HARARE – Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala will appear in court on Thursday and face new charges, of hindering the course of justice over allegations he tried to mislead police officers behind the kidnapping and alleged murder of the Citizens Coalition for Change member Moreblessing Ali.
Sikhala, who is being held on remand for inciting supporters to use violence, was released from Chikurubi Maximum Jail on Wednesday for questioning at Harare Central Police Station on the new charges.
Zimbabwean human rights lawyers said in a statement that Sikhala was accused of “uploading video footage to YouTube and ZimLive alleging that Moreblessing Ali was abducted and murdered by Zanu PF supporters with intent to fuel police investigations to lead them astray”.
- Moreblessing Ali’s family lawyer Job Sikhala arrested
- Sikhala, Sithole denied bail for allegedly inciting violence in Nyatsime
“Police also claimed that Sikhala said in the video footage that Zanu PF had killed Zimbabweans in the past,” the lawyers said.
Moreblessing Ali was abducted on May 24 outside a bar in the Nyatsime neighborhood of Chitungwiza and her decomposed body was found in a well on June 11. Police arrested Pios Jamba, the younger brother of local Zanu PF leader, for the murder.
Sikhala’s lawyers say the charges are a political ploy to keep him in jail and silence one of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s most vocal critics.
- Editor/ additional report by Kukurigo