Sikhala was appearing in court alongside his
co-accused Godfrey Sithole, a fellow legislator, before Harare Magistrate
Tafadzwa Miti on charges of inciting public violence.
Sikhala was represented by Harrison Nkomo and
Jeremiah Bhamu and Sithole by Oliver Marwa.
In his submissions, Sikhala through his lawyer
denied posting a video inciting people to engage in acts of public violence
over Ali’s death.
There was violence at her funeral in Nyatsime,
and Sikhala was implicated.
"The first accused (Sikhala) expresses
the need to allow freedom of expression. He doesn't own the cars used on the
day stated and he didn't drive along the road being referred and he didn't meet
the second accused (Sithole). He never assaulted any person or damaged any
vehicle and the accused person is asking for his acquittal,” said Nkomo.
During cross examination, the witness, Edmore
Runganga who is also a police officer, told the court that Sikhala and
Sithole's case emanates from a video posted between June 11 and 12, 2022.
In the video, Sikhala was heard calling for
revenge over Ali’s death.
"We
analyzed the wording in the video and concluded that they were inciting public
violence. It appeared to us that there were already people mobilised to act on
these revenge tactics, and on June 14, 2022 people aligned to the Citizens
Coalition for Change (CCC) went into Nyatsime and engaged in public violence,”
said Runganga.
The State asked the court to view the video in
another courtroom, but the defense declined.
"We have not seen the link and we can't
trust that what the police saw is a genuine video and not some fake video
circulating on social media,” said Marwa.
The case was postponed to May 16. Newsday
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