Zimbabwe prison authorities have turned down main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s request to visit jailed Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala.
Sikhala is the interim deputy chairperson for the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), the party which Chamisa leads. He is in remand at Chikuribi Maximum Security Prison for various charges.
On Monday afternoon, Chamisa accompanied by party leaders visited Chikurubi and requested to see Sikhala. Also accompanying Chamisa were Sikhala’s lawyers.
The request was declined for as yet unfurnished reasons.
“Chamisa spent 4 hours waiting. It is a violation of the law because lawyers should not be denied access,” said CCC activist Hopewell Chin’ono.
He added that “everyone else was allowed to see these MPs except for Nelson Chamisa. Senior prison officers came to the prison entrance to tell him that he needed permission to visit his MPs from the top.
“This is despite that fact that even during Covid-19, lawyers were allowed to visit,” said Chin’ono, who himself spent months at the imposing prison facility after his arrest for exposing corruption.
CCC interim spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere told this reporter that no reasons were furnished for blocking Chamisa. When asked if Chamisa was visiting as a lawyer or in his capacity as the CCC leader, she referred this reporter to her tweet which says no reasons were given.
However, a source told this reporter that Chamisa was told he would not enter as the privilege to see Sikhala was only for close relatives or lawyers of the accused.
Opposition supporters see Sikhala’s arrest as political persecution ahead of general elections next year.
Sikhala was nabbed after he led party members on a violent revenge misson in Nyatsime where homes of Zanu-PF members were torched.
This followed the gruesome abduction and subsequent murder of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali by a suspected Zanu PF linked man.
