Former Zimbabwean opposition MP Job Sikhala has been arrested in South Africa after authorities allegedly discovered explosives in his vehicle. The 53-year-old politician is currently being held at Pretoria Central Police Station as investigations continue.
South African police have yet to issue an official statement regarding the circumstances surrounding Sikhala’s arrest. However, several of his associates insist that the incident was part of a politically motivated plot orchestrated by Zimbabwean intelligence operatives to silence one of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s most outspoken critics.
One source reported that Sikhala had received a call from individuals claiming to be members of Joseph Kabila’s rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They reportedly offered to assist him in his campaign to “restore democracy” in Zimbabwe. According to the source, Sikhala travelled to meet them, unaware that the meeting would lead to his arrest after South African police were tipped off about alleged explosives.
Photographs circulating online appear to show Sikhala handcuffed by a plainclothes police officer and later sitting by a roadside barrier beside an elderly man believed to have been travelling with him. Another image appears to show explosives wrapped in a yellow plastic bag.
Sikhala’s wife told local media that her husband had been attending a meeting the night before the arrest. She said one of his hosts asked to “check something” in his car, took his keys, and returned about 30 minutes later. Soon after they left the venue, police stopped their vehicle, searched it, and allegedly discovered the explosives.
Lawyers from both Zimbabwe and South Africa are said to be working on Sikhala’s defence. His supporters claim the arrest demonstrates increasing regional efforts to suppress opposition voices linked to criticism of Zimbabwe’s “Vision 2030” political agenda.
Sikhala, a long-time opposition figure and former lawmaker for the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has faced numerous arrests in Zimbabwe over the years. He is expected to appear in a South African court in the coming days.
