‘Kuita Content Nenhamo Dzevamwe’: Content creators and the shame of exploiting grief

…They attend funerals just for them to trend and get likes on internet*

The tragic death of three minors in Kuwadzana Extension last week gripped Zimbabweans, both locally and abroad.

Families were shattered and society is still battling for answers as to how the children found themselves in a car boot and died without anyone hearing them crying for help.

A lot of theories have been thrown around and police and later post mortem results dispelled claims that there were body parts missing on the minors. But amid the grief, a disturbing trend emerged.

An alarming number of so-called Zimbabwean celebrities took to social media not to comfort, console, or help, but to leverage tragedy for attention.

These supposed influencers became the centre of attraction from the day the three bodies were discovered in the car boot last week on Friday.

In their scramble for relevance, a good number of our so-called celebrities and influencers crossed moral and ethical lines, turning a community’s pain into content for likes, followers, and online applause.

This behaviour, sadly, is not new on the local landscape and the Kuwadzana tragedy exposed just how far the culture of clout chasing has eaten into the conscience of some of our public figures.

While the rest of the community was observing a moment of empathy, the social media influencers grabbed the opportunity to trend and boost their audiences.

They took turns to post pictures of the grieving families but also filmed themselves at the scene and making supposedly emotional videos that however, conveniently highlighted their own “compassion” rather than the victims’ plight.

As the battle for relevance and dominance intensified, some even found themselves violating the country’s laws as they blatantly turned the tragic death into a marketing opportunity.

Inevitably, society was not amused and a good number called out the wrong doers and telling them that there are limits — moral, ethical, and human — to what should be used for attention online.

Under normal circumstances, a celebrity’s influence should come with responsibility and social media reach should never translate into entitlement over people’s private pain.

When minors die, and their parents are mourning, the decent thing to do is to give them space, not turn their suffering into a backdrop for personal branding. Posting about a tragedy is not wrong in itself — awareness matters. But the intent and manner matter more. Was the post meant to comfort the bereaved, mobilise assistance, or simply farm likes?

The difference is often glaring.

Desperation for online relevance made our so-called influencers and socialites forget basic human decency. The pressure to remain visible, to trend, to keep engagement numbers high, has clearly eroded compassion.

While the bad apples turned the Kuwadzana tragedy into entertainment, there are many Zimbabweans who quietly reached out to assist the bereaved families, while others used their voices to advocate for community safety and child protection — without fanfare.

As highlighted in the ensuing backlash, the lesson from this sad episode is that fame without empathy is hollow and the pursuit of clout must never come at the expense of humanity.

As such, celebrities and influencers must always exercise restraint and sensitivity especially when dealing with loss of life. No amount of social media followers or fame can sanitise the stain of exploiting grief and it is time for the clout chasers amongst us to reflect.

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