The main opposition Citizens Coalition Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has claimed that Zanu-PF is plotting to instigate factionalism within the opposition through lying to the incarcerated legislator Job Sikhala that Chamisa refused to negotiate his release with ZANU PF leader Emerson Mnangagwa.
The Zengeza West Member of Parliament, who was arrested last year following violence which flared up in Nyatsime after the murder of CCC supporter Moreblessing Ali, has endured 271 days in remand prison and CCC’s efforts to secure his bail are failing to come to fruition.
Addressing members of the fourth estate on Thursday, Chamisa said Sikhala told him that ZANU PF has tried many times to trick him into believing that his leader refused to talk to Zanu-PF about his release.
“I have engaged Sikhala and the last time I engaged him he was telling me about how they have tried to say it is your leader who is refusing to talk to us. If he talks to us we can deal with your release. That is what he told me. I have told him we can bend backwards but we do not break principles. We do not tamper with principles
“That tells you the country is rotten. He committed no offense. Sikhala is innocent but they have already adjudged him guilty without any trial. It tells you how sick we are,” said Chamisa.
He also said Mnangagwa has been ignoring his letters concerning Sikhala’s issue.
“I have even made an effort to write severally to Mr Mnangagwa to say deal with this Sikhala issue it is embarrassing us internationally and nationally. He has chosen not to respond. I wrote to him private conversations to indicate to him what the issues are but he has ignored them. I have done my bit and I continue to do more,” he said.
Chamisa added that people in ZANU PF no longer want to be led by Mnangagwa and he is aware of that but doesn’t have the courage to step down.
“If people do not want you to serve, why would you impose yourself? That is why I have been saying to Mnangagwa that if I were him, I would not even stand for candidature.
“The roads are reporting that he has failed. The hospitals are screaming. Everything in this country is pointing to his failure including his own people in ZANU-PF but you need a lot of humility to be able to have that kind of courage, unfortunately, he does not have that courage.
“Leadership is an opportunity to serve and not an opportunity to loot or eat. Many are so fixated upon wanting to use positions as careers, for some of us it is an opportunity to serve,” said Chamisa.
