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Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Bureau

A pint-sized elderly woman, in ghostly gait, her tattered clothes poo-hued in cow dung, walks towards us as we arrive at her homestead at a resettlement area on the outskirts of Gweru city.

She is visibly tainted by cow dung which she has just been using to floor up the dusty ground within the yard where she intends to use to store maize being harvested from her 50-hectare-piece of land.

Gogo Magrete Maphosa (68) is one of the little celebrated women who participated in the liberation struggle to also benefit under the land reform-the hallmark for the protracted struggle which claimed many lives.

“Well-come! Well-come, welcome”, she gladly groans in a dragged voice as she greets the unusual visitors, her tongue protruding beyond her tiny mouth with missing pair of lips.

Again, and again, her tongue, tinged black due to years of expose, licking the mouth ends as she leads us to a wooden bench fixed on the midst of her homestead.

Some little children who look up to Gogo Maphosa quarrel to themselves while engrossed in child play under the shade of a hut to our left.

On the other end, a visually impaired woman again under Gogo Maphosa’s care, crawls, pulling her mat a she tries to trace the shade under the hut as the sun tinges away

Apart from some well-wishers who gave her monthly groceries, Gogo Maphosa who is a widow says she fends for the whole family from farming proceeds.

A liberation war heroine in her own way, Gogo Maphosa who the public narrative incorrectly has it that she lost her lips during the liberation struggle is a staunch Zanu-PF cadre who participated in the liberation struggles.

She never misses national events including the revolutionary party rallies and with her distinct face she is a well-known figure in the Midlands.

Her distinct face, an exposed mouth with no lips, and her obsession for interrupting national events, and party meetings, bursting into a revolutionary song and dancing has made her a common figure in the province, a darling to many a Zanu-PF supporter especially during campaign periods.

“This is where I am located, this is the beauty of our revolutionary party Zanu PF, this is my piece of land under the land reform programme, narrates Gogo Maphosa, as if she already knew the purpose of our visit.

In a month where the national celebrates both the fallen and living heroes of the liberation struggle, Gogo Maphosa is one such living liberation heroines worthy celebrating. There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding Gogo Maphosa’s liberation struggle history and the missing lips.

Many in the revolutionary party including those who worked closely worked with her during their time as Chimbwidos believe and still post the narrative that she once sold out to the Smith regime at the height of the liberation struggle and the guerillas had to slice off her lips as punishment.

And Gogo Maphosa knows is aware that many in the revolutionary ranks hold this belief which she, however, vehemently denies.

“You came at the right time when we are celebrating our heroes, a time when we are commemorating our hard-fought independence and I think this discussion will put to bed all the misconceptions surrounding my loss of lips, says Gogo Maphosa.

She, however, admits that during the liberation struggle she had a time when she and her husband were brought before a night vigil while being accused of selling out.

She reckons the night was really “a night of long knives” where she and her husband were subjected to severe assault but only to turn out that they were not the ones who had sold out.

“Yes, we were beaten, that night kept hostage for the night together with my husband with the guerillas quizzing us on an incident when some had sold out leading to the death of some of our liberation fighters.

“I, however, want to put it on record that I did not lose my lips owing to that incident. I only developed some rare disease which the doctors later diagnosed as cancer.

My lips were eventually cut of at Mpilo hospital as the doctors tried to stop the caner from spreading around my mouth,” she narrated.

Gogo Maphosa said issues to do with families being accused of selling out were common during the liberation struggle and many would be cleared.

“It was a norm during that period that in the village, people would lie that so and so is selling out and the accused person would be quizzed, we would all have lost lips if it was the procedure to cut off one’s lips for selling out,” said Gogo Maphosa teasingly.

She said the incident when she was brought for questioning and the subsequent assault was a turning point for her as she became a full time Chimbwidos

“We would stay at the camp cooking and fetching water  for the liberation fighters. We would sing and dance the night out.

“I operated in Shurugwi and many liberation stalwarts in the province and beyond know me. We were small girls who will keep the night vigils lively and this is why I always sing and dance even now when at party gatherings,” she said.

Gogo Maphosa says she was still good at singer and dancer despite her advanced age.

A beneficiary of the land reform programme, Gogo Maphosa says she was a proud farmer doing wonders at her 50-hectare piece of land.

“I am a widow and survive on well-wishers because we have had successive years of drought but when God smiles at us and we have enough rainfalls I farm for commercial purposes. I always get seed and other inputs from my benefactor, one Dr Smelly Dube who is a philanthropist and I always do wonders at my farm,” she says.

She says she looks after four grandchildren left by her only two kids who were both late.

“I also look after my sister who is also visually impaired and heavily rely on farming. I get assistance in terms of school fees for my grandchildren again form Dr Dube, |” she said.