{"id":79038,"date":"2023-06-14T22:41:15","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention"},"modified":"2023-06-15T00:33:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T22:33:48","slug":"i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention","title":{"rendered":"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>RELATED:<\/b> – By Staff Reporter<\/p>\n

JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy emotional letter from Chikurubi Maximum Prison said he is not deterred by his political persecution.<\/p>\n

The Zengeza West Member of Parliament has been in pretrial detention for a year and denied bail several times by the courts.<\/p>\n

Sikhala was arrested after violence flared up in Nyatsime following the brutal murder of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali by a suspected Zanu PF supporter.<\/p>\n

He is facing charges of inciting violence.<\/p>\n

In a letter seen by NewZimbabwe.com, Sikhala rallied behind the Citizens Coalition for Change ahead of the August 23 polls. This is despite claims that the main opposition party is not making efforts to get him released from jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me reassure you, I will stand with the people even if it costs my freedom. I will stand with the people even if it costs my professional and political career. I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood. No one should be mistaken to think otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dumb and punitive attempts by the authors of my misery to divide us through my persecution will not deliver their anticipated results. Chain me all you want. It won\u2019t work. It will not work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will neither tire nor slumber. I will never waive from speaking against injustice. I come from the people. I am one with the people. I will die with the people,\u201d part of the letter reads.<\/p>\n

Added Sikhala: \u201cDuring my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you all! Please pray for me and pray for a better Zimbabwe! Vote for Citizens Coalition for Change\u201d.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. RELATED: – By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy emotional letter from Chikurubi Maximum Prison said he is not deterred by his political persecution. The Zengeza West Member of Parliament has been in pretrial detention for a year and denied bail several times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":79037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,35,12,2715],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-79038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-policy","11":"category-to-homepage","12":"tag-africa-press","13":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","14":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nI will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"RELATED: - By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RELATED: - By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-14T20:41:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-14T22:33:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention\",\"name\":\"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-14T20:41:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-14T22:33:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"RELATED: - By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention - zimbabwe","description":"RELATED: - By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention","og_description":"RELATED: - By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2023-06-14T20:41:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-14T22:33:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention","name":"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg","datePublished":"2023-06-14T20:41:15+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-14T22:33:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"RELATED: - By Staff Reporter JAILED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Job Sikhala has in a lengthy ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/06\/sm_1686765779.395766.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/i-will-stand-with-the-people-even-if-it-costs-my-blood-ccc-mp-sikhala-pens-emotional-letter-as-he-clocks-year-in-pretrial-detention#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I will stand with the people even if it costs my blood\u00a0 \u2013 CCC MP Sikhala pens emotional letter as he clocks year in pretrial detention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}