CCC activist Sengezo Tshabangu has claimed that party president Nelson Chamisa’s allies were responsible for the incarceration of former Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala.
Sikhala celebrated his 50th and 51st birthdays in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison where he has been in pre-trial detention since June 2022.
Sikhala was arrested on on 14 June last year accused of inciting public violence during the funeral wake of a slain CCC activist, Moreblessing Ali.
While in prison, he was also charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice.
Speaking on a source Stereo programme, The Platform, on Wednesday night, Tshabangu said that “criminals” around Chamisa influenced him not to seek a political solution to secure Sikhala’s release.
The self-proclaimed CCC interim secretary-general said he will soon be engaging Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, and ZANU PF Secretary General Obert Mpofu among others to plead Sikhala’s case. Business Times quoted Tshabangu as saying:
Job Sikhala is in prison because of criminals around the president (Chamisa).
They threw him under the bus because they claimed he was a threat to the president.
Tshabangu also claimed that some of the CCC leaders were behind the recall of 30 of the party’s public office holders, among them members of the National Assembly, Senate and Local Authorities. He said:
The leadership was also behind these recalls. Let us respect the process that is underway. We have an independent judiciary system, one of the best in Southern Africa and will bring a judgement no one can dispute. I have never doubted this judiciary system since independence.
He, however, refused to reveal the identities of the CCC leader he is working with saying the matter was still before the courts.
Tshabangu also rejected claims by Chamisa that he is working with ZANU PF in a bid to destroy the opposition. He said:
I am not ZANU PF, I have never been ZANU PF. Everyone with a different opinion is labelled ZANU so I am not the first one. I am a footprint of Joshua Nkomo, Dumiso Dabengwa, Herbert Chitepo and many others.
Joshua Nkomo was given a tag by Robert Mugabe because they had differed and he was called a terrorist, (Thokozani) Khupe was almost burnt in Buhera and Welshman Ncube was labelled a CIO because he had differed with Tsvangirai and me being labelled FAZ or anything is not new but I am not.
Tshabangu said that those who question how he became CCC interim secretary-general should also ask how Chamisa became CCC president. He said:
There is overwhelming proof that I am interim secretary general. Who has questioned President Chamisa and why are they questioning my authority when we were appointed by the same process?
Tshabangu came into the limelight last month after he recalled CCC MPs and councillors saying they were no longer members of the party.
Among those recalled by Tshabangu were Shantel Chiwara, Masvingo City’s 25-year-old mayor, and Epworth Board chairperson Annah Sande, also aged 25.
Source ZiFM/Pindula News
