Sikhala in the dock over illegal alien

HERALD DEFENCE lawyers for MDC-99 leader Job Sikhala have asked a court to acquit him on charges of assisting an illegal alien to enter the country at the close of the prosecution case. Sikhala denies charges of assisting South African national, Sharon Theresa Bester, to enter Zimbabwe in July last year through the porous Beitbridge border post. Bester, who had no passport, was arrested in Harare in the company of the MDC-99’s secretary for information and publicity, Aaron Muzungu, who was trying to sell diamonds to an undercover cop. Bester turned state witness as she told how she met Sikhala at the home of one Okkie Volschenck in Johannesburg while the former St Mary’s MP was fundraising for his political activities. Innocent Chingarande, prosecuting, said Sikhala had offered Bester a job as his personal assistant. Sikhala, Bester, Muzungu and Volscheck then drove to the Beitbridge border four days later. She told the court that Sikhala had facilitated her illegal entry But defence lawyer Augustine Runesu Chikazani said the state had an obligation to prove if Sikhala had ever assisted Bester in skipping the border. He challenged the credibility of the evidence given by Bester, who has since been convicted and fined. The defence also contested the fact that the charge sheets bore no specific dates of the alleged crime. "It is ridiculous that a man is being put to his defence over a crime that has no date,” the lawyer said. He added that the arresting officers could have verified the exact date from Sikhala's passport. Chikazani said Bester’s testimony that she had lived at Sikhala’s home was suspect after she failed to name any of his children. “Having stayed with them for months, she surely would remember one child's name,” the lawyer said. But prosecutor Chingarande said they had proved their case against Sikhala and that Bester had been a credible witness. "She vividly narrated the trip from Johannesburg with Sikhala, his party's secretary for information Aaron Muzungu who has also since been convicted and fined and another South African Okkie Volschenck. Her evidence was unquestionable,” the prosecutor said. Sikhala's trial has been marked by drama after the MDC-99 leader initially elected to represent himself, before engaging Chikazani. He stunned the court when he requested that magistrate Anita Tshuma recuse herself from the case, accusing her of bias. The magistrate reprimanded him for “playing to the gallery”. The magistrate will rule on the defence application this week.