By Anna Chibamu
CONTROVERSIAL gender activist and MDC-T politician, Linda Masarira has revealed the source of her ailment while denouncing those who have spread malicious claims she ran into trouble through a bungled abortion attempt.
Masarira, who is spokesperson of the Thokozani Khupe led MDC-T, was recently taken ill at a private Harare clinic after suffering from excessive bleeding.
She was discharged on Thursday and has since placed an appeal for a US$600 request from well-wishers to help her undergo an operation doctors say will help restore her to good health.
But the appeal has done nothing except ignite a social media frenzy that has seen enemies claim she was not deserving of any sympathy as she was merely suffering the aftermath of a botched abortion.
One Kimberly Muzenda said in a Facebook post recently that she was a friend to the embattled feminist who allegedly begged the former for US$160 to terminate her said pregnancy.
Masarira insists the account was fake and was created by her enemies to soil her image.
She says the Facebook account was opened exactly on the day she appeared before the Kgalema Motlanthe led Commission of Inquiry into the bloody August 1 post-election vioence to claim the mainstream opposition was full of abusers and violence.
“That Kimberly Muzenda is a ghost account. Some of my friends did a research and the account is no longer functional,” said Masarira, when NewZimbabwe.com visited her Malborough home on Friday.
She also accuses some top MDC officials, among them Harare mayor Herbert Gomba, of spreading falsehoods about her health status.
Since she decided to join an MDC splinter group led by Khupe, Masarira has been the target of some of the crudest forms of criticism from some fanatical supporters of the mainstream MDC led by Nelson Chamisa.
She did not help matters when she fingered her MDC rivals as having played a part in the August 1 violence which saw the killing of six civilians by what is widely believed to be the army.
Masarira also says since claims of her failed abortion attempt went viral on social media, she has been inundated with calls from relatives and friends scolding her for allegedly committing an abomination.
“It is not good that people spread falsehoods on a person who is sick,” she said.
“It is really shocking that people can create ghost accounts to spread propaganda because they do not like me or do not like my opinions.
“It is really sad that we have gone down to those levels as Zimbabweans.
“This shows how broken we are as a nation.
“You may hate what I do or hate my political ideology but, do not fabricate things against me especially if it has something to do with my health.”
Commenting about her health, the one-time firebrand anti-government activist said she has had a procedure called tubal ligation, a female permanent type of sterilisation.
She had occasion to show NewZimbabwe.com a scan result slip which confirmed she had developed a cyst and a fibroid in her womb.
Masarira, who sat on a sofa, looked a pale shadow of the energetic speaker known for saying her mind.
But with all the adversity dogging her body and her personality, the former National Railways of Zimbabwe employee has hopes of better health ahead.
She is thankful to her MDC-T boss, Thokozani Khupe and few friends who have been by her side during her difficult moment.
“I know I will be fine and will be back soon,” she said.
“I now need money for the operation. Other needs have been paid for. Doctors need cash up-front, US dollars only. You have to pay for each and every procedure done on you in forex.
“My President Dr Thokozani Khupe helped me a lot. She parted with US$500 on the very day that I was admitted.”
She had a parting shot.
“We are Zimbabweans. Let us stop hate speech,” she said.
