Job Sikhala: What next for Zimbabwe opposition leader freed after years?

• Sikhala was released from prison in late January after nearly two years
• Prison time has increased Sikhala’s popularity and he is now a major threat to the ruling Zanu-PF party, political analyst Wurayayi Zembe tells Anadolu
• Sikhala needs to use his political status to bring fractured opposition together instead of creating more divisions, says researcher Rashweat Mukundu

HARARE, Zimbabwe

On Jan. 30, in the dead of night, freedom came at last for Zimbabwe’s jailed opposition politician Job Sikhala.

He was behind bars since June 14, 2022, spending some 600 days at the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in the capital Harare.

From prison, he wrote letters and conveyed messages to the outside world, vowing to keep fighting the Zimbabwean government he accuses of political victimization.

Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole, another lawmaker also recently freed, were accused of inciting supporters to avenge the death of Moreblessing Ali, a supporter of the opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), who was murdered by an activist of the ruling party in May 2022.

Sikhala’s popularity ballooned during his incarceration, and his supporters call him Wiwa, a reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa, the renowned writer and environmentalist executed by Nigeria’s military regime in 1995.

Many in Zimbabwe today feel he stands a chance to challenge President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule, something that he himself has declared is his objective.

Wurayayi Zembe, a political analyst, also believes that Sikhala poses a major threat to the ruling party, Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic Front, or Zanu-PF, which has been in power since independence in 1980.

“His threat to Zanu-PF and its government can been seen by the number of times he has been arrested, brought to courts, faced frivolous charges and acquitted,” Zembe told Anadolu.

“Sikhala was tortured several times in jail … He was arrested 68 times, acquitted 67 times and politically convicted by courts twice, which he has appealed.”

Call for unity

Other analysts like Rashweat Mukundu believe Sikhala should use his political status to bring the opposition together.

Sikhala recently came out attacking leaders from all factions of the CCC, accusing them of doing nothing to support him during his incarceration.

Barely a week after his release, he cut ties with the coalition and launched his own new movement, terming the CCC “a carcass.”

“The hope is that Sikhala evaluates the current status of the opposition politics and finds ways to make a positive contribution in uniting the opposition,” Mukundu, a researcher at the non-profit International Media Support group, told Anadolu.

“Also, he can help in mobilizing citizens and the opposition base to confront some of the challenges they are facing, mostly political repression from Zanu-PF.”

Sikhala needs to see this “not so much as an individual effort … but rather should attempt to reach out to others in the opposition and build a broader alliance that can confront Zanu-PF,” said Mukundu.

‘Divisive, vindictive politics’

Those within the Zanu-PF remain dismissive of Sikhala’s chances at dethroning Mnangagwa.

“Job Sikhala belongs to a dying breed of divisive, vindictive and reactionary agent politics that no longer hold any sway,” Farai Marapira, the ruling party’s director for information and publicity, told Anadolu.

“Instead of delivering tangible results, he resorts to empty rhetoric and sloganeering, which only exposes him to ridicule and mockery.”

He termed Sikhala “a dinosaur in today’s political world,” saying his way of doing things has “rendered him irrelevant.”

Zembe, the analyst, disagrees with that view, reiterating that Sikhala is here to stay.

“The political impact in Zimbabwe of his release has been huge,” he said.