Zengeza West Member of Parliament (MP) Job Sikhala's wife, Ellen, broke down while narrating the hardships the family is enduring since her husband's arrest in June last year.

Ellen, who was speaking at the launch of two publications that zero in on Sikhala, revealed that her husband's lengthy pretrial detention is taking a toll on his family.

Sikhala was arrested on June 14 last year on charges of allegedly inciting public violence and disturbing police investigations following the murder of CCC activist, Moreblessing Ali.

He has been in pre-trial detention for over 10 months.

"It has been a horrible experience since the 14th of June 2022. Honourable Sikhala, my husband is an innocent, peace loving father who takes care of a very large extended family," Ellen said.

"Since his arrest it has not been easy for me to take care of the family as the breadwinner has been taken away from us.

"But we thank the Lord that by His grace we are managing to put food on the table and to meet some of the needs of the children as you know our oldest son is 22 now and has got many siblings who are still young, they have needs every day of which I have to take care of everyday sorely," she added.

Ellen Sikhala

She added: "I really want to thank the long hand of my husband because when he is around he helps a lot of people, it is that long hand that is also putting food on our table.

"It is his loving attitude that has also helped us to go through this horrible moment. It is stressful especially during the court days."

Ellen bemoaned the state of the judiciary system that has been constantly postponing Sikhala's matters before the courts.

"You would see that our judiciary is a shame, it is a shame to the nation, it is a shame to the whole world.

"It is not doing what it is supposed to do. It's a shame and it is confusing always spending the whole day roaming around the courts with nothing materialising. There will just be dilly darling around. They will just at the end postpone the matters each and every time," she said.

"We just hope that the Lord will keep him safe for us in the horrible cells that he is living in. It is a place that he is not supposed to be but our hands are tight.

"We just feel and hope that the Lord will take us through because the experience is just bad for even for the kids. They are becoming impatient now. Sometimes it's hard to explain things to them. But we want to thank the listening ear of our Lord that is keeping them also strong," she said breaking down into tears.