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visionaries. These are women and mothers who endured pain, suffered humiliation and harassment but still triumphed.

Some of them did not have formal education, but they had immense knowledge, wisdom and understanding of their environment. They were focused. They also exhibited a high level of understanding of social intelligence, which gave them competitive advantage against enemy forces.
They were mothers, wives, sisters, aunts and, above all, community leaders who envisioned what many in the 21st century are unable to.

They were also prepared to face the consequences that arose from their principled stand against settler colonialism. Some of them ended up being incarcerated, while others became virtual single mothers as their husbands were detained time and again. By assisting freedom fighters, they knew that they were signing their own death warrants.

Among them was also a group of women that mothered the revolution and gave it character and the impetus to go on.

These women did not need today’s social media to communicate about the importance of providing for freedom fighters. Motherly instinct across the length and breadth of the country became their Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.

It was a mammoth task, but a task they performed bravely, and in an enviable manner. They did not sign any Official Secrets Act documents, but they still knew and understood that they were vessels being used in a struggle that would lead to Zimbabwe’s freedom.

These women of valour remind me of the biblical women who were entrusted by the Lord with protecting and taking care of Moses because of the important task of leading the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land that lay ahead of him. The first chapters of the book of Exodus show how a number of women were well positioned to do this.

This week, I once again mourn some mothers of the revolution — Mbuya Matadzisei (Ngazvirekwe) Tangwena, widow of national hero Chief Rekayi Magodo Tangwena, and Amai Charlotte Msipa, wife of former Midlands Governor and Resident Minister Cephas Msipa. I also celebrate their role in the struggle and Zimbabwe’s independence.

As a professional woman, I understand the length, breadth and depth of their sacrifices. They opened up spaces for us, and the draft constitution which was adopted by a large majority in a referendum held recently was testimony that Zimbabwean women have indeed shattered the glass ceiling.

Thanks to these women. The sky now is the limit. Even though they were restricted to the kitchen, they made us realise that in an independent Zimbabwe, women would not only occupy spaces previously occupied by white males, but that they would also occupy those spaces together with their black male counterparts.

They also dared us to dream and dream big, and evidence on the ground shows that that is exactly what women are doing.

No profession is closed to women, and there is nothing that Zimbabweans are incapable of achieving, if they so desire.

They have left us a legacy, and also given some of us a challenge and moments to reflect on whether we could have been as principled to Zimbabwe’s ideals for self-determination and sovereignty as they were.

Faced with the challenges that they faced, would I have been that brave and that resilient, I ask myself every time?

Mbuya Tangwena has been very inspirational for me as a writer. On April 25, 2012 I wrote a piece titled, “Counting benefits from The Arena” in which I reminisced on the rich pickings from this column since I started writing it on November 12, 2009.

I said, “I thank the Lord for enabling me, and also thank readers everywhere for believing in me, encouraging me sometimes, even when we disagree. It is in this letter and spirit that I take readers back to the first Arena instalment, when someone believed that I could do it, and when Mbuya Tangwena was the backdrop to The Arena’s genesis.
“

The amphitheatre I call The Arena is global, and my desire is for Zimbabwe to play an active and positive role.”

She was that unsung heroine, so I thought, whose role in the liberation struggle was unknown to the generality of Zimbabweans until the death of Cde Misheck Takaedza Chando (Cde Wariona Here Gorira Mutakura Makasha).

For it was at Cde Chando’s burial at the national shrine on October 31, 2009 that President Mugabe told mourners how Mbuya Tangwena convinced Chief Tangwena to escort him and Cde Edgar Tekere into Mozambique since enemy forces were eliminating the Zanu leadership.

This was after the assassination of Cde Herbert Chitepo in Zambia. The chief obliged.
Initially, I thought that it was a mix of pillow talk and her leadership at work. But when I later read President Mugabe’s detailed narrative of how they crossed into Mozambique during an interview with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s Power FM on his 82nd birthday, I revisited my thinking about Mbuya Tangwena’s role.

The President recounted, “It was on Saturday morning and we decided to leave in the afternoon of that day. Old Tangwena, late now, Chief (Rekayi) Tangwena at whose home we had slept was instructed by his wife to lead us.

Mai Tangwena vaisvikirwa, vakati zvanzi izvo iwe Tangwena pachako tungamirira vana ava. (Mai Tangwena was a spirit medium, and she said that instructions are that you (Chief) Tangwena should accompany these children.) So he accompanied us. There we were, we had two young men carrying our bags and I think there were five of us and we decided to cross the border . . .”

Just like Mbuya Nehanda in the 1890s rebellion against the British, Mbuya Tangwena as a spirit medium brings in an important component of the liberation struggle, which is yet to be fully analysed — the spiritual aspect.

There is no denying that there was an important spiritual element at play during the revolution. How we define that spirit is something else.

On Tuesday, I also spoke to a member of the Tangwena family, Israel, trying to verify some of the information we had collected over the years: names, birth date and Mbuya Tangwena’s role. Israel confirmed that Mbuya Matadzisei was the same person as Mbuya Ngazvirekwe Tangwena.

He also said that there was an error on her birth date, which is quite common with most people. Her national identity card says that she was born in 1930, which means that she was 83 at the time of her death.

We had to be sure and so Israel confirmed with another family member when Mbuya Tangwena’s first born son Elijah was born. Elijah Tangwena was born in 1932.

It is believed that Mbuya Tangwena was born in 1913. Which means that she was a centenarian at the time of her death?

She had two children — Elijah and Joyce, and I also learnt from Israel that she is survived by 11 grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren; eight great-great-grandchildren and one or two great-great-great-grandchildren.

He also shed some light on her role as a spirit medium during the liberation struggle. Apparently the Tangwena people used a system to vet those who intended to cross over into Mozambique to join the liberation struggle.

The vetting system was meant to detect enemy elements, and Mbuya Tangwena as the spirit medium had a major role to play in this vetting system.

On October 11, 1988 The Herald published an interview that Ziana did with Mbuya Tangwena. She said she had vivid memories of President Mugabe and Cde Tekere taking refuge in her home before Chief Tangwena escorted them into Mozambique.

“Cde Mugabe was wearing my son’s overalls as a disguise when my husband, his younger brother and Cde Tekere crossed into Mozambique.

“Both Cde Mugabe and Cde Tekere spent between two and three months at my home at Nyafaru before they escaped, with Rhodesian soldiers hot on their heels,” she told Ziana.

The report also says that Mbuya Tangwena returned to Zimbabwe on the same flight as President Mugabe in January 1980.

Dear reader, while doing research for this instalment, I was struck by one thing — dead people are not newsworthy long after they have departed. There is very little information in the files of most of the heroes and heroines buried at the National Heroes Acre and elsewhere, including pictures.  Now, one-by-one they are leaving us. Asking all of them to write their memoirs is not only unfair but shows that we do not appreciate the meaning of empowerment. When a people are able to write their historical narrative, using their own resources, that’s empowerment.

The women of Zimbabwe salute you Mbuya Tangwena and Mbuya Msipa for steadfastly believing in the Zimbabwean dream. Rest in eternal peace!