SAPS FINGERPRINT REPORT FINDS NO MATCH FOR SIKHALA, UNCLE IN PRETORIA EXPLOSIVES CASE
PRETORIA, South Africa – A South African Police Service fingerprint report found no match for Zimbabwean opposition leader Job Sikhala or his uncle, Alexander Thema, at the scene of an explosives possession case in Pretoria, according to a document dated July 16, 2026, that was publicly shared Saturday.
The report from the SAPS Local Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria compared the fingerprints and palm prints of both men with those lifted from the scene.
It marked the result “NEGATIVE,” stating that no person’s prints were identified fully or partially. The fingerprint docket remains pending. The document is signed by the centre’s commander and a fingerprint expert.
Sikhala, 54, and Thema, 78, were arrested Nov. 6, 2025, after police stopped their vehicle on Kgosi Mampuru Street in Pretori following a tip about a suspicious car.
Officers said they found 26 blasting cartridges and 15 fuse connectors inside. Both men were granted bail of 10,000 rand (about $550) each; the state did not oppose bail. They have denied the charges.
Sikhala, leader of the National Democratic Working Group and a longtime critic of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, has said the explosives were planted.
He has claimed the arrest resulted from collaboration between Zimbabwean state security services and rogue elements in the South African police. His lawyers have argued he was lured to a meeting in Pretoria and that the items were placed in the vehicle while someone briefly had the keys.
The case had been postponed multiple times, including for outstanding forensic evidence. Sikhala’s lawyer previously put the state on notice that incomplete investigations could lead to a call for the charges to be withdrawn.
Possession charges do not rest solely on fingerprints. Prosecutors have not publicly responded to the report’s findings. The National Prosecuting Authority has previously said investigations were ongoing.
Earlier reports in the case also referenced DNA results that did not link the men to the items, though those details were not part of the fingerprint document released Saturday.
Sikhala has remained in South Africa since the arrest more than a year ago. He has faced dozens of arrests in Zimbabwe over his political career without a lasting conviction.