By Staff Writer
A grouping of Non-Governmental- Organisations (NGOs) have petitioned President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the continued arrest of Zengeza West legislator, Job Sikhala who has languished in prison for a prolonged period of time.
The grouping includes residents associations, Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) (Zimbabwe), Zimbabwe Organisation For Youth In Politics (ZOYP (Zimbabwe), Voice of Justice (Zimbabwe), NamRights Inc (Namibia) and Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (South Africa).
The Restoration of Human Rights (United Kingdom), Zimbabwe Diaspora for Democracy United States), Political Prisoners in Africa (Sadc), DITSHWANELO — The Botswana Centre for Human Rights (Botswana), Mozambique Human Rights Defenders Network (Mozambique), Centre for Democracy
“We, the undersigned CSOs, herein register our deep concerns against a growing trend of judicial persecution and the abuse of the legal system (lawfare) by Zimbabwean authorities to close the civic space and target human rights defenders (HRDs) and pro-democracy activists,” the CSOs said.
The NGOs said the approach to bail as it is worded in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Act [Chapter 9:07] is not being applied by the courts and we strongly opine that there is no legal basis to justify why Sikhala has been denied bail on numerous occasions and continues to be held in prison for more than 10 months.
Furthermore, they said, it turns out to be legally unsound that Sikhala’s fellow parliamentarian, Godfrey Sithole and the 14 residents of Nyatsime who were arrested together with him under the same charges were granted bail while Sikhala’s more than 10 bail applications were dismissed.
“The fact that Sikhala has been consistently denied bail raises suspicion that the law is being weaponised for the judicial persecution of the human rights lawyer and disliked political opponent.”
They said the Sikhala case exposed lack of rule of law in Zimbabwe.
“Any persons in the Executive and the Judiciary or who are part of Zanu PF or any other organisation that may be unduly influencing the courts and violating the principle of separation of powers in Sikhala’s case should be identified, apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted for their inexcusable actions,” they said.
“Sikhala should have equal access to effective judicial remedies as provided for under national and international law without any discrimination on political grounds,” the petition added.
