THE State’s last witness in the trial of Zengeza West legislator Job Sikhala (CCC) for allegedly inciting public violence sometime in 2018, yesterday claimed that the video evidence showed the opposition Member of Parliament inciting violence.
Detective Victor Mukowa claimed in court yesterday that he had known Sikhala for more than 10 years.
“When I was tasked with this case, I watched several videos and audios of the accused who I can conclude was inciting public violence. I took the video and audio evidence so that it can be analysed by experts in the CID. I watched them on YouTube and the ZimEye website and paid attention to them. Mr Sikhala used words like ‘fight, war’ in the video which displayed a hidden meaning,” Mukowa told the court.
A video was then played in court which showed Sikhala seated and talking while eating.
“After I viewed the recording, I saw that only one message was intended by the accused; and that was to fight, and that if people do not fight, they will die. By telling others to go to war, Mr Sikhala was advocating for violence, and he was also advocating for people outside the country to fight.
“He seemed like a man who would do anything to get what he wanted in the video. I was motivated by the Oxford dictionary and that is why I know what the words ‘war’ and ‘fight’ mean. Sikhala was asking people to go and task other embassies to come and influence us.”
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Mukowa said his investigations of the video of Sikhala eating in the bushes showed that he was running away from the police.
He said in the video Sikhala urged Zimbabweans in South Africa to cross the borders and fight, which encouraged violence.
“In the recordings, it is evident that it’s the accused because the ZimEye interviewer keeps calling him by his title and name, and I don’t know of any other MP from Zengeza called Job Sikhala,” Makowa said.
Sikhala’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo said more time would be needed to cross-examine Mukowa.
The matter was then postponed to February 6 for continuation of trial.