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*"It's Worse Than Under Mugabe Right Now", Says Sikhala's Lawyer*

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Human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who is representing jailed Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala (MDC Alliance), said that repression under President Emmerson Mnangagwa is worse than it was under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.

Sikhala has been kept at Harare’s Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for more than two months on allegations of inciting public violence and obstructing the course of justice.

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The 49-year-old CCC vice chairman has been arrested 67 times but never been convicted in a political career spanning more than two decades.

Under Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years before he was overthrown in a popular military coup in 2017, the country gained a long experience with arrests of dissenters and abuse.

But speaking to AFP, Mtetwa said it’s worse than under Mugabe right now.

Sikhala was arrested in June along with fellow opposition politician and lawmaker Godfrey Sithole (CCC) over a speech he gave at the memorial service for Moreblessing Ali, another opposition activist who was killed, mutilated and dumped into a well.

A practising lawyer, Sikhala told mourners that Ali’s spirit would come back to avenge her death.

The day was marked by what the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has described as an “orgy of public violence.”

Supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party reportedly harassed funeral-goers and declared that Nyatsime, where Ali lived, was a no-go area for CCC.

Sikhala was charged with inciting violence and obstructing the course of justice over his speech and for having allegedly suggested that ZANU-PF members were behind the murder.

His lawyers have denied any link between their client and the violence. Said Mtetwa:

> The point is not so much to have him prosecuted, but to harass him and to keep him in custody for as long as possible.

More: News24

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