Sikhala refuses to go to court for bail application ruling

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Drama behind Sikhala’s 10th bail bid as MP’s family says struggling to survive – he has 12 children, 4 at university

Opposition MP Job Sikhala refused to go to court this week for the ruling on his 10th bail application in protest against what he knew would be the outcome.

His lawyer, Freddy Masarirevu, told the Sunday Times that the Citizen’s Coalition for Change (CCC) MP, who has been in Chikurubi prison for almost six months, refused to go to the Harare magistrates court to hear the result of his latest bid for bail because he knew it would be denied.

Asked how he was doing, Masarirevu said: “Mentally he is a bit disturbed because he refused to come to court for his bail ruling as he says his case was already premeditated.”

Sikhala, the vice-chairperson of the CCC, is being held in a single cell for 17 hours a day. He has been denied bail 10 times since June. Every time he has appeared in court a truckload of prison guards has been dispatched to secure him.

The legislator was initially arrested with fellow opposition MP Godfrey Sithole and 14 other CCC activists on charges of instigating public violence after allegedly organising a funeral service for slain party member Moreblessing Ali, which the police claimed turned violent.

Sikhala will be in court again tomorrow when his trial begins for obstructing justice, relating to a video he allegedly recorded threatening Ali’s murderers.