Book Review - A 'Job' that you don't really know

This coming Friday, 27 June 2025, at 17:30hrs Central Africa Time, SAPES Trust, located on number 4 Deary Avenue, (just after Parirenyatwa Main Gate on Mazowe Street) Belgravia, Harare witnesses launch of a literary blockbuster book "Footprints in the Chains --The- -life- -story- -of- Job- -Sikhala-". In this luscious and pulsating autobiography, extrovert preacher-turned-novelist Munyaradzi Angero Savanhu hauls the reader through a dramatic 550-page journey on the 'real life and times' of eccentric politician Job 'Wiwa' Sikhala. 

This is not a frolic to a superficial destination, but a near academic 'cradle-to-grave' dissection of Job Sikhala, a man you thought you knew. 

Until you savour the metaphorical juice of "Footprints in the Chains…", you might remain stuck in a rut of subjective judgement on what true politicians are not.

Angero is a story-teller par excellence who, in just over 40 chapters, delves deep into Sikhala's rural ancestry with astounding ease; flashes past his teenage life onto his secondary school days before unravelling what you thought you knew of Job's college student activism. 

Nothing seems to be held back. Sikhala was born an animal of contradictions, yet marginally entertained the idea of an ecclesiastical call yet inadvertently discarded in preference of bruising political gladiation. 

Savanhu unpacks Job's intimate connection with student activism that parachutes him, rather conveniently, into the thorny battlefield of physical and ideological conflict between the ruling party and Zimbabwe's fledgling opposition politics. 

Now this is what we all think we knew, until you get into depth of how authoritarian regimes deal with dissent.

In "Footprints in the Chains…", you will encounter pain, agony, love, jealousy, cruelty and unfulfilled ambition –  compacted into one man on a mission to save a country bleeding from state inspired self-immolation. 

Set aside what you already know about Job being arrested three hundred plus times; or even detained six hundred days without trial. Prison cell was nothing as gruesome as narrated in the chapter 'Inside Robert Mugabe's Torture Chambers'. 

Here, I momentarily pulled off my editorial baclava to marvel at the extent to which authoritarian dictators can go to preserve their political loot. I mean how is it that another human being can inflict so much pain and suffering on a fellow being and still remain normal? 

Moreover, the fundamental question this and other chapters evoke is how is it even possible that Job Sikhala is still alive today while his tormentors are free?

Savanhu is no novice at narrating stories of political resistance, but in "Footprints in the Chains…" he outdoes himself. 

He rips open Sikhala's emotional anatomy to show us how resilience can co-habit with ambition, naivety, fear and bravado. 

This book is not an exercise in self-pity; nor about stroking the ego of a man who claims to have ridden the coattails of Morgan Tsvangirai. 

In fact, it leaves you totally convinced why opposition political activism remains in the doldrums … only because there is not enough Job Sikhalas around, brave enough to castrate the dragon. 

Savanhu adopts a vicious literary algorithm that keeps you on the tenterhooks of anxiety, despair and anger. 

Yes, anger why Zimbabweans keep tolerating national abuse whilst failing to push back the conundrum of political docility.

Me. I thrive on sarcasm. And so, when Savanhu requested that I edit "Footprints in the Chains..." my natural instinct was "Can I trust what Job Sikhala says about himself?" 

Luckily, because of my personal encounters with Zimbabwe's turbulent political shenanigans, Savanhu's narration of Sikhala's life simply confirmed what I had feared most. 

I now appreciate why the nation shed tears for Moreblessing Ali, but seen via the prism of Sikhala, it evokes nothing but a compelling desire for vengeance against the perpetrators. 

I wanted to cry loudly with intense grief when Savanhu concluded the book with what he termed 'Role of Honour'. 

This is a comprehensive list of three hundred and twenty-two victims of state-sponsored political violence. 

Savanhu mourns: "We all did something for democracy, but others gave all. They are our heroes and heroines. We remember them. We salute them." 

Here is an opportunity to sharpen your insights into Zimbabwe's vicious, unforgiving and temperamental geo-politics. My bet is that after reading "Footprints in the Chains --The- -life- -story- -of- Job- -Sikhala-", you will emerge more transformed and ready to confront a system that thrives on hegemony, anarchy, corruption and coercion.

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Rejoice Ngwenya is a writer, consultant and blogger.