Opinion / Columnist
Sex is used to shame Joyce Runaida: it shames all of us; women and men altogether: it has exposed the fabric of violence!
24 Aug 2016 at 13:50hrs | Views
Those sex utterances against Joyce curiously exposed all of us both men and women of this great country Zimbabwe. It exposed the atrocities committed in the freedom struggle seriously to the extent that some living persons could be answerable to crimes committed on women during the war. To use women as sex mules during the war is a crime against humanity, crime against womanity. George Rutanhire must apologize to all peoples of Zimbabwe for those insults of sexual nature. Rutanhire is a pathological misogynist; there is no room for such low values, low virtues in our global village.
Zimbabwe has perpetuated a culture that uses sex to shame women. Sex is sneaky and as a result, Amai Joyce has been judged as a whore, a person who is deviant and therefore immoral. Who made her deviant and immoral? Is it not the struggle, the very commanders who wanted sex, abducted teenage Amai Joyce and many other girls of her age from the village and made her a sex mule? The commanders slept on duty and were killed by the enemy; now the fault is the then teenage Amai Joyce. It can never be the fault of a men; whole commanders who lacked absolute discipline in the fighting for freedom of the country. How does a whole commander still envisage sex pleasures with a minor first, and second, in a war zone? George does not see any wrong doing, does not see any serous failures in executing the liberation in a whole commander.
George Rutanhire's utterances are dehumanizing Comrade Joyce Mujuru. He sees her as a slut, ka Hure, a slag, a woman who engages in sexual activities with multiple men. He wants to rubbish her so that she feels small: Chihure! Ask all those women who went to the freedom struggle, they will tell you that sexual intercourse with male freedom fighters was through coercion in most cases, no women and girls had choices to make. In most cases going to war was forced on girls, were abducted in most excruciation circumstances. Under normal circumstances most commanders are supposed to be ashamed of the way they treated their women folk during the war. This freedom war we all boast about, it's the women who paid the highest price!
Instead of being ashamed of himself, he instead use painful situations, those painful times, where women in the struggle had it rough, to dehumanize her further if he thought he had a bone to chew with her. George Rutanhire sees this as natural, a weapon he has, to put Joyce in her place: shame her! Why are those men who abused under aged girls not ashamed of paedophilic activities they crafted in the war? Did these, then girls, teenagers, not become goalkeepers, standbys to men's sexual demands in the struggle including George Rutanhire?
Is George Rutanhire the one to define if Amai Joyce Mujuru is a slut, a whore or slag? Who has ever defined his morals, if he is a slut a slag or a whore? Comrade Joyce Mujuru should never be singularly held responsible for the sexual activities that resulted in commanders and many others get killed in the war front because she had no physical way of stopping unwanted sexual escapades, war commanders' sexual needs, and immediate needs. Joyce was just viewed primarily for the purpose of giving those commanders sexual freedom, now George Rutanhire is telling us that those commanders should be held accountable for the loss of life for "sleeping on duty."
George Rutanhire utterances expose many aspects of the war for freedom. What we should all know is that there was no outright winning the war through the barrel of the gun. There was too much leadership infighting after the death of Chitepo, made the actual fighting the enemy white rule of Ian Smith ineffective. In retrospect Ian Douglas Smith was winning the war. Because a lot of time was spent in leadership squabbles, Mugabe took advantage of it and cashed on the leadership of Zanu at the backdoor. They did not have the slightest idea of the great mistake they fell into, making Mugabe their leader! It can never be said that the war was won through the barrel of the gun, the war just gave pressure for negotiations, and subsequent peaceful settlement; that is a fact.
True and real, well-trained freedom fighters, disciplined freedom fighters were sent to Mozambiquean prisons by Robert Mugabe and were fed like rats in those underground prisons. (Mugabe has threatened war veterans that he can use the same stick to punish them as he has done it before) Ask Dzino in his book and ask Rugare Gumbo, they will tell you more about who is who in the freedom war in Mozambique. Rugare Gumbo should tell us too that real freedom fighting from the Zanu PF side of the liberation became ineffective when REAL commanders were sent to those notorious Mozambiquean prisons: men and women were equally punished.
The breaking away of war veterans some months ago from Zanu Pf informed us many irregularities in the struggle for freedom. It told us that Mugabe was an outright opportunist, who got to the leadership of Zanu PF because he commanded a VERY GOOD ENGLISH LANGUAGE, (Queen's English that George Charamba is proudly emulating from Mugabe) coupled by demagogy and eloquent speeches he mastered well as a teacher. We must remember too that whoever spoke good Queen's English back then was already an intelligent person and was looked up upon. That cannot be leadership qualities to give to an unknown person in the struggle, such a big responsibility of leading a liberation movement.
Was late Comrade President Samora Mashell not right when he sent Mugabe to detention on Mugabe arrival in Mozambique in 1975? Gullibly Joyce and Solomon convinced Comrade Samora that Mugabe should be set free from Mozambiquean detention. What did the hand-that-fed get from the "kind gesture" of making Mugabe king of Zimbabwe, either than mysterious death to Solomon and purging out of power and party to Joyce?
We women of Zimbabwe should fight again this dehumanization of men using sex to reduce women, using sex to insult women, using sex to shame women. Women were victims of war. This sexual script must be broken. We must say it that the struggle for freedom justified men to sexually abuse women violently and now we are supposed to be cowed by those sex accusations and be put into "our place." We must say it too and very loud that some men are guilty of crimes against womanity, sexual crimes committed in the name of freeing the country.
We women must break this sexual script: accepting shame in any sexual encounter, instead we must challenge the belief that men sexual aggression towards women is normal: we must refuse to be characterised as Mahure (Whores) if a woman had more than one sexual encounter with a man. We must challenge those embedded beliefs that men have the entitlement of accessing sexual pleasures to any woman. We must challenge this belief that men alone can take the high moral ground and condemn women for the same sexual sex behaviour which men are praised.
The sexual violence against women and young girls, like the one experienced in the freedom struggle, mostly in Zanu camps, will continue to exist because men are socialised into believing that women are there for the purpose of sexually servicing men. The society must redefine women and men sexualities wherein mutuality and respect replace biological assertions of men dominance and woman submission. It would be interesting to know how many chimbwidos did George Rutanhire bed himself during the freedom war or did he keep his v*rginity until he married his wife he still has today.
We women of Zimbabwe should demand an apology from George Rutanhire. Those insults cannot go unchallenged. He cannot insult the nation the way he did and go unchallenged. A decent nation in our global village and communication world should be defined by the way it treats its women and children.
We shall put it on record that the liberation struggle was the worst form of reclaiming our independence from the colonialists because those freedom wars disadvanged the African women adversely. It is my belief that there should never be military conflicts of any kind because the vulnerable niche: women and children will be the ones who shall be the first victims.
I personally am grateful for the reaction of our several men in the social media who openly condemned George Rutanhire about his biased, macro-aggressive, uttermost rudeness in dealing with Comrade Amai Joyce Mujuru. This give me a lot of hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This stereotyping that George Rutanhire has the right to stand on the higher ground and condemn women, is long overdue and outdated. Charamba should tell him remove his name "George" from his birth certificate and just remain with Rutanhire, perhaps, who knows, he will be able to retract his insults.
Zimbabwe has perpetuated a culture that uses sex to shame women. Sex is sneaky and as a result, Amai Joyce has been judged as a whore, a person who is deviant and therefore immoral. Who made her deviant and immoral? Is it not the struggle, the very commanders who wanted sex, abducted teenage Amai Joyce and many other girls of her age from the village and made her a sex mule? The commanders slept on duty and were killed by the enemy; now the fault is the then teenage Amai Joyce. It can never be the fault of a men; whole commanders who lacked absolute discipline in the fighting for freedom of the country. How does a whole commander still envisage sex pleasures with a minor first, and second, in a war zone? George does not see any wrong doing, does not see any serous failures in executing the liberation in a whole commander.
George Rutanhire's utterances are dehumanizing Comrade Joyce Mujuru. He sees her as a slut, ka Hure, a slag, a woman who engages in sexual activities with multiple men. He wants to rubbish her so that she feels small: Chihure! Ask all those women who went to the freedom struggle, they will tell you that sexual intercourse with male freedom fighters was through coercion in most cases, no women and girls had choices to make. In most cases going to war was forced on girls, were abducted in most excruciation circumstances. Under normal circumstances most commanders are supposed to be ashamed of the way they treated their women folk during the war. This freedom war we all boast about, it's the women who paid the highest price!
Instead of being ashamed of himself, he instead use painful situations, those painful times, where women in the struggle had it rough, to dehumanize her further if he thought he had a bone to chew with her. George Rutanhire sees this as natural, a weapon he has, to put Joyce in her place: shame her! Why are those men who abused under aged girls not ashamed of paedophilic activities they crafted in the war? Did these, then girls, teenagers, not become goalkeepers, standbys to men's sexual demands in the struggle including George Rutanhire?
Is George Rutanhire the one to define if Amai Joyce Mujuru is a slut, a whore or slag? Who has ever defined his morals, if he is a slut a slag or a whore? Comrade Joyce Mujuru should never be singularly held responsible for the sexual activities that resulted in commanders and many others get killed in the war front because she had no physical way of stopping unwanted sexual escapades, war commanders' sexual needs, and immediate needs. Joyce was just viewed primarily for the purpose of giving those commanders sexual freedom, now George Rutanhire is telling us that those commanders should be held accountable for the loss of life for "sleeping on duty."
George Rutanhire utterances expose many aspects of the war for freedom. What we should all know is that there was no outright winning the war through the barrel of the gun. There was too much leadership infighting after the death of Chitepo, made the actual fighting the enemy white rule of Ian Smith ineffective. In retrospect Ian Douglas Smith was winning the war. Because a lot of time was spent in leadership squabbles, Mugabe took advantage of it and cashed on the leadership of Zanu at the backdoor. They did not have the slightest idea of the great mistake they fell into, making Mugabe their leader! It can never be said that the war was won through the barrel of the gun, the war just gave pressure for negotiations, and subsequent peaceful settlement; that is a fact.
True and real, well-trained freedom fighters, disciplined freedom fighters were sent to Mozambiquean prisons by Robert Mugabe and were fed like rats in those underground prisons. (Mugabe has threatened war veterans that he can use the same stick to punish them as he has done it before) Ask Dzino in his book and ask Rugare Gumbo, they will tell you more about who is who in the freedom war in Mozambique. Rugare Gumbo should tell us too that real freedom fighting from the Zanu PF side of the liberation became ineffective when REAL commanders were sent to those notorious Mozambiquean prisons: men and women were equally punished.
The breaking away of war veterans some months ago from Zanu Pf informed us many irregularities in the struggle for freedom. It told us that Mugabe was an outright opportunist, who got to the leadership of Zanu PF because he commanded a VERY GOOD ENGLISH LANGUAGE, (Queen's English that George Charamba is proudly emulating from Mugabe) coupled by demagogy and eloquent speeches he mastered well as a teacher. We must remember too that whoever spoke good Queen's English back then was already an intelligent person and was looked up upon. That cannot be leadership qualities to give to an unknown person in the struggle, such a big responsibility of leading a liberation movement.
We women of Zimbabwe should fight again this dehumanization of men using sex to reduce women, using sex to insult women, using sex to shame women. Women were victims of war. This sexual script must be broken. We must say it that the struggle for freedom justified men to sexually abuse women violently and now we are supposed to be cowed by those sex accusations and be put into "our place." We must say it too and very loud that some men are guilty of crimes against womanity, sexual crimes committed in the name of freeing the country.
We women must break this sexual script: accepting shame in any sexual encounter, instead we must challenge the belief that men sexual aggression towards women is normal: we must refuse to be characterised as Mahure (Whores) if a woman had more than one sexual encounter with a man. We must challenge those embedded beliefs that men have the entitlement of accessing sexual pleasures to any woman. We must challenge this belief that men alone can take the high moral ground and condemn women for the same sexual sex behaviour which men are praised.
The sexual violence against women and young girls, like the one experienced in the freedom struggle, mostly in Zanu camps, will continue to exist because men are socialised into believing that women are there for the purpose of sexually servicing men. The society must redefine women and men sexualities wherein mutuality and respect replace biological assertions of men dominance and woman submission. It would be interesting to know how many chimbwidos did George Rutanhire bed himself during the freedom war or did he keep his v*rginity until he married his wife he still has today.
We women of Zimbabwe should demand an apology from George Rutanhire. Those insults cannot go unchallenged. He cannot insult the nation the way he did and go unchallenged. A decent nation in our global village and communication world should be defined by the way it treats its women and children.
We shall put it on record that the liberation struggle was the worst form of reclaiming our independence from the colonialists because those freedom wars disadvanged the African women adversely. It is my belief that there should never be military conflicts of any kind because the vulnerable niche: women and children will be the ones who shall be the first victims.
I personally am grateful for the reaction of our several men in the social media who openly condemned George Rutanhire about his biased, macro-aggressive, uttermost rudeness in dealing with Comrade Amai Joyce Mujuru. This give me a lot of hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This stereotyping that George Rutanhire has the right to stand on the higher ground and condemn women, is long overdue and outdated. Charamba should tell him remove his name "George" from his birth certificate and just remain with Rutanhire, perhaps, who knows, he will be able to retract his insults.
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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