The mention of Rutendo Benson Matinyarare’s name evokes strong emotions.
His admirers praise him as a courageous and patriotic Zimbabwean who has devoted his energy and resources to fighting sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West with verve and vigour.
They point to the relentless campaign launched by the Zimbabwe Anti-Sanctions Movement (ZASM), a civil organisation formed by Matinyarare to fight against "what he terms western imperialism".
His supporters, both at home and in the diaspora, revere him for waging what they call an effective anti-sanctions crusade that has dominated social media platforms.
They also point to his advocacy work aimed at creating awareness regarding the difficulties afflicting the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and highlighting solutions to bring sustainable peace and security to the region.
Conversely, detractors chide him as an over-enthusiastic character motivated by an unbridled desire to always hog the limelight.
They argue that everything Matinyarare touches courts controversy, referring to the many feathers he has ruffled, especially on his micro-blogging X platform.
His critics claim he is unpredictable, pointing to what they describe as a dramatic somersault from being a hard-hitting critic of the Rwandan leadership to becoming a strong supporter of President Paul Kagame and his country.
However, Matinyarare has taken this disparagement in stride, justifying his actions as championing a struggle to unite Africa by erasing the misinformation and tribal differences entrenched by colonizers to keep Africans divided and conquered.
Regarding his decision to abandon his anti-Rwanda stance, Matinyarare insists that he was able to assist in ending the war in Goma in 2025 only because he learned and articulated publicly that the problem in Congo is a colonial creation.
He argues this history exacerbated tribalism, which has kept Africans divided and allowed the West to continue looting African resources while locals fight each other.
According to him, a trip to Congo and Rwanda during the Battle of Goma in February 2025 taught him that the Congo crisis began in 1886 after the Berlin Conference partitioned and separated 43% of the Rugwanda Kingdom (the ancient Kingdom of Rwanda).