Linda Masarira's utterances are Zimbabwean: women are merciless judges and advocates at the same time

It is not uncommon in our Zimbabwean societies to see evil deeds mostly on women. Men are in most cases exonerated by the very women who are victims of patriarchal settings. Reading about Linda condemning Merry about her painful situation is not new. Any woman in Zimbabwe can concur that whatever a woman may have done in her life: condemnation strongly came from women who exacerbated situations to dizzy heights. Women glorify seeing other women in pain or disgraced, shamed, and humiliated. The wish for a public punishment is demanded by women more than men. Patriarchy in our settings is in most cases perpetuated and perpetrated by women more than men.

There is total absence of female solidarity by women in Zimbabwe. The philosophy of Ubuntu is redundant: how is it possible to talk about tit for tat in the 21st century. If indeed Merry denied her first husband to see his children, should we women then pedestalize ourselves and start hauling insults on the injured, remind her of her own deeds of the past? This thinking is what makes this world go blind. Zimbabwean women are a case study to write a doctorate about them. We hate ourselves so much that we project our hate on Merry a woman who is in pain unimagined by common sense.

Shame and pain are tools used by our societies to punish who is the target of degradation: PHDs. Shame and pain is a gendered punishment for obvious reasons. In all this, there is an element of sex too that is used to shame women.

I would imagine that Linda Masarira's degrading comments about Merry's Mubayiwa is to openly please General Chiwenga, to reach out to him and exemplify that there is a woman out there, who condemns Merry's actions. I wish Linda should have said nothing if there was nothing good to come from her especially by pulling her fellow woman down to please a patriarchal Zimbabwe. Today Zimbabwean men are seeing Linda differently. Is that how we jostle for recognition in misogynistic societies? Is there a price tag to dress down another woman in the way Linda has hurt Merry?  

My question is: do we know the truth about what Merry is accused of? We can speculate we shall never know the truth of the story. Rumours flying around, may be unsubstantiated, say Merry worked in cahoots with President Mnangagwa to eliminate General Chiwenga. The former General Sibusisiwe Moyo; the former foreign minister is dead. How did he die? Is the Covid 19 the excuse? Why is Merry Mubayiwa the only person facing the music and not the person who gave her instructions to do whatever she did at the sickbed of Chiwenga in South Africa?

Citizens forget that we are dealing with a monster Zanu that can even devour itself. I would never even in my maddest senses condemn Merry; for what? What is it that I know to put her in the court of public justice and scrutiny to shame her for her previous past? I am deeply concerned about the insensitivity of women especially when it comes to shaming the other. We have not learnt anything about women solidarity. We have not learnt that patriarchy is the problem that demands that all women should come together and fight painful issues that affect us all in a men-dominated society. Merry and her actions of the past and present are not the cause for us to crudely and unthoughtfully effect pain on her. I can relate to the pain Merry is going through easily. I have gone through that blackmail; the most excruciating pain of being denied of your child for whatever reason.

I can also relate to Merry how it is like to be unloved by your society. Likely enough for her is that her family is with her. In difficulties like her, people will discard you and say all manner of evil against you. For someone who has been discarded by the society, I know how she feels, I can relate to her pain. I can truly tell Merry wherever she is, that in time of my prayers with the universe, I offer her pain to the mighty universe so that she can bare it. This is what is expected of us women: empathy to other women in distress and nothing else, if possible, to remain silent and not to be the judge and the advocate at the same time.

Linda Masarira should know better what public shaming means: how painful it can be. I know how public shaming is like, I was shamed because I got an illegitimate child, shamed for failing to get married: was shamed by friends and relatives alike. Those who laughed at me yesterday, today they wish that it did not happen. Instead, they want me to reconcile with them. Life is a zig zag kind of actions; we all belong to the universe and its infinite power, gifts of life and daily blessings, let us think about the virtue of breathing given to us for no price.
Snares, gossiping's, back-stabbing other women especially those woman in distress is evil if it is done by women. It is sad that Zimbabwean women are known for pulling down other women publicly. If at all I was part of it, I stopped because I realized the ugliness of it. It had come to the point where men asked me to attack other women: I did, they laughed! It was a lesson learnt and never to repeat it. I am talking from my experience.

Merry is not forgotten by women in Zimbabwe: Their means are very limited. We have a dictatorship, and it is real. We know how doctors who treat Merry have been threatened by the power that be: the General Constantine Guvheya Chiwenga. Women's organisations have done what is in their power: the territory is dangerous to do more than what they are expected to do. Those of us in the Diaspora can only write about her situation, however, it is not effective at all. I am deeply sure that Merry appreciates what women have done so far and that they have limitations too, to assist her effectively.

Let us redefine our national and global solidarity to other women and show empathy in any situation a woman or girl-children find themselves in. Let us remove judgement from our lenses and see the larger picture: we find that patriarchy, our common enemy, is exactly that we must fight again that is the definition of empathy. Our philosophy is premised on Ubuntu: Ubuntu means, in simple terms: to empathize with the othering, understanding her pain and not asking too much why she is in pain; Some questions are not ours to ask. To sit down and tell us how notorious Merry was to her former hubby was before she married Chiwenga, is to pedestalize ourselves to be judges and advocates at the same breath. Who are we?