HARARE – Zengeza West MP will appear in court on Thursday facing fresh charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice over claims he sought to mislead police officers investigating the abduction and murder of Citizens Coalition for Change activist Moreblessing Ali.
Sikhala, who is in remand prison on charges of inciting supporters to commit violence, was taken from Chikurubi Maximum Prison on Wednesday to be booked on the new charges at Harare Central Police Station.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, in a statement, said Sikhala is accused of “uploading video footage on YouTube and ZimLive claiming that Moreblessing Ali was kidnapped and murdered by Zanu PF supporters with the intention to mislead police investigations.”
“Police also alleged that in the video footage, Sikhala stated that Zanu PF has a history of killing citizens in Zimbabwe,” the rights lawyers said.
Moreblessing Ali was abducted outside a bar in the Nyatsime area of Chitungwiza on May 24, and her decomposed body was found in a well on June 11. Police arrested Pios Jamba, the young brother of the local Zanu PF chairman, over the killing.
Sikhala’s lawyers say the charges are a political ploy to keep him locked up and silence one of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s most vocal critics.