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Statement on the attack of the Financial Gazette's 'Mavis Makuni' by the Herald
MISA-Zimbabwe and Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
February 22, 2006

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe and the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) would like to express shock at the outrageous, chauvinistic comment targeted at The Financial Gazette columnist "Mavis Makuni" in The Saturday Herald’s issue of 18 February 2006.

Nathaniel Manheru’s opinion piece: The Other Side entitled Muleya/Makuni The deep scar of colonial enslavement, misgovernance, was a dehumanising and blatant attack which went beyond the right to freedom of expression and opinion.

Mavis Makuni in the Financial Gazette of February 16 – 22 2006, wrote an article entitled: Mbeki’s failure only prolongs our misery. The article was based on a personal opinion of Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe’s crisis.

In response to Makuni’s article Manheru claims that Makuni’s opinion is "a case of P.M.T (Pre-menstrual Tension) senselessness" and that Mbeki should not be bothered by comments made by "one menopausal ‘Mavis Makuni’". Such comments are not only unethical but expose Manheru’s bigotry, which is unacceptable in a civilised society.

These are natural processes that every woman goes through and should not be used as a basis for judging one’s intellect and mental syntax.

Manheru has a right to his own opinions but he should address the issues raised by Makuni instead of the unprofessional and unwarranted attack on the personhood of the author. It is such biases and prejudices that entrench negative stereotypes of women as lesser and incapable beings.

While MISA-Zimbabwe and the MMPZ uphold the principles of freedom of expression, it is our considered view that Manheru’s comments go beyond the bounds of decency and fair comment.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe entitles everyone to enjoy freedom of expression and opinion regardless of their biological dispositions, age and political affiliation.

Such spur of the moment utterances by Manheru expose a mindset that is demeaning of women and their status as equal to men. It goes against the very grain of government’s policy of empowering women and elevating them to positions of authority.

The progressive world frowns upon such statements as gender insensitive and retrogressive particularly at a time when African women are proving their mettle by assuming positions of authority as exemplified by our own Vice President Joice Mujuru, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South Africa and Africa’s first elected female Head of State Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.

We hope The Herald and Manheru will realise the serious impact of such gender insensitive journalism manifesting itself in one of the country’s leading newspapers and apologise to Mavis Makuni and the women of Zimbabwe as a whole.

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