Top ten women who made news last year

WHEN Eminem and Rihanna sang the song Monsters’last year, it appears they must have followed Elizabeth’s journey last year. Since she ‘stole’ former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s heart and attention, her every move and statements made news, be it good or bad. Her life was like a sound track for Tyler Perry’s Why did I get married. Blessed with looks and a keen dress sense, she was smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to let go when the political future did not brighten and love allegedly faded. Or have we spoken too soon?
Pokello Nare
From DSTV’s reality show, Big Brother Africa, to having her self-made ‘adult movie’ with musician Stunner spreading like wild fire on the WhatsApp platform, this diva caused quite a sensation last year. On Big Brother Africa if she was not the talk of the week with her dancing, it would be her dressing, contact with boyfriend Elikem Kumordzi from Ghana or the way she responded to Big Brother’s questions. She has moved around Zimbabwe and Ghana donating to charity. She is addicted to fame like she is to shoes. Nollywood is knocking on her door and who knows where she could end up.
Eve Gadzikwa
She is the director general of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, a position she has held since September 2008. Her professional career spans over 20 years starting in the medical testing laboratories before she embarked on a marketing career. Over the years she has desired to see women rising up the leader in the corporate world and always spoke about standards being upheld in all areas of business. Eve holds various leadership positions and is chairperson of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. She has been vocal on a number of corporate issues, appearing in the media more than the first lady.
Jacqueline Zwambila
The recalled Zimbabwean ambassador to Australia stripped naked in front of embassy staff in Canberra. She is the woman who allegedly made sexual advances and ill-treated an MDC-T activist, Felix Machiridza, she had taken to Canberra on the promise she would secure employment for him. She allegedly refused to pay US$2 700 to a contractor who made repairs to her house back in Zimbabwe.
Zwambila was also in the headlines after she attended a reunion of the former Rhodesian soldiers who were celebrating Rhodesia, an epoch that one writer wrote “no sane Zimbabwean would want to remember. Her attendance was tantamount to endorsing whatever happened during that period. Unless you are a Satanist, you cannot attend such rituals”. During her stay in   Australia, Zwambila used to visit Zimbabwe often and nothing happened to her, but is surprisingly seeking political asylum in Australia allegedly fearing persecution in Zimbabwe
Joice Mujuru
It is an open secret she is loved by many and ‘might’ be the next Zimbabwean president. She was at the centre of most critical and crucial policy decisions in Zimbabwe last year. She also was acting president on a number of occasions. “Politics is addictive,” she once said. She would know, as she has been on the frontline of Zimbabwe’s rough politics since she was a teenager. “I never dreamed of being where I am now, today, not for one day did I dream of this. My ambition was to be a nurse. My father wanted me to be a policewoman,” Mujuru once said. She is steadfastly loyal to Mugabe and has become a voice for the voiceless and stood for the less privileged.
Rita Makarau
The Supreme Court judge Justice Rita Makarau, who is also the acting chief executive of the Judicial Service Commission, was appointed chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for the harmonised elections last year. She is a hands -on woman and is respected in the legal circles. She was accused of failing to produce the voters’ roll in its electronic form. Critics  argue that it should be in the public domain and its exorbitant price to access it does nothing but raise suspicions that ZEC, and government from whom it appears to take its orders, has something serious to hide. They will forever be associated with the elections that brought an end to the unity government.
Beatrice Mtetwa
A human rights lawyer who was arrested and detained in March for seven days for daring to ask if police officers had a search warrant to enter her client’s house. Mtetwa was subsequently charged with obstructing justice and being ‘unruly’ to police officers before being acquitted in November. The process has become almost a ritual for anyone brave enough to fight for human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. Her release followed both a domestic and international outcry.
Locardia Karimatsenga
She taught former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai a lesson not to mess around with women. Unconfirmed reports claimed Karimatsenga wanted Tsvangirai to pay her US$500 000 and three oxen whereas Tsvangirai was insisting on US$200 000.
In her suit, the high-spending Karimatsenga wanted monthly payment for her upkeep including US$3,000 rent, US$4 000 groceries, US$1 500 clothing allowance, US$500 electricity. US$1,200 telephone, US$500 maid, US$300 gardener, US$1 000 vehicle and fuel, US$700 medical aid, US$250 water, US$1 700 for hair and beauty and US$350 for her driver.
Chioniso Mararire
May her soul rest in peace. Her shows made headlines and so did her last days. Drama and speculation surrounded her death. Mourners were not allowed to view her body. Before leaving Harare for her rural home, her corpse was also denied entry into the Bluffhill family home.
Village headman Noel Mutidzawanda announced that there would be no body viewing as instructed by officials from a funeral parlour that dressed the corpse.
Mourners were told not to open the casket because the disease that claimed the Queen of Mbira’s life was highly contagious.