The Zengeza MP Job Sikhala has been followed by state security agents while heading for a court hearing. Sikhala makes the revelations in the following update.

By Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala
MDC National Vice Chairman :

My dear friends, it is with sadness that I announce to you that my security situation is precarious and under danger. As I am writing this message we are passing in Norton at 19:39 hrs. I have been quite since my acquittal on Treason charges recently in Masvingo because I was attending to a serious client case at the Regional Magistrate Courts in Karoi.

Dear colleagues, I went to Karoi on Monday after I was phoned that if I don’t present myself the trial was going without my presence. The accused is a solid MDC member Tonderai. I was persuaded by our strong MDC Provincial official Wilson Makanyaire that I must be a lawyer to our member.

It is a commitment I accepted last year in September, as I was touched that this was a call to duty. The accused was given a last warning that if I don’t present myself on Monday, the Court was going to proceed with the trial as I have been giving excuses that I could not attend because on the first setdown of trial which was on the 28th of January which I was attending my Treason trial in Masvingo. I had to go Karoi without fail on Monday evening because our party member was under attack and siege. I went on Monday in the company of my security details and surreptitiously entered Karoi. On Tuesday morning I executed my mandate when the trial commensed. It went on without drama.

The trial had to continue today as I could not finish the cross examination yesterday. It resumed at 8:30 am. I arrived at the Court to find a massive deployment of a huge contingent of CIOs and military intelligence personnel. They were more than 50 at the Court. My security details including Wilson Makanyaire informed me of the situation. I told them to ask then what their mission was? I was briefed that they thought that I had come for Simbarashe Marumahoko’s, the son to Reuben Marumahoko’s, the former ZANU PF Minister whom I voluntarily represented my first day I arrived in Karoi last year when he was accused of having insulted Emmerson Mnangagwa who purport to be a the President of Zimbabwe. I felt challenged and gave him pro amico legal services. I applied for his bail pending trial which the State was opposing furiously. I was confronted by Ziyambi Ziyambi and Themba Mliswa’s sister Mary Mliswa who is the Provincial Minister for Mash West why I represented Marumahoko’s son to obtain bail at Parliament after his admission to bail.

Today after finishing my cross examination of the complainant at 17:38hrs my security details advised me to travel back to Harare as the security situation was untenable in Karoi. The full deployment at the Court and the stoking by the security agency throughout was hazardous.

When we left Karoi, driven by Cllr Chiwanza of Ward 6 in Chitungwiza, two vehicles trailed us from Karoi. We drove fast until Murombedzi Growth Point. When Cllr Chiwanza realized the two vehicles were on our back he alerted me. I asked him to move. And he knows what I mean when I ask him to move. They also speeded, overtook Cllr Chiwanza and flag down violently between the late dictator Robert Mugabe’s resting place and Norton. Cllr Chiwanza was violently flagged down to stop. He skidded past the idiots although I asked him to stop. I wanted to stop, come out and confront them to get exactly what they wanted.

They became more daring when we were approaching Norton. They viciously pursued us but failed to thwart the speed of Cllr Chiwanza.

Let it be known. I am ready Emmerson Mnangagwa for your kill. Your haunting dogs are smaller than Zimbabwe. You can live in illusions. I am not afraid. Should I stop working for my family and the people of Zimbabwe because of your release of dogs against your opponents. Go to hell. You don’t own life. Neither do you own Zimbabwe. I dare you idiot. The day I will die, is the day my God would have allowed it to happen. You don’t own life Emmerson. That’s why I see you as a demented idiot. Your evil will never prosper over good.

Dear friends. My life is under direct threat from evil men and women who are purporting to be running our country. Please if anything happens to me let it be known that Emmerson Mnangagwa is the first culprits. He has clueless dogs and reptiles. I am a lawyer, I will do my work allover the jurisdiction of Zimbabwe without fearing anyone. Go hang.

Renews Arms Embargo, Asset Freeze Against State-Owned Military Company

The European Union yesterday called on the Zimbabwe government to ensure perpetrators of human rights violations are swiftly brought to justice and immediately implement the recommendations of an inquiry into violence following the 2018 elections.

The Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry, set up by President Emmerson Mnangagwa following the post-election violence of August 1, 2018, found that six people died and 35 others were injured as a result of actions by the state security forces. Some commission recommendations, which have yet to be implemented, include ensuring perpetrators are held accountable and a special committee to compensate those killed and those who lost property is set up.

Human Rights Watch  investigations  found some state security forces used excessive and lethal force to crush nationwide protests in January 2019. During and after the protests, the forces fired live ammunition that killed 17 people, and at least 17 women were raped. No security force personnel have been arrested or prosecuted for these abuses. The authorities have also yet to fulfill the requirements of section 210 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution by establishing an effective and independent mechanism for investigating complaints from members of the public regarding misconduct by security services and remedy any harm done.

The EU renewed, for a year, its arms embargo and a targeted asset freeze against one company, the Zimbabwe Defense Industries, pending an investigation into the role government security forces may have had in human rights abuses. It explained that the arms embargo and the asset freeze against the company would not affect the Zimbabwean economy, foreign direct investment, or trade.

The EU said it is ready to review the whole range of its policies at any time, when justified, based on developments in Zimbabwe and that it will seek increased collaboration with international partners, most importantly the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, and international financial institutions, which can play a key role by supporting Zimbabwe in enabling an inclusive dialogue and in accelerating progress in reforms.

The Mnangagwa government should demonstrate that it is serious about upholding human rights and the rule of law. It should ensure government security forces responsible for abuses are appropriately punished, to end the impunity that has characterized alleged abuses by government forces in the past.

Zimbabwe will not disappear on the world’s map because Zanu PF is out of power. Zanu PF is holding the country hostage and at ransom, we will keep saying it until it sinks …… ZANU PF IS THE CANCER OF ZIMBABWEANS!!! ZANU PF MUST GO!!!

No mealie meal in the shops but they (Zanu PF) have it. No money in banks, but they have it for themselves. Why should the nation keep suffering because of these selfish individuals running the country. We have suffered enough over the past years under their ruling government and nothing has changed, and still nothing is changing. They talk about corruption and change, as if they’re representing the people but they really are the ones destroying what’s left of them and making sure the people have nothing left.

Zanu PF has always been corrupt and is still corrupt. No medication, hospitals not functioning properly, some clinics closed, no electricity, no water, no fuel, no money. Honestly, is that a living? That is not the Zimbabwe we want. Let us change it, we are the change.

Governing involves creating a positive environment for people to reach their potential capabilities. When a government fails to effectively govern, it should be replaced by those willing to do so. Unfortunately Zanu PF government have failed to even make sure the basics are attainable.

We have two choices. We can either unite and arise and fight this misrule to a bitter end or we should continue burying our heads in the sand, be spectators in matters concerning us and continue sleeping while Zanu PF destroys our life and future generations hope under our watch.

Tatenda Mombeyarara, a human rights activist who was last year abducted by suspected state security agents has said that he has not fully recovered from torture he was exposed to by his kidnappers.

The wheelchair-bound Mombeyarara condemned the politically motivated abductions and torture whose effects he said were real. Posting on Twitter, he said:

When I was discharged, I thought I was well. Today (Sunday) I had to abort a flight to Johannesburg because of a serious panic attack. Political abductions & torture in Zim are real&the effects are devastating!

Mombeyarara who is the coordinator for Citizens’ Manifesto and Human Rights defender is one of a large number of people among them, human rights defenders, medical doctors, comediennes and members of the opposition MDC, who disappeared, tortured and dumped in 2019.

Most of the disappearances happened immediately before the MDC planned national demonstrations prompting some to think that they were the State’s strategies to scare citizens off the MDC gatherings.

On Twitter he wrote, “When I was discharged, I thought I was well. Today I had to abort my flight to Johannesburg because of a serious panic attack. Political abductions and torture in Zimbabwe are real and the effects are devastating!”

Sadly some of our brothers and sisters do not believe the ruthless regime is doing this to its citizens. Abductions, tortures and killings in Zimbabwe are real. This current (Zanu PF) government has failed its citizens.

Its that time again where they start fabricating charges to bring down people. Why do they do that honestly? Why do they fabricate charges? Zanu Pf and the government use the law to suit themselves. Most of the time they bend the law to suit themselves. Yet when its opposition is doing right by the book, they still find ways to bring them down by fabricating charges, paying judges and magistrates to do their dirty work. I’m disappointed in our justice system. A government that refuses to be

Politics must never be divisive, hurtful, and painful.

They (Zanu Pf) still cheat the elections but they are always denying it. The justice system is Zanu PF, ZEC is Zanu PF so how can we move forward to free and clean elections?

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Rights groups yesterday commemorated the January 2019 protests 1-year anniversary, Newsday reports. The protests saw security forces killing 17 people and at least 17 women were ra_ped and s_xually violated between January 14 and February 5 in 2019.

Speaking about the protests, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said:

The atrocities committed are still fresh in the heads of the Zimbabweans. Some are still mourning their deceased relatives and friends; others have permanent bodily and psychological injuries. It is January once more and the nation remembers.

The cries of the wounded and dying victims at the hands of excessive force meted out through baton sticks, gunshot wounds and dog bites remain a dark cloud over the human rights record of the nation.

The government has resorted to using force to violently disperse crowds ever since the January 2019 protests.