For many years women were treated like circus lions and elephants. A circus lion thinks it is a mouse. It thinks it is weak and it is nothing without its handler. That is why a circus lion does not resist its handler.
But women are not weak and were never weak. It is the society that made them believe that they are weak.
For many years women have been forgotten and ignored. There is no one to tell their stories, to celebrate their victories and recognise their strengths. Because society made them look as if they had no wisdom to decide the future.
Society often fails the girl child and makes her feel weak. A weak girl becomes a weak woman.
A boy child is brought up being reminded to become successful in life. A boy child is often asked questions such as what is your dream car, house etc. Those questions remind him that he is expected to own a house when he grows up.
A girl child is usually asked trivial questions that don’t provoke her to unleash her full potentials. In the end, it is the same society that would deny the girl opportunities.
Women were treated as baby factories. But it is the men who are expected to own and name the child after birth. When we meet the child we would often ask, “Who is your father?” As if the mother is irrelevant.
No one remembers to thank the mother for carrying the child for many months, for enduring pregnancy pains and for having sleepless nights.
But even giving birth is revolutionary. If men were to give birth, there would probably be more abortions than births.
Women are blamed for almost everything that is wrong. A child that has been raised by a woman is regarded as incomplete. As if it is a sin to be raised by a woman. As if some of the great leaders were not raised by women.
A woman would cook so that the man can eat the best piece of meat. Men always want to get the lion’s share even though they don’t produce milk for the babies.
In some workplaces as well as some political parties, there is a “pen blockade” where women have to jump or sleep with their seniors in order to get promotions and unleash their full potential.
But thank God, some women have finally realised their power and potential, their courage and convictions, as well as their stamina and strength.
Women have finally realised that they can fight and win. They can speak and be heard. They can question and get answers. They can work and get rewarded. They can be patriotic and fearless. And they can rise up and become heroes.
Among those women who know their worth and strength is Dr Makhosi Khoza. She gave a powerful lesson to every girl in Africa and beyond, that every girl has the power and wisdom to decide the future, to fight child marriage and win, to speak out against women abuse and be heard, to confront her leaders without fear, and to change her country for all.
She knows very well that if the lions are quiet or sleeping, baboons will declare themselves the kings of the jungle.
So she decided to fight like a lioness defending her cubs, her den and her place in the jungle kingdom.
When some of her colleagues took an oath saying, “Help me Gupta,” Makhosi said, “Help me God.” She stood by her faith. She refused to read the bible of wolves and worship the religion of hyenas. She refused to waste her respect on a rotten leadership.
Armed only with her faith and her love for the motherland, she has shown the courage of a fearless woman.
She might have lost some of her positions, but she didn’t lose her conscience. And that is what she will be remembered for.
Makhosi gave a powerful lesson to every girl who is struggling with her identity and to find her place in a society where girls are expected to speak the last, to submit to their rulers no matter how bad they are, a society where no one seems to be ready to listen to a woman.
She gave a powerful lesson to every girl who uses a candle to do her homework because the money that was meant to electrify her house has been stolen. She gave a powerful lesson to every girl who goes to look for firewood after school so that her family can eat.
Somewhere in South Africa and beyond, there is probably a girl or two who has replaced the picture of Beyoncé with the picture of Makhosi on the wall of her tiny, dark room.
Yes, she gave a powerful lesson indeed, that the days of treating women like circus lions are over. And for that she should be celebrated. Because she is the epitome of a woman of strength!
Shilongo is the author of “The Hopeless Hopes”. Email: