Joceyln Chiwenga/ Grace Mugabe are the Imelda Marcoses of Zimbabwe

During the food riots, I drove past Jocelyn Chiwenga and her farm workers beating up three men at Tichagarika in Glen View 3.

The farm workers were holding the men down in dirty water while Jocelyn herself kicked them. Then she sat on another while spitting at the other.

There were policemen looking, unconcerned.

Those days I was staying in Glen View 3 close to the police station.

I wish I had lingered on a bit longer to hear what she was saying to the men.

Today, I look back and tell myself that God is not for a few. You can shit on people as much as you want, but one day is one day. God has many ways of paying back.

Jocelyn, former bar lady who doubled up as a sex worker found fame as a general's wife. The general had happened on her in a city bar and got hooked.

But as they say, very few prostitute can change into housewives or mothers. Likewise, Jocelyn never became a mother. Instead, she thrived on taking the law into her own hands. That scene at Tichagarika makes me shrink. How could the police look at an ordinary citizen meting out justice on others? Does being a general's wife make a woman a general? But again in Zanu-PF anything is possible. Today, we have Grace Mugabe aspiring to become a president. Already we have had a whole bunch of the Mugabes – Sabina, Leo, Patrick Zhuwao and his wife – acting as if the Zimbabwe presidency is a chieftainship. They are doing as they please while takatarisa. We read that Irene Zhuwao slapped a man and nothing was done. Ndiko kunonzi kutonga manje.

History is replete with examples of women who rose to be more powerful than their president husbands. But almost every one of them ended up disgraced.

Imelda Marcos of Philippine was a singer before meeting and marrying Ferdinand Marcos. Her husband declared martial law in 1972, and then Imelda started getting government positions.

"I am my little people's star and slave. When I go out into the barrios, I get dressed because I know my little people want to see a star. Other presidents' wives have gone to the barrios wearing house dresses and slippers. That's not what people want to see. People want someone they can love, someone to set an example," Imelda once said.