Bail is a constitutional right! CCC Namibia fumes at Sikhala and Sithole’s further incarceration.
07 July 2022
It is crucial to applaud all change champions who showed up at the High Court of Zimbabwe in Harare today as a sure way of expressing the much-needed solidarity with the wrongly incarcerated Hon Job Saro Wiwa Sikhala and Hon Godfrey Karakadzayi Sithole. Citizens Coalition for Change Namibia hails those who demonstrate a strong sense of unity in our confrontation with the autocratic regime. The district salutes the organic Rundu Branch Interim Secretary-General Simbarashe Ndoda and Youth Commander Ropafadzo Tsara who represented the district at the High Court today. Participatory democracy is the only panacea to socio-economic transfiguration.
Namibia district denounces the capture of the judiciary which is now openly taking instructions from the shake-shake building. We strongly believe in independent state institutions that respect the supreme law of the country. The denial of bail to our political heavyweights today at the High Court is political. The previous moment when Hon Job Sikhala was given bail at the High Court, we witnessed the terrible victimization of Erica Ndewere who eventually lost her job on Mr. Mnangagwa’s instruction.
Moreover, citizens in Namibia urge the judiciary to respect the constitution and constitutionalism. Bail is a constitutional right enshrined in the constitution of 2013.
Every citizen including Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole is entitled to bail. It is illegal and unconstitutional to deny bail to MPs, teachers, and lawyers.
We are quite disappointed in this state capture of the judiciary, which promotes the selective application of the law. Bail is only denied to the opposition politicians and activists, human rights defenders, and journalists. ZANU-PF bureaucrats rarely spend twilight in police compartments in a catch-and-release fashion.
Furthermore, we encourage citizens to peacefully demonstrate against the perpetual torture through long pre-trial detentions of yellow revolutionaries. Its citizens’ revolutionary obligation to pent up their outrage demanding the unconditional release of the diligent Hon Job Saro Wiwa Sikhala and Hon Godfrey Sikhala. Fighting for justice and the rule of law has become the worst crime in Zimbabwe according to the ZANU-PF statute. Change champions should amplify their mouthpieces demanding justice for the imprisoned leaders. Solidarity calls for action in defense of one another during such storms.
Artuz Secretary-General Robson Chere was remanded to 28 July when he appeared before the Magistrates Court today in Harare. This means that he has to endure 21 days in the remand cells on trumped-up murder charges.
Our message is categorically clear that educators should peacefully surge advocating for the freedom of their pragmatic leader who is suffering for all and sundry. Robson Chere is not a murderer, but a labor unionist who is simply demanding a living wage of US540 per month. Is this too much to warrant such long pre-trial detention? Teachers are earning 24 loaves of bread currently hence the need to fight for emancipation from these slave wages.#FreeCdeRobo
In a nutshell, the inhabitants of Namibia believe that if people both in the motherland and the diaspora remain mute in the face of this repression and weaponization of the law, 2023 will be a bloody election. We should all unite to demand the independence of all state organizations and condemns the partisan approach by the captured judges. Citizens must seek answers to this lawfare before it harms all of us. #FreeJobSaroWiwaSikhala #FreeGodfreySithole
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Citizens Coalition for Change Namibia
Rundu Branch Interim Spokesperson
Robson Ruhanya