BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE THE State sought to extend incarcerated opposition MP Job Sikhala’s remand by a further three months.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti told magistrate Stanford Mambanje that they wanted Sikhala’s remand extended to November 21.
Sikhala’s lawyer Jeremiah Bhamu however opposed the application.
“We pray for an earlier trial date. The law requires that the accused person must be brought for trial on the earliest date. Why do they not want to try him earlier than three months?,” Bhamu said.
“Secondly, the accused person is in custody and naturally his trial needs to be treated with urgency. When the State wants a long remand, they must state the reasons…I pray therefore to be given trial in the next two weeks.”
Sikhala, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim vice chairperson, faces charges of incitement to violence.
Sikhala was arrested alongside CCC members including fellow MP Godfrey Sithole on allegations of inciting violence to protest the murder opposition activist Moreblessing Ali in Nyatsime.
