SOME former colleagues of late political activist Linda Masarira have refused to mourn her and declared that they will not pretend to care.
Masarira, who fronted the Labour Economists Afrikaan Democrats (LEAD) party passed on in her sleep on Sunday, with her death being confirmed by a close family friend.
Labour activist Obert Masaraure, president of the Amalgamation of Rural Teachers (ARTUZ), was the first to openly declare that he will not miss Masarira.
He accused the late opposition activist of lying that he had been trained in Zambia to subvert the Zanu PF government.
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"At one point, I wanted to physically assault Linda Masarira during a panel discussion," said Masaraure.
"She lied through her teeth, claiming I was trained in Zambia by the Americans to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
"On that same panel, she lied and said I had faked my own abduction.
"While debates are supposed to be civilised, lying is not debating.
"I know her family and friends will miss her, but I won't. And frankly, I don't want anyone who hated me to pretend to care when I'm gone, either.
"Our lives should be exemplary to those who actually share our value system."
A boastful Masarira once promised to share details of how opposition political activists and leaders were faking abductions, even claiming to have been offered spots to be trained with like-minded organisations.
Her statements put hundreds of opposition activists in harm's way as Zanu PF maintained close and constant surveillance, which at times led to disappearances.
She never apologised, even after claiming to have been offered US$300,000 by Jacob Ngarivhume and as much as a million by the US government.
"Sadly, I have no tears to shed for Linda," said Ngarivhume.
"We stood with her when she was persecuted by Zanu PF back then, Mrs. Ngarivhume and I looked after her family when she was in prison.
"In return when she was released, she joined Zanu PF and started lying against many of us in the opposition movement.
"When we were organising the anti-corruption protests of 2020, she pushed to meet with me. After I reluctantly agreed, she gave an interview to The Herald lying through her teeth that I told her that I had received US$300,000 from the European Union, British and Americans.
"She dedicated the last half of her life to selling out!"
Ngarivhume said President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Information Ministry spokesperson Nick Mangwana should be the ones mourning her.
Hundreds of human rights defenders, opposition supporters, labour activists and student leaders refused to bow down to pressure or be forced into praising her in death.
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"Chemanai ikoko. Musatinyaudza," said Constitutional Law expert Dr. Justice Mavedzenge.
"I will not mourn anyone who unashamedly uses their life to promote and defend an evil system that kills innocent people and destroys hopes. Some of us are just sick and tired of this 'wafa wanaka' nonsense."
Wafa wanaka is an unwritten Shona tradition to respect the dead and avoid speaking ill of them. It seeks to bar the truthful narration of their life and proposes that people, instead, praise the deceased and not raise the negative they did.
"Let us not musk the truth just because one is no longer with the living. Truth must reign always," said youth leader Avoid Masiraha.
Details of where she will be mourned and buried are yet to be shared amid statements that she had hit very difficult financial times.
