adminAmong those who protested the illegal sanctions was Sheilah Mutsenhu (SM), a mother of two who stripped to her undergarments during Ambassador Wharton’s brief tour of the American Corner at the Turner Memorial Library near the Civic Centre in Mutare. Our Features Editor Isdore Guvamombe (IG) caught up with her on this and other issues.
IG: You stripped before US Ambassador in Mutare and people want to know who you are and why did you do that?
SM: I am Sheilah Mutsenhu, aged 32. I am a teacher by profession. I trained at Marry Mount Teacher’s College. I am a mother of two children aged 10 and five. I am a businesswoman running restaurants in Mutare City. I am also the president of Vadiki Tavekupfuma Youth Association, a youth empowerment group. I identify with black empowerment and the total liberation of Zimbabwe, through control of natural resources.
IG: Okay. So what happened with the US Ambassador?
SM: Two weeks prior to the Ambassador’s visit to Manicaland, we heard in the social circles in Mutare that he was coming to sponsor MDC-T projects. The MDC-T people we talked to, even bragged to us that the Ambassador was their own version of Youth Empowerment and Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere. Only MDC-T members were invited, confirming the assertion. We are also stakeholders in Manicaland and we were baffled that they did not invite us. I was not worried about his mission but I thought it was an opportunity to give him our message. So, takanga takamumirira kuti auye timuudze. We were waiting for him to come and send our message. And, we did just that!
IG: What message?
SM: That his country should unconditionally remove the sanctions it illegally imposed on Zimbabwe. The US must know that even disguising the sanctions as targeted at individuals is misinformed and very silly. We wanted the Ambassador to lend us his ears. The sanctions are affecting everybody from men to women and children. I am a trained teacher but I left civil service because the sanctions made it difficult for the Government to pay me a good salary. I have two children and they cannot afford a good life because of the sanctions.
IG: So why strip?
SM: A woman’s body is sacred. It is the mother of creation. When a woman strips, it is the highest level of protest. It is a sign of utter disgust. I thought it was the language he understands the most because every other channel has failed. Negotiations for the removal of the illegal sanctions have failed; the two million signatures have not worked; trips to the US and Europe have not worked. Maybe this one will work. These Americans are used to seeing nude women and listening to them, so I thought he would listen and indeed when I stripped he started talking to me.
IG: Did you just go there and started stripping?
SM: No. For starters, we invited ourselves to the function because it was an all MDC-T function. As stakeholders in Manicaland, we went to talk to him but he refused to give us audience. When I realised that he would not talk to us, I stripped. He then started talking to me. I said to myself, let me do it, hapana kusiri kufa. So I stripped and he started talking to me.
IG: What did the Ambassador say?
SM: He said the sanctions would not be lifted until Zimbabwe improved its human rights record. We exchanged words and I am sure he got the message right. We don’t want the sanctions. They must go yesterday!
The irony of it is that President Mugabe and his senior Government officials are barred – through travel bans – from going to Europe and America but here is an American ambassador, going freely right down to a village in Makoni. He goes freely right into the city of Mutare funding projects of a political party. Is funding for political parties by foreigners not illegal? And is it not bullying that the US Ambassador can go anywhere in Zimbabwe, yet our own President, a whole head of State is not allowed to travel to places of his choice in Europe. Takavajaidza!
IG: I noticed you interchangeably use the word we and I, who is “we?”
SM: Remember I said I am the president of Vadiki Tavekupfuma, so naturally I have followers. We did not want to strip as a group because people would say, it was organised by someone senior in Zanu-PF. As the leader, I stripped. I lead people. I stripped on their behalf.
IG: Still some people are saying you were sent by someone . . .
SM: Nonsense! Let them dream and continue dreaming. I am educated, I am a trained teacher. I am a mother of two and I am a businesswoman. I do not need anyone to tell me what to do on bread and butter issues that affect me and those around me, everyday. Why do people assume that some of us do not think? I am sure many people in Zanu-PF were shocked to hear that I had stripped. It was protest! You don’t have to be sent to protest. If it was for the sanctions, I would still be in the classroom but the Government cannot pay enough because of the sanctions. If ever I was sent, I was sent by God and my ancestors!
IG: But they say that the sanctions are targeted at individuals?
SM: I hope you don’t believe them, too. If you think sanctions are targeted at individuals, go to Mutare today and see how huge companies, Border Timbers, Karina, Mutare Board and Paper were affected. Some have closed down. Some have retrenched and streamlined badly. Then you talk of targeted sanctions? The people are not silly. We are not silly. We will not be fooled. These are the effects, which are direct and indirect. It is the same wherever you go in Zimbabwe. The sanctions have hit everybody. Even MDC now feels them.
Funny enough, these people put the blame on President Mugabe and some of us will do anything to defend this great revolutionary, whose vision, the sanctions seek to dilute and even destroy. I will stand by my leader and defend him in my own way. He does not need to send me to defend him. I know he is right, wherever he is and I am prepared to defend him to the last stain of my blood. He is a great man.
IG: You seem to have a certain Zimbabwe that you want to see. What Zimbabwe do you want to see?
SM: I want a sanctions free Zimbabwe, a Zimbabwe that is not treated like a province of another country and a Zimbabwe that is not subservient to Europe or America. I want a Zimbabwe were blacks are politically and economically independent and a Zimbabwe that respects the values of the liberation struggle. For as long as things are not right, you will see more and more of our protests.
IG: Do you regret the incident?
SM: No! There is nothing to regret. This was a protest against a system that imposed sanctions on a free and independent country, a country that is sovereign and has a right to defend its natural resouces from being exploited by foreigners. So, for as long as the sanctions are not removed, we still need to send the message and I will personally do anything to send the right message.
The US and its embassy know that they are campainging for MDC and they know that the sanctions are meant to promote MDC while choking Zanu-PF. I identify with the revolution that brought independence and I identify with President Mugabe and what he stands for. I am a Zimbabwean and I belong to a generation that has been deoprived of certain benefits of a country that is so rich but unable to exploit its full potential due to sanctions, illegally imposed by the US and its allies, yet Zimbabwe has no problem with the US. Our problem is a bilateral problem with Britain.
US yakangohakira. They really have no reason to be part of those imposing sanctions on us. Britain, yes, we understand because we have issues with them. But the US, no, they are friends mourning more than the bereaved family. So, I have no regrets at all. I did not do it for myself. This protest is for all progressive Zimbabweans who want a Zimbabwe which is run without undue foreign pressure. It is for all Zimbabweans who want to enjoy the fruits of our independence and groom their children in a free Zimbabwe. My protest is for all women, who have no option but raise children under sanctions. It is for our men, who have lost their jobs due to sanctions. It is for the good of Zimbabwe.
I repeat, a woman’s body is sacred and exposing it to a stranger is the highest form of protest.
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