Grace Kwinjeh | We were reminded of Gillian Zvomuya today as the trial of her murder case commenced at the Birmingham Crown Court.

It is disheartening that several weeks ago at a time we had all been thrown into mourning  a beloved sister, Gillian Zvomuya, whose life was suddenly cut short, in a most brutal violent murder, that the Matewu family should trivialise her memory and suffering; not to mention the fate of the little ones she has left behind.

The two men, father and son attacked Oluhle Sibanda in a most vicious manner that cannot go unchallenged.

A time when we Diasporan Zimbabweans are reminded of the collapsed social fabric that in the past knit us together, insulating us against some of the evil, we are now exposed to in the form of violent murders. We lost young Leigh-Ann Mahachi only a few months ago in the hands of a lover, we were thrown into mourning, starting conversations on how we in the Diaspora can put in place mechanisms to STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.

I argue here, that unless we deal with the most subtle forms of violence in our Zimbabwean community, we are all going to be exterminated. Unless we draw the line, when a sister is harassed or victimised, whether we know her or not but out of duty that the menace of violence should end, then we are going to be counting more dead bodies of femicide – the killing of women because they are women.

Men like Jaison and son Caston Matewu are even more dangerous, as these are men in power and authority, opinion leaders, in a party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that could be in government today, presiding over the fate of millions of people, half would I hasten to say differ with them in one way or another.

Their behavior is a far cry from what their relative, and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai stands for and has sacrificed limb and bone for over the years, a democratic society that treats women even those one disagrees with, in a manner that is dignified. A society in which tolerance becomes a hallmark of democracy.

One shivers at the thought that in all sincerity had the MDC been in power today, with the behavior of the Matewu’s the likes of Sibanda would be rotting in jail.

Sibanda in a sacrificial bid responding to the family’s request so they can air their contribution via the ZimEye platform, found herself a victim of violence at the hands of the Matewu’s – father Jaison and son Caston.

Sibanda becomes a soft target in the worst expression of violent misogyny carried out by men who have no shame, parading her pictures all over social media, when they could have through the right channels aired their concern with ZimEye. The pea-brain thinking of violent men is once again unmasked, men who find solace in victimising a harmless female journalist, resorting to cyber bullying, while hurting the very memory of a dear departed relative, who died in another violent situation. They claim for instance that Sibanda was an under cover journalist, again a lie as she was openly the night before on ZimEye LIVE beaming before thousands of grief stricken Zimbabweans, it was Matewu himself who then stood to harass Sibanda.

I write as a victim of cyber bullying myself and so I know what I am talking about.

At the invitation of family members during a LIVE broadcast on ZimEye to cover the event, Sibanda was sent to Birmingham the following day at the deceased’s family’s request. For the record, Sibanda did not take pictures, or record any conversation, upon arrival at the funeral. Furthermore, she then left the house where the funeral was being held to go outside and update the ZimEye community in a LIVE discussion on gender violence, which was co-hosted by Tete Rasta. The LIVE report for the record was an open discussion on the causes and effects of violence against women, how do we in society recognise the profile of a woman victim of violence?

It would soon emerge that at the instigation of Matewu the father, Sibanda was followed outside and manhandled Live on camera, during Tete Rasta’s discussion, and told to leave the vicinity of the funeral. This is after and it should be known the relative who invited ZimEye had spoken to our studio, giving an update of unfolding events, which we agreed because of the sensitive and gravity of the matter would be off record, especially that the police were still handling the finer details of the matter. Sibanda was well aware of all this.

In a shocking manner, her pictures in the home, are subsequently violently thrown all over social media net-works including the Facebook pages of the Matewu’s. She soon becomes at the instigation of the Matewu’s a subject of social media ridiculing – cyber bullying at its worst.

The Diaspora community, mourns Zvomuya, a sister, friend, mother and a sad representation of what violence if unchecked can lead to. Violence against women takes many forms, the obvious such as Gillian who was found with knife wounds on her body and the subtle that is the form of violence,that can easily go unnoticed with the danger of escalating to the more obvious physical forms. Those who have experienced violence would be aware of this.

Gillian and Oluhle’s experiences over the past days, albeit may differ in nature and gravity, but do border on this terrible issue that has left many women here in the Diaspora broken and traumatised. We are all shaken at what happened to Gillian, we are looking for support systems and ways to end violence against women and protect ourselves.

We have a duty to draw a line and build a peaceful, tolerant Diaspora community.