“Outspoken Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans' Association chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa
is back in the spotlight claiming that Joice Mujuru failed to protect female
combatants abused by senior male officers during the war,” read the report.
I salute
Comrade Chris Mutsvangwa for flagging this issue. For all the man-years of
speeches and thousands of square kilometres of written articles, reports and
stories by leaders like President Mugabe on the heroics of the our liberation
war heroes and heroines, “Magamba urusunguniko”, one who be hard pressed to
find anything about the sexual abuse our female folk, some as young as 9 years
old, suffered at the hands of Magamba!
I am
disappointed by Mutsvangwa’s selective memory; it was not only the combatant women
and girls who were sexually abused during the liberation war. Anyone who has
bothered to find out about the goings on during the liberation war would know
that it was normal for young women and girls, vana Chimbwido, to be stay at the
base with Magamba for weeks on end. I hope that Comrade Mutsvangwa does not
think Chimbwidos spent all these weeks messaging Magamba’s tired feet only!
The problem
with war vets like Chris Mutsvangwa is that they believe all those who carried
the gun, Magamba, are a cut above everyone else. The women combatants who were
sexual abused suffered but the Chimbwidos who too were sexually abused did not
suffer, they enjoyed it and Magamba were doing them a great favour!
The sexual
abuse of our women folk, regardless of whether they were Magamba carrying guns
or Chimbwido feeding the fighting comrades, is the dark side of our liberation
war must discussed openly and not swept under the carpet. The abuse was a
historic fact worthy of being covered as the more glorious stories of Mai
Mujuru shooting down the enemy helicopter!
"As
a party, we do not want to be dragged into a personal fight between Mujuru and
Mutsvangwa, so we will not comment," said Rugare Gumbo, the spokesperson
of Mujuru’s ZimPF party.
The
comment must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves; the sexual
abuse of our women during the war is not a personal issue but a national one
worthy of our serious scrutiny.
It is not
just Mai Mujuru who let our women folk down, the rest of the Zanu PF high
command did! The duty of care for the rights and dignity of our women was not Joice
Mujuru’s responsibility alone. Mutsvangwa should be demanding answers from VP
Mnangagwa and President Mugabe alike, if he is being sincere.
Indeed the spotlight
must shine on the dark, the sexual abuse, even more than on positive not just
for historic record but more significantly so that we learn from the mistakes.
If Magamba committed serious crimes then endless speeches portraying them as
nothing short of infallible gods is completely false!
Magamba are fallible mortals like everyone else and the sooner people like Chris Mutsvangwa and President Mugabe get off their high horses riding roughshod over the
nation’s freedoms, human rights and human dignity under the false pretence that
they are the infallible Magamba the sooner the nation can address the big issues of corruption, vote rigging, etc. affecting the nation.
PRESIDENT Mugabe has called on Western countries to drop the course of destructive engagement of punitive economic sanctions in favour of friendship and co-operation to help the world move towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
ReplyDeletePresident Mugabe rigs elections, loots $15 billion from his impoverished people, has murdered over 30 000 for selfish political gain, etc. he has hardly a leg to stand on and preach to anyone on how they should govern their country. What chutzpah!
Mugabe is just an attention seeking megalomania and the world is sick and tired of listening to his hypocrisy!
Mutsvangwa is just one of those liberation war hero who are a mercenary through and through. He did not fight for freedom, liberty and justice; he fought for a reward - the right to replace the whites as the next ruler. He will never accept that the ordinary people are humans to be put on par with himself. If povo are human beings then he and his fellow freedom fighters are gods!
ReplyDeleteThe people of Zimbabwe will never be truly free until they learn to stand up to selfish up starts like Mutsvangwa, Chiwenga, Mnangagwa, Mujuru right up to the tyrant Mugabe himself!
You have to meet Mutsvangwa to know just what a pompous individual he is. You will be forgiven to think that he is the one who fought in the liberation war and won it single handed! Being sexually abused is not something anyone is proud of and therefore very few Chimbwidos have ever told their stories but that does not mean there was no abuse. Of course Mutsvangwa knows that many Chimbwidos were sexually abused but he will never talk about them because all he cares about is the war vets and his own position as their leader.
ReplyDeleteThe combatant women who were sexual abused should not fooled into believed Mutsvangwa cares about them; he is highlighting their suffering to buy cheap popularity in the face of his reduced political influence!