Opinion / Columnist
Sickening abuse of Chigumba a sad indictment of MDC culture
17 Jul 2018 at 14:08hrs | Views
With all the hate and incitement in the air, it was inevitable it would get to this.
With all the aggressive language, menacing threats and toxic masculinity emerging from the MDC leadership, it was always going to end up here.
With all the misogyny and sexism that has becoming the calling card of Nelson Chamisa and his hardcore supporters, this was always going to happen.
For some, the sickening, sexualised and sexist abuse of ZEC Chair Priscilla Chigumba from Chamisa loyalists in recent days may come as a surprise, but for those of us who have observed the deterioration in the party's political culture since the death of Morgan Tsvangirai, it has come as no surprise.
For when the leader of a jokes about betting his 19 year old sister and turns a blind eye to hatred, misogyny and violence, his supporters will follow his lead.
And follow they have.
In recent days social media has been awash with disgusting and unsubstantiated rumours about the judge's private life, with sickening and unfounded allegations about her sexual conduct.
When asked to denounce this disgraceful behaviour, Chamisa was far from convincing. Instead of unequivocally distancing himself from this chauvinism, he instead claimed that the rumours are Chigumba's fault. In fact, with the rumours emerging around a day after Chamisa's much heralded 24 hour deadline for ZEC, one cannot help but wonder if this was the threat all along, and if in fact Chamisa is the origin of these rumours.
The sickening thing is that for Chamisa and his supporters, a woman can only be defined in relation to men. Would anyone label these allegations at a male judge?
The claim that Chigumba can only be acting as she is because she is in a sexual relationship with a man is highly offensive. It removes all agency from women, and reduces them to pawns in a male game. But when you call any woman you disagree with a "hure", what can you expect.
Of course, this isn't a new phenomenon in Chamisa's MDC. For the past six months Thokozani Khupe has been subject to vile sexist abuse as well as physical violence, which of course, went unchecked by the leadership.
What is it with these MDC men? Is their masculinity so threatened by a woman in a position of power that they resort to abuse? Are they unable to disagree with women without offending 51% of the population?
Some people like Justice Chigumba, some don't. Some think she is fair, some don't. But surely those that disagree with her can find other ways to express it other than rampant sexism.
For Chamisa and the other MDC leaders, this appears to be impossible. And so one cannot but think that their issue is not with Chigumba, just like it wasn't with Khupe. It is with all women in a position of power.
And so it is clear to me that the problem is not Chigumba, but Chamisa himself.
With all the aggressive language, menacing threats and toxic masculinity emerging from the MDC leadership, it was always going to end up here.
With all the misogyny and sexism that has becoming the calling card of Nelson Chamisa and his hardcore supporters, this was always going to happen.
For some, the sickening, sexualised and sexist abuse of ZEC Chair Priscilla Chigumba from Chamisa loyalists in recent days may come as a surprise, but for those of us who have observed the deterioration in the party's political culture since the death of Morgan Tsvangirai, it has come as no surprise.
For when the leader of a jokes about betting his 19 year old sister and turns a blind eye to hatred, misogyny and violence, his supporters will follow his lead.
And follow they have.
In recent days social media has been awash with disgusting and unsubstantiated rumours about the judge's private life, with sickening and unfounded allegations about her sexual conduct.
When asked to denounce this disgraceful behaviour, Chamisa was far from convincing. Instead of unequivocally distancing himself from this chauvinism, he instead claimed that the rumours are Chigumba's fault. In fact, with the rumours emerging around a day after Chamisa's much heralded 24 hour deadline for ZEC, one cannot help but wonder if this was the threat all along, and if in fact Chamisa is the origin of these rumours.
The sickening thing is that for Chamisa and his supporters, a woman can only be defined in relation to men. Would anyone label these allegations at a male judge?
The claim that Chigumba can only be acting as she is because she is in a sexual relationship with a man is highly offensive. It removes all agency from women, and reduces them to pawns in a male game. But when you call any woman you disagree with a "hure", what can you expect.
Of course, this isn't a new phenomenon in Chamisa's MDC. For the past six months Thokozani Khupe has been subject to vile sexist abuse as well as physical violence, which of course, went unchecked by the leadership.
What is it with these MDC men? Is their masculinity so threatened by a woman in a position of power that they resort to abuse? Are they unable to disagree with women without offending 51% of the population?
Some people like Justice Chigumba, some don't. Some think she is fair, some don't. But surely those that disagree with her can find other ways to express it other than rampant sexism.
For Chamisa and the other MDC leaders, this appears to be impossible. And so one cannot but think that their issue is not with Chigumba, just like it wasn't with Khupe. It is with all women in a position of power.
And so it is clear to me that the problem is not Chigumba, but Chamisa himself.
Source - Mike Tawanda
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