By Nomazulu Thata|On the day domestic crime was meted brutally against our own, our fellow woman; the Honourable Tambudzani Mohadi, we waited to see if the arm of government, the police were dutifully going to take state action and arrest Vice President Mohadi for the satanic and criminal behaviour he committed against the right honourable Tambudzani Mohadi, his ex-wife.
We expected the law to take its course. We expected, it seems to us now, too much from a country that is not a nation, a nation has rules and a constitution and laws in place to protect its citizens. When it comes to domestic violence, the law ceases to exist in Zimbabwe. So to speak Vice President Kembo Mohadi is the law unto himself, he can do what he wants, could even harm: kill if he felt like it. Indeed Mohadi went to Honourable Tambudzani’s home: his former wife, armed with an axe and a shot gun, weapons of female destruction, he wanted to use to murder his wife and finish her once and for all. He used an axe to break the doors to get access into the home.
It is sad, sarcastic and bitter still to know that VP Mohadi had “police escort” and “presidential security details” when he forcefully entered into honourable Tambudzani Mohadi’s home demanding cars that did not belong to him. (Akaita madiro a Geogina: this means he did what he wanted to do without any form of police hindrance: even at that moment of rage whereby he had an upper hand, he was still protected by the police and security details) Honourable Tambudzani Mohadi was stripped of her dignity at the glare of the social media. She was subject to life and death by a whole Vice President of Zimbabwe, once upon a time her husband, the third highest civil servant in the land.
All those criminal acts happening at her home were filmed. Honourable Tambudzani was to be arbitrary deprived of her personal property: even a car that was given to her to execute her senatorial duties was taken away from her that day because the Vice President Mohadi is incensed in giving her maximum punishment.
Kembo Mohadi apparently approved of the filming of the brutal, barbaric events done at the catch of journalistic eyes wholly meant to be uploaded to the wider media to send a clear message to all women out there: this is what happens to a woman who does not conform to unequal gender laws and traditions of the land, laws that tell us we are disposables. Those community laws that privilege or ascribe higher status to men and lower status to women, wholly not written or documented, must be adhered to by all women in Zimbabwe.
A woman in Zimbabwe ranks third in our communities; they are rated worse than children: in our societies; men inherently hate children and minors because of their social dependency to fathers. They are loved again when they are grown up. How many of us women in Zimbabwe have been hacked to dead by axes and knives; the weapons of female destruction? In today’s Bulawayo 24 social media I read that a woman has been hacked to death by the same weapon of female destruction we all women in Zimbabwe fear. This rage had to be caught on social media and distributed out there as a warning to all of us rebel women who dare it.
It is not easy to comprehend the thought processes of a whole Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. The first pertinent question one has to ask is: are we ruled by criminals? How do citizens who commit crimes against womanity, misogynists per se, inflict such abominable in a home and go scot free. Has VP Kembo Mohadi ever read the constitution of Zimbabwe and what it says about the sanctity of life? Why the good government mum about atrocities is committed crimes daylight, even filmed by the approval of the third powerful man in the land: Mr. Kembo Mohadi?
Not long ago, Vice President Kembo was caught on camera with a minor on his lap. There was a public outrage following those pictures of a girl fondled by Kembo Mohadi at his office. No further investigation of child sexual abuse was done. We know, it is public knowledge that Mohadi is someone who is very ill. He has been going for treatment in foreign hospitals suffering of an undisclosed illness. We witness this outrageous behaviour of a top civil servant showing antisocial personal disorder towards his ex wife, Senator Tambudzani Mohadi. Vice President Kembo Mohadi is not only physiologically ill but mentally unstable as well evidenced by how he arms himself with an axe to forcefully enter his former wife’s home, demand keys for the cars in the yard using his powerful political position as vice president to do what he wants including all the police and his security details.
We women of Zimbabwe should applaud the stand reaction that Honourable Temba Mliswa he took towards Mohadi. He totally disapproved VP’s reaction towards his ex-wife and demanded his immediate resignation. But because Zimbabwe is just a land and not a nation that upholds noble values enshrined in the constitution, Mohadi was not reprimanded and he did not resign and President Mnangagwa did not react to these atrocities. According to Mnangagwa, this is a domestic affair that does not need any further consideration: just like many other crimes of domestic violence in Zimbabwe.
The UN-Entity, Equality and the Empowerment of Women stipulate that violence against women is not a private matter but a human rights responsibility. The UN- Human Rights stipulates that women in all countries irrespective of status, class, age, caste, or religion experience violence virtual in all spheres of life. Whether in the home or in schools, at work, in the streets in government institutions or in times of conflict or crisis, violence against women and girls is relevant and present. Violence against women is present throughout the life spine of a woman, affecting girls and older women equally and it affects women everywhere, says the UN body responsible.
The UN-Human Rights: Office of the High Commissioner: appeals to all global nations and states that governments have the obligation to act with due diligence to address and respond to all acts of violence against women. This statement is very important in this Mohadi context. If the Vice President Mr. Mohadi, the third president of Zimbabwe is the person who violets this international convention, who do we women of Zimbabwe turn to for assistance, help and protection. We women of Zimbabwe are at the mercy of the Mohadis of Zimbabwe who act as if he is the state himself in the state: when it comes to domestic violence they can act with impunity. The Mohadi situation is not isolated case; there are several incidences of this nature that have been legally covered up to protect the men in higher positions: Professor Welshman Ncube has a similar scandal. For Professor Ncube it is a story for another day; in short, his love-daughter is at the point of madness in South Africa.
According to the document of the UN, “International standards recognize violence against women as a form of discrimination and requires states to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish all acts of violence against women.” We have a whole vice president in power who is the perpetrator of domestic violence. The First President: Mr. Mnangagwa has done nothing so far to this issue although this case is as fresh as yesterday this happened between March and April this year. The president works with the vice president at the same building and it begs so many questions why this national issue is not addressed to the satisfaction of the Zimbabwean people. This inaction of the First President gives sad precedence that men can get away easily with violent and murderous situations.
This issue regarding our sister Tambudzani Mohadi is a serious violation of human rights, not because she in the limelight, she is a Senator in Zimbabwe Parliament: this case exposes our vulnerability as women; we live in a country (not a nation) that has no values to female lives. Curiously just under a month ago, the First Lady Mrs Auxilia Mnangagwa was in New York: UN conference on CEDAW. That conference is a powerful conference that informs us about all forms of violence and what we women should do to curb domestic violence. So far we have not had a word from the First Lady regarding this high profile, near death situation of our sister Mrs. Mohadi. We would have thought that her going to such international conferences is for the benefit of Zimbabwean women: practically implement strategies she learnt from the UN conference on Zimbabwean women. A test case is on her lap and she cannot act to protect Senator Mohadi!
There is need to seek practical assistance in international organisations: our government should get some reprimand from international bodies UNDP, UNODC, OHCHC and CEDAW. We are just tired of being scared of the powers of the regime that does not protect its citizens. The arm of the Zimbabwe police is selective. But because we are tired of being scared we have to seek practical assistance, we shall appeal to international bodies and governments for assistance. Sending this letter to all international bodies and highlight to them what we are going through in Zimbabwe is the entry point. The international governments will be informed about the primitivism of our government.
For not standing up to defend our sister Honourable Tambudzani Mohadi we make ourselves guilty just by our silence.
Nomazulu Thata
