By Staff Writer/Agencies
DETAINED opposition CCC political activist Job Sikhala has appointed veteran trade union leader Obert Masaraure – who is currently President of the Amalgamated Rural Teacher Union of Zimbabwe – the national organiser for his mobilisation campaign to tackle President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government over intensifying authoritarian politics and repression, signified by detention since June last year and ongoing abductions.
In a statement, Sikhala wrote: “My dearest Zimbabweans, I Job Sikhala, a political prisoner incarcerated in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison by the regime in Zimbabwe, do hereby announce the mandate granted to the following persons to organise, mobilise and set-up regional, township and street, ‘Job Sikhala Solidarity Chapters’ throughout the state of Zimbabwe.
“Obert Masaraure- National Solidarity Organiser. Veteran Trade Union Leader. President of the Amalgamated Rural Teacher’s Union of Zimbabwe.
His mandate will be to carry out the aforesaid roles. Since the day of my arrest on the 14th of June 2022, I did not become a political orphan as anticipated. He, together with the masses, of our people adopted me from the dumpsite.
Together with the masses of our people, they gave me the greatest gift of love-together with many others; he was humiliated and suffered in my name. He, like many, is the unsung hero of solidarity. He is now mandated to take the solidarity gospel to all the 10 provinces of our nation, to each and every village, street, township, growth point, town and city.
“To all those who have been blackmailed, scorned, humiliated, fought and dissuaded from exercising your free will solidarity to me, this is the time to organise yourselves without fear. You are not on the wrong side of history. Do not join the road of those on the wrong side of history. Do not dabble in dubious politics.
“In carrying out this mandate, Masaraure, must always remember the following enduring words of great leaders who graced planet earth, whose legacy illuminated the challenges of today. ‘I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I choose to identify with the poor. I choose to give life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of oppression.’ – Martin Luther King Jnr.
‘When we embark on a campaign, it will be the leaders who will be in front. They will not remain behind while the masses rot in jail.’ – Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.
‘A fearless leadership that heads from the front in the face of life-threatening adversity, an ethically grounded leadership that, embraces the possibility of an unending suffering.’ – Kwandile Kondlo. ‘Growth comes through pain and struggle.’ – Freidrich Hegel.
“Let me take this opportunity to thank Mr. Morgen Komichi for his solidarity. When he visited me here at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, my first instincts was to refuse to see him.
My conscience then told me to see him. I looked him directly into his eyes to discover his intentions. His eyes were full of love and compassion. I felt touched and asked myself several guilty conscience questions, why I turned down his several requests to visit me.
Prison sometimes is a place to discover new things, I discovered that, in leadership, one must not be stiff-necked, too harsh and unyielding. Since then, he never missed any one of my court sessions, an act solidarity that eluded those I regarded as friends and colleagues. I came to the conclusion by Martin Luther King Jr that; ‘within the best of people, there is some evil, and within the worst there is some good.’
This is the new chapter and a new journey in the world of solidary. The love shown by those most loathed must be embraced and reciprocated with a double portion of love. Hate has ruined civilization, I am currently under repressive incarceration in prison because of hate. Love conquers. Love leads.
Those who stand with me, I shall stand with them tooth, nail and claw. With all my love, be blessed
