public violence over the same video and of publishing falsehoods. Judges are still to reach a verdict in those cases.

Charges against Sikhala in today’s judgement were based on a video in which he allegedly demanded justice for the murder of Moreblessing Ali, an opposition activist whose mutilated body was found in a well.

Prosecutors alleged that by blaming the ruling ZANU-PF party for the death, he diverted investigations that were focusing on other suspects.

Sikhala, who was practising as a lawyer before his arrest, has been held in a maximum-security prison in the capital Harare since June 2022 and unsuccessfully applied for bail 15 times.