Job Sikhala's New Year Message

By JOB WIWA SIKHALA | Jan. 4, 2024 | 10 Min read

It is through the grace of our ever-loving Almighty God that we are in 2024.

CHIKURUBI MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON

NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM CHIKURUBI MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON

Dear Zimbabweans and my Worldwide friends.

My dearest Zimbabweans and Worldwide friends, Happy New Year, Happy 2023!!!

It is through the grace of our ever-loving Almighty God that we are in 2024. Some of our friends and relatives did not make it from 2023. God is the ultimate authority over everything, life or death, tears or joy, pain, agony or happiness. He is a purposeful Lord. Let’s thank him for his gracious love. From the enclave of repression, where I am, my dearest friends, the preceding year, 2023, was the year my tormentors flexed and demonstrated their might of oppression against me. Throughout my trials in court, I was always oppressed by my tormentors. I was subjected to the most unfair trials a human being can ever go through. I was denied any decency of a fair trial. I went through grand demonstrations of emotional seizures.

Court desks were banged, chairs swayed and doors banged, with faces frowning on me coupled with holistic satanic smiles by the State, on cases without an iota of evidence. Let me tell you, dear friends, that, since birth, I have never witnessed some garbage of embarrassing evidence like the one that was presented against me by my persecutors and various witnesses. I even felt pity for them. We shall upload the entire record of my cases on various websites for your attention. Records of court proceedings are public documents that can be accessed by anyone who wants to. Like I said in my previous communications with you, I long reached the Mandela moment. I will never, ever again continue to sanitise my persecution, by pleading my innocence to scripts that have been choreographed. My persecution is now clear to everyone. It is the exercise of repression in motion against my person by the regime and its agencies, for being a forthright opposition political leader.

So be it! I am a political prisoner whose crime is, being the voice of the oppressed and the downtrodden. Believe me, there is nothing that gives me full satisfaction and inner happiness in life, than suffering for the powerless masses. I always tell my oppressors that, they are free to do whatever they want with me, even if they want to kill me, as they long mooted the plan since December 2022. Since my arrest on the 14th of June 2022, my oppressors kept me under the most horrible and inhumane conditions under the sun, in solitary confinement, and always in chains, like a terrorist, at every turn, in the worst prison in the world, Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

They know I have not committed any crime, and that I am not a criminal and I will never be one all my life. I chose to become who I am because I stand for something, something worth living for and something worth dying for. Like Steve Biko said, “it is better to die for an idea that will live than to live for an idea that will die”. Rather than tormenting me, those who wield power should demonstrate themselves the desire to ameliorate every legitimate grievance. We must affirm our unalterable faith in human goodness once released from the blemishes of a society founded on fear. I am one man who by natural designs of nature, will never be forced to retreat or modify positions, especially through coercive means. I am attracted and persuaded by ideas. Great ideals and ideas that are people-centred. You would understand me if you would share with me, the view and the truth that there are millions of our poor people, abject people, ill-fed, ill-clothed, unemployed, emaciated, drowned in drugs and penury who are gripped in unimaginable sorrow and tears.

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They need that heart that feels for them, that heart that bleeds with theirs to wipe tears of sorrow and negritude from their faces. I repeat, again, that I studied law, to help represent the poor, and in my career as a lawyer, I have represented hundreds of these for no fee at all. That is why I had no second thoughts when I was approached by the Moreblessing Ali family to represent them after her horrendous murder unseen in modern civilization. It has been proved through history that prison cannot break the spirit of the victims of oppression.

I am not the first to have suffered untold hardships by oppressors for oppression’s sake but several did. I have learnt through history, that, some people who thrust themselves to power, got so drunk with power that they would not in their lifetime ever imagine the day they would lose that political power to anyone; to the extent of exposing the nation to the vicissitudes of violence, terror and murder and position the country as the pariah and skunk of the world. In the 21st century, no civilized nation or a self-respecting regional or international body or grouping would want to associate with oppressive regimes. The struggle for freedom since time immemorial has produced countless giants in whose shadows we find our glory. I am not the first and I am not going to be the last victim of injustice. Our nation is awash with the history of persecution against the soldiers of peace, freedom, and injustice. Malcom X, taught us that, “It is only after extreme grief that the greatest joy can come”. The more you increase repression, the more you multiply resentment.

People have an affinity for losing leaders, not oppressors, and persecution of the innocent. Martin Luther King Jnr pointed out that, “the fruits of hypocrisy, treachery and repression is doom!!” Keeping quiet when seeing someone being wronged or abused is not my characteristic. In my lifelong journey, the struggle against the oppression of the masses of our people, I was always there with them. I was always one of them. I never abandoned them. My conscience was always on the side of good and never did I ever abandon them when they needed me the most. I never pretended to be a monarch housed in an ivory tower. My conscience is my prophet. My conscience is housed in the groaning cries of the poor, oppressed, and downtrodden. Anything besides these values is a comic muppet show. I have always been conscious of other people’s needs devoid of ego.

I was taught by Stephen Covey that, “ego focuses on one’s survival, pleasure and enhancement to the exclusion of others, ego is selfishly ambitious. It sees relationships in terms of threats”. When I was abandoned without a home to cry for help, support, and solidarity, the masses of our people in Zimbabwe and in the diaspora responded with a vintage, by adopting me and becoming my foster parents. They stood with my wife and children. They filled the void created by the incarcerated father. They contributed through various methods including the GoFundMe to send my children to school and their welfare. Others committed monthly contributions.

They are feeding me daily here at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. Those whom I used to regard as friends have never visited or brought me even a banana at court or here at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for my almost two (2) years in detention. I felt pity for them when I was told by one of the MPs that, they fought each other over some suggestion of contributing some US$20.00, as my birthday present. I am told, the suggestion was abandoned after mounting pressure and blackmail, as if I even wanted the gift. Did they properly reflect on what my attitude was going to be on such a gift from them? I long warmed and reprimanded my family to spurn any gifts from such hostile forces. There is no reason whatsoever to fight over me. I am man enough to face any challenges.

The masses are solidly behind me. I do not care about their dirty thoughts about me. I long discovered that they have been secretly conniving and working with my tormentors to get rid of me. So they are not hiding. I know everything. If David Coltart and Hopewell Chin’ono fail to execute the mandate I gave to them, my wife knows what to do, when push comes to shove. They have now started fighting my lawyers who have been representing me for almost two (2) years for free. Out of the masses, abundant love emerged from the Free Job Sikhala Solidarity Movement. I fully give my support and endorsement to the Movement. I had to craft mandates to some cadres to spearhead it. My enemies in various forms panicked. Some hated the emergence of the very idea as they wished me to remain abandoned. Be warned, the cat has already bolted out of the bag! There is no looking back. Even the security agencies of my tormentors approached the Free Job Sikhala Solidarity Movement National Organiser, Brother Obert Masaraure demanding the names of the National Solidarity Council and the Provincial Solidarity Chapter leaders. Brother Obert Masaraure does not have any names. They are with me here at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in my head. So they should come and confront me here, their hated nemesis for the names, not Brother Masaraure!! This was so because, the very idea of the Free Job Sikhala Solidarity Movement received earth shuttering response from the masses of our people in every village, township, growth point, town, and city.

I hear you Manicaland, I hear you Masvingo, I hear you Harare, I hear you Matabeleland North, I hear you Matabeleland South, I hear you Bulawayo, I hear you Midlands, I hear you Mashonaland East, I hear you Mashonaland West, I hear you Mashonaland Central. I love you all. Brother Obert Masaraure shall announce the National Solidarity Council and the Provincial Chapters at the appropriate time. Solidarity leaders have decided to call each other as Brothers and Sisters, in full respect of each other as one family. We share the same pain and suffering. The Solidarity Movement is for everyone. Brother Masaraure is available 24/7. You can contact him as soon as possible. Brother Masaraure, has provided impeccable authentic and servant leadership, beyond comprehension. His organizing dexterity is exceptional and unmatched. He is grounded in the grassroots.

As an outstanding trade unionist, his blood is people-centred. He reminds me of what John Quincy Adams said, that, “if your action inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more”. As previously communicated, after the mandate extended to sister Tsitsi Dangarembga, as my Chief International Relations Representative and Hon. Daniel Molokela as the Chief Solidarity Ambassador, I have mandated the following Brothers and Sisters as Solidarity Ambassadors in our neighbouring States:- 1. Brother Freddy Njanji Masese-Solidarity Ambassador Republic of South Africa. 2. Dr. Simba Ndoda-Solidarity Ambassador, Republic of Namibia. 3. Dr. Tinashe Kazuru-Solidarity Ambassador Republic of Zambia. 4. Professor Malango Chintega-Solidarity Ambassador Republic of Malawi. 5. Brother Laxon Chimedza-Solidarity Ambassador Republic of Botswana. 6.

Brother Shelton Mununuri-Solidarity Ambassador Republic of Mozambique. Dear Zimbabwean and worldwide friends, on this day, the 1st of January 2024, I would like to notify all of you my dearest friends of the mandate given to the following brothers and sisters:- 1. Brother Washington Ali 2. Sister Patricia Chinyoka 3. Brother Makomborero Haruzivishe, as a three-member Ambassadorial Committee for Britain, Ireland, and the European Union. 4. Sister Hlekiwe Rachael Lupafya is the Solidarity Ambassador for the Commonwealth. 5. Brother Tafadzwa Munjanja is the Solidarity Ambassador for the United States of America (USA) and the United Nations. All diplomats are accordingly advised of the above team that will constantly advise and brief them of all developments over my persecution. As I previously advised, there is no nation under the sun that will not have a Solidarity Ambassador. More announcements will follow soon. The story of my persecution must be told to the world in its raw form. 6. Emmanuel Zellers Gumbo- Solidarity Ambassador Norway.

These Ambassadors will complement the efforts already being done by various individuals, organisations, bodies, and my international lawyer, Bob Amsterdam PLC. I call upon everyone throughout the world, in politics, governments, business, church organisations, media, human rights organisations, regional and international bodies to work with the above-mentioned Ambassadors to unreservedly condemn the repression that is being perpetrated against me by the regime in Zimbabwe. Shortly, I shall pen letters to various Presidents in the region and the world, detailing in depth the circumstances of my persecution and my current conditions of inhuman treatment. I shall also write to regional and international bodies, such as SADC, the African Union (AU), The African Commission for Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), the Common Wealth Inter-Parliamentary Union, the International Red Cross Society, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. These letters will be personally delivered by the Ambassadors to the respective recipients. The good world stood with tenacity against the persecution and injustices perpetrated against Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, and the other Rivonia Trialists. It is no different from what is happening to me, decades down the line. There is nothing that you see happening today, that never happened before.

My crime is that of being the lawyer to the family of a woman who was callously murdered by the people whom my persecutors know. All things you hear about a murder is all a charade. May our gracious Lord be with all of you in the year 2024. Pray for me, Pray for Zimbabwe. I dearly love you all. By Job Sikhala