First lady who demystified HIV
When Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri became Malawi’s second first lady in 1999, HIV was killing people mercilessly in the country.
No wonder she instantly became the face of the fight against the pandemic.
Clad in her trademark traditional attire, she would appear gracefully on the national television with messages of “Tipewe Aids Ilibe Mankhwala” (let us prevent HIV, it has no cure).
Her talk about HIV, a topic many shunned, demystified the disease that left orphans in its trail.
It was, therefore, important for a prominent figure such as the first lady to talk about the disease to reverse the trend, says United Democratic Front (UDF) leader Lilian Patel, who was a Cabinet minister when Dzimbiri was the first lady as wife to former president Bakili Muluzi.
She says: “The former first lady showed that HIV was real and asked Malawians to accept that reality. She discouraged stigma and discrimination against those living with the virus.
“However, Shanil did more than just speak about HIV but also reached out to orphans with support.”
Patel praises her for serving the Office of the First Lady diligently despite not receiving a salary.
She explains: “I always lobbied for funding for the Office of the First Lady because this is a powerful office that supports the president.
“However, coming from the one-party system where such office did not exist, it was difficult to fund the office. I am glad the situation has changed these days because the office gets support from other well-wishers.”
In keeping up with her advocacy, the former first lady was featured in Lucius Banda’s song titled Adzayankha in 2007 which tackled issues of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and those with disabilities.
Born on September 25 1964 as Patricia Fukula, at Chimpikizo Village, Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka District, she had to change her first name to Shanil after she married Muluzi as a second wife.
Former UDF publicity secretary Ken Ndanga says the name change was in line with Islamic doctrine.
“The two met in and married 1987 in a civil ceremony when Shanil was working as a teacher at Nkasaulo Primary School in Muluzi’s home district of Machinga. In 1999 Shanil and Muluzi wedded, virtually making her the first lady,” he says.
Ndanga says Muluzi and Shanil had five children, namely twins Karluchi and Edna born on January 19 1988, Zake, Lucy and Tiyamike.
They divorced in 2010 and in 2014 Dzimbiri contested as a member of Parliament for Balaka West Constituency as an independent candidate and won.
However, she lost the constituency to a Democratic Progressive Party candidate, Bertha Ndebele in 2019 after she run on a UTM Party ticket.
UTM spokesperson Felix Njawala says Dzimbiri, who joined the party soon after its establishment in 2018, was instrumental in its affairs.
“She was mature and had experience because she was a former first lady. She was instrumental in that she brought women together,” he explains.
As a dedicated member of the party, the late Vice-President Saulos Chilima appointed her as his personal assistant until their deaths in a plane crash on Monday.
