General Kanene Says He Is Looking Up To God For Redemption

SINGER Clifford Dimba, alias General Kanene, says he is looking up to God for redemption as he battles against his conviction and subsequent 18-year jail sentence handed down on him for defilement.
Dimba, 27, was in February this year convicted by the magistrate's court for defilement and last month the Lusaka High Court sentenced him to 18 years imprisonment with hard labour but he has appealed to the Supreme Court against both conviction and sentence.
His lawyer Nicholas Chanda has argued that it was wrong for the court to convict his client in an event that there was a lacuna of evidence in terms of lack of the girl's birth record.

Dimba has told the Sunday Mail in an interview at Lusaka Central Prison that he is coping with prison life.

"When you go to a new place you have to suit the environment. Challenges are different when you are in prison and when you are outside but there is nothing we can do because we have found ourselves here. It is only God who knows and so we just have to pray.

"I am missing my family but it is just a matter of time. When time for something comes it means it has come and the next thing is God. So we just have to trust God because he himself knows why he removes you from society and brings you here; and the time he will release you from here and take you back to society. It means there is something he wants you to have," Dimba said.

Donning a red vest and red shorts, the singer, renowned for his controversial social commentary in his lyrics, said he has learnt many lessons in prison since he was incarcerated last February.

"I have learnt how to live with people and believing in God because here in prison more time is spent on praying. People out there should know that I am here and I am still alive. Here in prison it is like we have come to church. We are on the tour of the church and we are serving God here," he said.

Dimba said he does not believe that all offenders should be in prison, adding that those behind bars are the 'chosen' ones.
"Those who are outside are going through bad things like alcohol abuse and smoking but here there is nothing like that. So we are like somebody who has been taken on a tour to learn and spread the gospel. So even if I spend five, 10 or 18 years here, it means I am on a tour of serving God," he said.

Sentencing Dimba, Judge Chalwe Mchenga said from the evidence adduced, it was clear that he had planned to have sex with the girl because he told her not to meet him in uniform, adding that he would punish the convict to deter all would-be offenders because defilement cases are on the increase in the country.