Sikhala vows to settle Moreblessing Ali’s delayed burial

Speaks on prison life with her murderer, Pius Jamba

By Tapiwa Svondo

Freed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) top politician and lawyer Job Sikhala has vowed to pursue Moreblessing Ali’s “immediate” burial after the slain activist’s remains lie unburied nearly two years after her shock murder.

Sikhala was hired by Ali’s family to handle her case following the discovery of her remains nearly two weeks after she had reportedly been kidnapped by alleged Zanu PF supporters in Nyatsime May 2022.

Ali’s body was found dumped in a well and in a decomposing state at the homestead of her killer’s mother.

Her family has been adamant it was not going to carry out her burial for as long as her lawyer remained incarcerated.

Sikhala was released on Tuesday on a wholly suspended two-year jail sentence imposed after he endured the lengthy pre-trial detention for inciting wild skirmishes that rocked Ali’s funeral wake in Nyatsime June 2022.

In an interview following his release, Sikhala said he is set to convince the family to bury the slain activist.

“We are making arrangements to make sure that she is buried as soon as possible.

“We want her soul to rest. She has suffered enough.

“Had it been that I happened to know that Moreblessing Ali was not yet buried when I was still in prison, I could have sat down with my clients and advised them wisely that there was no reason and purpose for us to keep her body unburied.

“So, it is one of the issues that has really touched me and is concerning me and I have to immediately attend to it because I was their attorney of instruction; they are still my clients.

“I am going to sit with them to make sure that Moreblessing Ali is buried as soon as possible.”

Sikhala said he still did not accept claims that Pius Jamba was the only one responsible for Ali’s murder.

“I still don’t believe that Pius Jamba was the only one who was responsible for the death of Moreblessing Ali,” he said, adding, “There are others who were protected and hidden from being exposed on the murder…it’s a fact and they know it.”

Jamba, a Zanu PF activist, was jailed for 30 years following his conviction for the heinous crime.

Sikhala said he did not find time to meet Jamba at Chirukubi Maximum Prison, where both of them were jailed.

“I was staying in the solitary confinements that are upstairs on the far end of Chikurubi Maximum Prison, I was not able to meet him,” he said.

“But I was getting briefings and information by the people whom he has been sharing cells with him, both during the period of his remand days and also at Chikurubi, what he has been saying about what transpired during the gruesome murder of Moreblessing Ali.”