Jocelyn, Joice and Grace a disgrace to Zimbabwe

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18 January 2009

By Doreen Mutemeri

News from Hong Kong that the First Lady or First Shopper (as some already call her) Grace Mugabe assaulted a British Photographer came as no surprise given the culture of violence within Zanu PF and the growing list of female bullies emerging from the system like Jocelyn Chiwenga, Joice Mujuru and others.

According to photographer Richard Jones he was about 6 metres away from Grace when she instructed her bodyguard to assault him. The bodyguard is said to have grabbed Mr Jones, wrestled with him, attempted to take his camera then held him while Mrs Mugabe struck him in the face repeatedly.

Lest we also forget Robert Mugabe's own antics in Egypt at the African Union summit when he tried to beat up UK Channel 4 journalists asking him difficult questions about his rigging of the elections in Zimbabwe. George Charamba his spokesman actually served as cheerleader during the outburst.

Those with a decent memory will also remember the violent antics of Jocelyn Chiwenga, the deranged wife of army commander General Constantine Chiwenga. Knowing very well she had the full might of state security behind her Jocelyn threw obscenities at MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai at Makro Wholesalers in Harare in 2007.

Mrs Chiwenga then assaulted freelance photojournalist Tsvangirai Mukwazhi who was accompanying Tsvangirai on the tour of empty supermarkets in the capital. When journalists asked her about the incident she bluntly retorted, 'you can write what you want. Yes I slapped him, so what. He is being used to take and create negative images of Zimbabwe. Go ahead and write what you want and leave me alone,' she said.

Adding to her impressive CV, in April 2002 is the incident where she showed up at a farm outside Harare with an armed gang of thugs and ordered the farm’s white owner to turn over his property to her or be killed. The incident is detailed in affidavits filed at the High Court and show her total disregard for the rule of law.

A year later, Chiwenga accosted former Daily News lawyer Gugulethu Moyo and beat her so severely that she had to seek medical attention. 'Your paper wants to encourage anarchy in this country,' she shouted as she punched and slapped the 28-year-old lawyer on a Harare street.

Add to this dissappointing line up of prominent female Zimbabweans is Joice Mujuru who upon becoming the first female Vice President of the country raised the hopes of many feminists that their issues would be dealt with at a very high level. They were to be bitterly disappointed.

Her first act as Vice President was to pour cold water on the Dignity Period Campaign started by trade unionist Tabitha Khumalo to source donations of sanitary pads to poor Zimbabwean women. Donated pads were stuck at the border as the regime refused to allow them in while Mujuru herself claimed the country grew enough cotton and the companies in the field could make enough for local production.

This was despite the main argument being that the women were too poor to afford such expensive items and many were already using newspapers and tree leaves to try and keep themselves clean. Mujuru never once stuck up for her fellow women choosing instead to focus on cosing up to Mugabe and maintaining her VP job.

The example of these three prominent Zimbabwean women remains a stark reminder of how the Zanu PF system relies on violence and oppression to keep itself alive. Can you imagine the late First Lady Sally Mugabe beating up a journalist? Its a testament to how our standards have fallen that we have these sort of embarrasing incidents taking place.

You would love the general stereotype of women as gentle, kind and loving to hold true of women even in Zimbabwe but Jocelyn Chiwenga, Joice Mujuru and Grace Mugabe have excelled in showing they are as evil as the Zanu PF monster they serve. To all three I say you are a disgrace to Zimbabwe.

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