By Staff Writer
SOUTH Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition leader, Julius Malema has slammed Zimbabwean authorities for jailing an innocent activist who committed the crime of demanding accountability.
Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume was jailed four years on charges of inciting public violence in 2020 by Harare magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka.
Ngarivhume will, however, serve three years without an option of a fine after a year was suspended on condition of good behaviour.
In mitigation, Ngarivhume’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku had pleaded for a lenient sentence to allow his client to contest in the upcoming elections.
“Sending him to prison is sending an opponent of the President of Zimbabwe [Emmerson Mnangagwa] to jail. This will be bad in the eyes of the international community. He must be allowed to participate in an election,” Madhuku said.
But in a statement, the EFF leader Malema described the development as shocking amid calls for Zimbabweans to stand by their own.
“I was shocked to hear that a Zimbabwean Government has jailed Jacob Ngarivhume, for demanding accountability through picket lines on how Covid-19 funds were used in 2020 by kleptocratic politicians.
“Sending an activist to four years imprisonment for simply holding different political views is pathetic.
“Zimbabweans must learn to protect their own, particularly those who are the voice of the voiceless against the corrupt few. The truth will never be incarcerated; Africa we are one,” he said.
