Another MDC member detained in Zimbabwe

July 10, 2019

Barely a day after the arrest of MDC vice chairman, Job Sikhala, Youth Assembly secretary-general Gift Ostallos Siziba, has been detained on charges of incitement to commit public violence.

The charges arise from remarks he allegedly made at a rally in Glen Norah in Harare on Sunday.

MDC deputy spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka confirmed the detention.

“Siziba has been detained just at the time the MDC is seized with establishing the whereabouts of detained MDC Vice Chairman Hon. Job Sikhala, who was expected to appear in court today. His lawyers, party officials and members of the Sikhala family have been stood up until late this afternoon. Hon. Sikhala did not show up at court and the police have not bothered to explain his whereabouts” said Tamborinyoka

“Siziba went to Harare Central Police Station CID Law and Order section this morning accompanied by his lawyers, Moses Nkomo and Agency Gumbo. The police refused to release him into their custody pending his appearance in court tomorrow”

Tamborinyoka said the arrests of Sikhala and Siziba has exposed President Mnangagwa’s administration.

“Hon. Sikhala and Siziba’s detention expose the Mnangagwa callous nature of Mnangagwa’s administration, which has been trying to hoodwink Zimbabweans and the international community that they are different from the oppressive regime of former president Robert Mugabe.

“The detention of the two MDC senior officials, the recent clamp-down on civil society activists and MPs have exposed this regime for what it really is. The brutal murder of innocent Zimbabweans on August 1, 2018 and in January 2019 have shown that Mnangagwa has never been a reformist, contrary to his posturing to the world and to the diplomatic community” he said

Best Regards