All roads lead to Mvurwi as Zimbabwe celebrates Munhumutapa legacy

ALL roads lead to Mvurwi in Mashonaland Central today as Zimbabweans converge for the third Munhumutapa Day commemorations, an occasion that has grown from a symbolic celebration of the country’s ancient heritage into a national platform for reflecting on Zimbabwe’s past, present and future.

More than 100 000 people are expected to attend the festivities, with people from all eight districts of Mashonaland Central — Bindura, Mbire, Guruve, Mount Darwin, Rushinga, Shamva, Mazowe and Muzarabani — expected to make their way to Mvurwi.

The sheer scale of the gathering speaks to the growing significance being attached to Munhumutapa Day, which this year assumes an even greater national character after President Mnangagwa proclaimed September 15 a public holiday through Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026 under the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act (Chapter 10:21).

This is the first time the occasion is being observed as a national public holiday.

The proclamation effectively moves Munhumutapa Day beyond the confines of a political or cultural event and places the country’s pre-colonial history firmly within the national calendar.

It is a significant development in a country whose history has, for decades, been contested, distorted or viewed largely through the prism of colonial narratives.

At its heart, Munhumutapa Day is about reclaiming a Zimbabwean story — one that predates colonialism and recognises the political organisation, economic sophistication, ingenuity and resilience of African societies that flourished in this part of the continent.

Munhumutapa was the title given to rulers of the pre-colonial Mutapa State, whose influence extended across large parts of present-day Zimbabwe and neighbouring territories.

The Mutapa State was part of a sophisticated network of political and economic activity, with trade linking the interior of southern Africa to the wider world.

That history matters because it challenges the outdated notion that Africa’s development story began with colonialism.

The enduring legacy of Great Zimbabwe, constructed from locally available granite without mortar or steel, is perhaps one of the clearest reminders of the ingenuity of earlier generations.

The monument stands as physical evidence of what Africans achieved with the knowledge, technology and resources available to them at the time.

It is this spirit of ingenuity, perseverance and self-belief that Government and organisers are seeking to connect with Zimbabwe’s contemporary development aspirations.

Speaking at Pricabe Farm on Sunday, where President Mnangagwa hosted Cabinet ministers and traditional leaders, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Minister Dr

Anxious Masuka said the proclamation of Munhumutapa Day was a recognition of the sacrifices and achievements of the country’s forebears.

“As a country, we have risen to the occasion to recognise our forebears,” he said.

Dr Masuka said Great Zimbabwe’s construction demonstrated the ingenuity and perseverance of earlier generations.

“That ingenuity, that perspicacity, that perseverance is what is being recognised through Munhumutapa Day on September 15,” he said.

The coincidence of the holiday with President Mnangagwa’s birthday has added another dimension to the celebrations.

Rather than simply being a birthday commemoration, the occasion has been presented as an opportunity to draw a line between the achievements of Zimbabwe’s ancestors and the country’s contemporary nation-building efforts.

Dr Masuka said the coincidence was befitting, given what he described as the President’s efforts to draw inspiration from the country’s history.

“And we draw inspiration from this leader, who is following in the footsteps of our ancestors. So, what better coincidence than to declare that day on his birthday?” he said.

This is where Munhumutapa Day acquires its political significance.

The initiative, conceived by the Zanu PF Youth League, seeks to draw parallels between the nation-building achievements associated with the Mutapa rulers and the Second Republic’s pursuit of Vision 2030.

The comparison is anchored on the philosophy Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo, which places national ownership and collective participation at the centre of Zimbabwe’s development agenda.

The message is straightforward: Zimbabwe’s development cannot be outsourced.

The responsibility for building the country rests primarily with Zimbabweans themselves, just as earlier generations built political and economic systems from the resources available to them.

Under the Second Republic, this philosophy has been translated into a range of development initiatives, with Government placing emphasis on infrastructure development, agricultural transformation, industrialisation, investment, housing and the empowerment of young people.

The launch of the Munhumutapa Housing Scheme during this year’s celebrations provides perhaps the clearest example of how the commemoration is being linked to contemporary development.

A 259-hectare housing scheme is being launched, with 2 000 youths expected to benefit from stands at Mvurwi, while additional land has been identified at Kimcourt in Centenary and Bindura.
The housing initiative is particularly significant as it places young people at the centre of the celebrations.

More than 30 000 youths from the country’s 10 provinces are expected to attend, turning the event into more than a historical gathering.

For the young people attending, the Munhumutapa legacy is therefore being presented not merely as something to be remembered, but as an inspiration for what can be achieved in the present.
This is an important distinction.

A national holiday that only looks backwards risks becoming another ceremonial date on the calendar. But one that uses history to inspire action has the potential to become a powerful instrument for nation-building.

Munhumutapa Day can therefore serve as a bridge between history and the future.

Its significance should extend beyond political rallies and annual speeches to classrooms, universities, museums and cultural institutions, where Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial history can be examined more deeply.

Young Zimbabweans need to understand that the country’s heritage includes sophisticated systems of governance, agriculture, mining, manufacturing and trade that existed long before colonial rule.

That historical consciousness can help build confidence in the country’s capacity to chart its own development path.

The title Munhumutapa itself carries symbolism. Loosely translated as “the one who conquers”, it evokes ideas of leadership, resilience, authority and nation-building.

These are themes that the Second Republic associates with its own development programme and the pursuit of an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

The challenge, however, is to ensure that the celebration of the Munhumutapa heritage is matched by tangible development.

The housing scheme is one such example. The same principle can be extended to education, skills development, entrepreneurship, agriculture, industrialisation and cultural preservation.

The lesson from history should be that greatness is not inherited; it is built.

This is perhaps the most important message emerging from the decision to elevate Munhumutapa Day into a public holiday.

Zimbabwe is not simply celebrating an ancient empire. It is attempting to create a national conversation about where the country came from, who built it and what today’s generation must do to take it forward.

For President Mnangagwa, whose birthday falls on the same day, the celebrations provide an opportunity to reinforce the Second Republic’s development narrative.

The symbolism is obvious: the legacy of the Munhumutapa rulers is being invoked alongside the President’s call for Zimbabweans to build their country “brick upon brick”, guided by the principle that the nation must be built by its own people.

But ultimately, the lasting value of Munhumutapa Day will be measured not by the size of today’s crowd in Mvurwi, impressive as that gathering is likely to be, but by whether the historical pride generated by the celebrations translates into a deeper commitment to national development.

As thousands gather today, the message should therefore go beyond ceremony.

It should remind Zimbabweans that their ancestors achieved remarkable things with limited resources and that the present generation, armed with education, technology, finance and access to global markets, has even greater opportunities.

The third Munhumutapa Day is consequently more than another date on the national calendar.

It is an assertion of historical identity, a celebration of indigenous achievement and, increasingly, a political statement about Zimbabwe’s determination to define and build its own future.

From Mvurwi today, that message will resonate across the country, lest Zimbabwe forgets where it came from, and lest it fail to use that history as inspiration for where it is going.