Sikhala fined US$500 for communicating falsehoods

Michael Mashiri

Former Zengeza West legislator Job Sikhala has been ordered to pay US$500 or serve two months in prison.

Sikhala appeared before the Harare Magistrates’ Courts charged with communicating falsehoods.

The magistrate who presided, Feresi Chakanyuka, in delivering her sentence said there was no factor justifying a custodial sentence in Sikhala’s matter.

“The law, Section 31 of the Criminal Codification Act is clear that we must deal sternly with those who publish falsehoods prejudicial to the State.

“The penalty provision is a fine up to or not exceeding level 14 or 20 years in prison. The victim is the ZRP. The processes of sentencing an offender must be rational and informed. Punishment should fit the criminal and the crime.

“The court will focus more on reforming the offender. The mitigatory factors outweigh the aggravatory factors.

“A fine in the level of eight is fitting. In line with this the offender is sentenced to pay a fine of US$500,” she said.

Chakanyuka added that in default of that, Sikhala would serve two months in prison.

“He is also sentenced to nine months in prison wholly suspended on condition that he does not, within five years, commit an offense involving publishing information prejudicial to the State,” she said.