‘Ziyakhala’ says Ngizwe Mchunu as he’s acquitted in July unrest case

Mchunu was handcuffed over his ‘Ayikhale’ statement, which was said to be a threat of violence if his call for the immediate release of former President Jacob Zuma went ignored.

The court said it gave Mchunu the benefit of the doubt after it found that the word 'Ayikhale', which means 'let them cry' when loosely translated from isiZulu, could have many different connotations and that the state witness was not an expert in isiZulu. 

Zuma was in court to support Mchunu. 

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He was flanked by his former ANC comrade Carl Niehaus, who faced similar charges related to his alleged breaking of lockdown regulations when he demonstrated outside the Estcourt Correctional Centre where Zuma was being held.

Mchunu, who has maintained that the state did not have a case against him, likened himself to the former president who he says was arrested unlawfully.

“He is the father of the nation; he is a president of the people. Imagine anywhere in the world where a president can attend the case of a nothing like me. This proves that I fought for justice, and I was arrested unlawfully like him," he told reporters outside court. 

More than 300 people lost their lives during the violent destruction of property and looting that gripped parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Repeating the controversial statement 'ziyakhala manje', Mchunu said his acquittal was proof of a political ploy to gag him and other dissenting voices. 

"I am feeling jubilant and over the moon because knowing the rule of law and freedom of expression, there's no way that you can't be arrested for crying that your father is arrested unlawfully.

"You can't create a fearful nation, then we can't express our rights and have our freedom of speech then we are being led by dictators."

Mchunu claims the case, which began in 2022, has cost him more than R1.5 million.