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Robin Muchetu, Health and Gender Editor
AS Women’s Month concluded on 31 March, a grim picture still stands out like a sore finger, constant yet painful reminder that violence against women is a cancer that lingers with no solution in sight, but needing an urgent panacea.
According to UNFPA, in Zimbabwe, about one in three women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence and about one in four women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.
The cost of GBV in Zimbabwe is currently equivalent to 3,4 percent of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product. This translates to US$1,36 billion annually, according to the World Bank’s latest statistics.
Last month, the City of Bulawayo woke up to a horrific scene where Patience Ndlovu, affectionately known as Lady P, was found dead in an apartment she shared in the central business district of Bulawayo with someone.
A rising fitness trainer in the city, she showcased her talent and passion in the gym, transforming many women’s lives by helping them get into shape.
Her aim was simple, to help women have the bodies of their choice through exercise. She helped sculpt many bodies into shape in her gym, but her life was chiselled away by unknown assailants in a place she called home.
She is one of the many women whose lives are taken away violently as they try to eke out a living. She was a graduate of Lupane State University.
For her family, many questions remain unanswered.
A recent visit to one of her close family relations’ home, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation revealed that the family is puzzled, broken and scared at the same time.
“I was called and told to come to Central Police Station and was informed that Patience had died, no one knew what had happened. I assumed the rest of the family had seen her body in the morgue at United Bulawayo Hospitals, but no one had. We were called when she was already placed there. Unfortunately, we failed to see her body and were told to return the following day,” he said.
Following this, the family visited her residence.
“The pillows were soaked with blood; the headboard filled with blood too. The blankets she was sleeping on were equally soaked,” he said.
The following day, the family was informed that the doctor could not perform a post mortem as the documents that came with the corpse were not conclusive, but managed to finally see the body.
“What was observed on the body and what the documents contained was different. However, we saw her body, she had horrible injuries, she had a deep stab wound on the neck, and cheek, a wounded forehead, and stab wounds to her back. We realised she had been severely attacked. Her blankets were soaked in blood and she had already started to decompose and her skin had turned pitch black. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth, it was a horrible sight,” he said.
A life brutally stripped away under the cover of darkness.
The family is yet to come to terms with the fact that they were informed about their relative’s death several hours after her body had been discovered, an anomaly as they said their contact details were known by those who found her dead.
“They took her to the mortuary and informed us later, why? They know our home address and phone numbers, why take the job of identifying her body and sending her to the morgue when we are there?” questioned the relative.
Furthermore, they said they were told they were demonstrating on the day of her burial.
“People from the gym walked from the funeral parlour to the venue of the church service with the hearse, but we were told we were demonstrating that Patience had been killed, which was not the case,” they added.
Another close relative narrated how events of the fateful day unfolded.
She said Patience’s last communication with her partner was around 9 to 10 pm on the Saturday and on Sunday morning he said he looked for her as usual but she was not taking calls or responding to messages.
He then asked her roommate to check on her as he had spent a long period of time without hearing from her. She is alleged to have said there was no response from her door.
“He assumed she had attended church and would get back to her after the service, but no. Later in the day, he asked the roommate to check on her again and there was no response. The next day, he reached out again, enquiring if she had not returned the previous day, but she said her phone had been ringing in her room. He instructed her to open the door and check physically,” said the relative.
Upon his request, the roommate opened the door and found her dead.
She then informed the police and the body was removed.
“Her body had already decomposed and was emitting a pungent smell. We do not know who did this to Patience, there were no signs of forced entry to the flat or her bedroom, it shows that it may have been a person known to her that she let into her home. We are bothered,” she said.
She said the weekend she was buried was even worse as she had severely decomposed.
To add more mystery to their case, the family alleges that Patience had informed them that someone had borrowed money from her and was refusing to pay her.
“She told us that the person told her that if she kept bothering him, she would not get her money at all.
That really worried us after we found her murdered,” said the relative.
The apartment, the family said, had some of her clothes strewn on the floor, her cash box with members’ subscriptions from her gym was also missing.
“Patience’s issue troubles us, we do not know what wrong she did for anyone to brutally take her life away like that. No one could recognise her body, we saw her feet and hair, that was the only thing we could identify her with, she had completely changed physically,” she added.
The bed sheet she was found on was drenched in blood and her mobile phone was placed on her chest.
The family said they remain disgruntled over the death of their relative as they still remain with many questions over the investigation of the matter.
“We do not know where to turn to now because we are getting no satisfactory answer from investigations, it is like a goat died not our daughter. There are so many loose ends, including her phone that we last heard was no longer working yet initially it was functioning and information was even extracted from it,” said a family member.
They also alleged that some suspects are in “plain sight” but are still walking freely.
They also said when Patience’s body was discovered, she was swiftly removed from the scene without their knowledge, which raises many eyebrows.
“Her clothes were strewn on the floor, her receipt books from the gym, her three handbags make up were scattered on the sofas. This was an indication that someone was in her house and took away some of her things. We are now feeling unsafe as a family too. We hope to find closure soon over the matter,” said the relative.
Patience is one of the many women who continue to be violently killed in Zimbabwe, with calls getting louder for the protection of women and girls from GBV.
The Minister of Women Affairs Community Small and Medium Enterprise Development Monica Mutsvangwa highlighted that the Ministry continues to mobilise funding for the emancipation of women and girls in Zimbabwe through providing for empowerment programmes and income generating projects. – @NyembeziMu.
Online Reporter