HARARE – Outspoken former Zimbabwean opposition legislator Job Sikhala has expressed confidence that the people of Zimbabwe will eventually reclaim their country from what he described as long-standing authoritarian rule by Zanu-PF.
In a recent interview with the Citizens Voice Network, Sikhala spoke in reference to historical events such as the 1992 collapse of the Soviet Union, arguing that no form of tyranny is permanent when confronted by a determined population.
He said governments, regardless of their strength, ultimately depend on the support of the masses to survive.
Sikhala criticised the current administration under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, accusing it of restricting public gatherings to prevent citizens from organising. He claimed this was a deliberate strategy to stifle potential mass movements capable of challenging the state.
“There is no evil or any form of tyranny that has not been overcome by people,” Sikhala noted.
“Even in Russia in 1992, the Soviet Union, the most powerful nuclear force in the world. When the people have decided that enough is enough, there is nothing that overpowers the power of the people.
“Zanu-PF understands it that’s why you realise that at the present moment Emmerson Mnangagwa does not allow people to gather even in their small numbers to organise themselves into an important force on the basis that he know that the power of any institution or any government to survive rest in the people and in the masses.”
The former Zengeza West MP, who has faced repeated arrests and prosecutions in recent years, maintained that popular mobilisation remains the most effective force against entrenched political systems.
“So there is no power that can overtake the power of the masses. So, my belief and conviction is that one day the lying lions of Zimbabwe shall rise and reclaim their country that has been under dictatorship for a long time by people who think that they have got the right to own Zimbabwe,” he stated.
Last month, Sikhala’s book launch in Masvingo was violently disrupted by a group of suspected Zanu-PF youths.
The mob, some allegedly intoxicated, stormed the venue, assaulted speakers, damaged or seized copies of the book, and demanded that politics and Mnangagwa not be discussed.
The publication, Footprints in the Chains by Munyaradzi Angelo Savanhu, chronicles Sikhala’s political activism, including his arrests, torture, and repeated detentions.
Sikhala said he reported the matter to the law enforcement agencies.
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