adminElliot Ziwira @ The Book Store
“Until lions learn to write their own stories, hunters will always glorify the hunter,” wisely intimates Professor Jameson Kurasha of Mutapa Publishing House in his introductory remarks at the launch of Aneas Chigwedere’s three historical books at the Maestro Restaurant on October 28, 2015.The occasion was attended by Honourable Minister of Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage Cde Abednigo Ncube as guest of honour, Chief Fortune Charumbira, Chief Musarurwa, Cde Arafas Mtausi Gwarazimba, who is the founder of the Gwarazimba Heritage Foundation, which sponsored the Mutasa Manyika Dynasty Project; Vice Chancellor of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) Professor Primrose Kurasha; Mr Elvas Mari, the author’s former Standard Two teacher Mr Zimuto, his former headmaster at Waddilove Institute Mr Malaba, Mbizo Chirasha, the Black Poet and performance poet Linda Gabriel, who organised the flawless event, among other dignitaries.
The three books -“The Anti-Portuguese War 1675-1695” (2015), “The Mutasa Manyika Dynasty 1695-2000” (2015) and “Shona Chieftain: Principles of Succession” (2014), published by Mutapa Publishing House – trace the history of the Shona people with all their dialects like Manyika, Zezuru, Shangwe, Karanga and Korekore. Central to the cultural mores and values of the African people, Shona and Ndebele included, is the divinity of the monarch as the custodian of such mores and values that inform their existence.
The advent of colonialism distorted the cultural laws of succession to such an extent that the traditional institution of the chief and all that he stands for were destroyed. The dynastic nature of the Zimbabwean people who are scattered across the nation, has its roots in probably only four or five progenitors, who were in a way related in one way or another, making the entire nation a compact people that should not be divided by tribalism—itself a creation of the colonial apparatus to divide the Africans for the benefit of the coloniser.
It is against this backdrop that the historian Aeneas Chigwedere, former teacher, headmaster and Minister of Education, Sport and Culture (Primary and Secondary Education), mooted the idea of starting his own publishing company – Mutapa Publishing House – to make it possible for him to tell the story of his people without having to rely on commercially driven publishing houses, whose ideological affiliations are steeped in the Western view of the Africans.
Speaking at the occasion, Professor Kurasha noted the intrinsic nature of history on a nation’s culture which shapes its destiny. It is indeed a reflected internal matter which should not be allowed to be controlled by aliens.
He highlighted the skewed history about African kings and their presumed docile subjects, which the colonial system stuffed down the throats of Africans in the form of “education”. Now that the lions are telling their own story, the “bloodthirsty, violent and schizophrenic” King Shaka of Zululand welcomes the world to his abode, through King Shaka International Airport.
In his prepared speech, Minister Ncube heaped plaudits on the esteemed historian and author’s feet, describing his contributions to history as critical to the fulfilment of his ministry’s mandate. The sponsor of the project on “The Mutasa Manyika Dynasty: 1695-2000”, Cde Gwarazimba, a liberation war veteran, chartered accountant and businessman, spoke glowingly of the author and the outcome of the research on the Mutasa Dynasty of which he is a progeny.
Chief Charumbira, who is also a Senator and has always come to the defence of traditional leaders in Parliament, bemoaned the lack of seriousness in the way their role is articulated. Culture, he said, was central to the moral wealth of any given society, but Africans do not seem to know who they are and where they are going or coming from.
There is a misconception in what should really be called culture, as people tend to pick what suits them leaving out everything else; and this is especially so because Government is not playing its part and telling the Zimbabwean story as it should be told, starting from the role that traditional leaders play.
The colonial mischief of having District Administrators as installers, the use of the colonial red gown and hat and disregard of the chiefs’ divine powers and authority, remains in place. The British, and other Western countries, he decried, revere their queens and kings, as is defined in their cultures but they prescribe to us what our traditional leaders should do or not do as enshrined in alien laws; which give prominence to judges and magistrates who are rather “illegitimate” as they are not democratically chosen.
Although the books were launched at the same day, the researches were done way before they were published. Chigwedere has this to say about the books: “The books were written some time ago, even though they were published this year and end of last year. I have books ready for publication for the next 20 years. Next year around March I will launch three more books.
“When I was requested by the Gwarazimba Foundation to embark on a journey to unravel the history which saw them in Mberengwa, the Mutasa Dynasty, among others, had already been researched into. What I only did was to trace the Gwarazimba family from their ancestor, Sari Mundofa, who fell out with his father Chief Mutasa Pfete, who died in 1795, and left Manhikaland.”
“The Mutasa Manyika Dynasty: 1695-2000” is both astounding and enthralling, especially when it enlightens At The Bookstore’s pen who is of the Tembo Samaita totem, on the history of his dynasty, and how the Shumba Tembo progenies are scattered across the country, as Tembo Mazvimbakupa, Tembo Samaita and Shumba WeMhazi. Because of colonialism, these people, who come from the same progenitor Nyamubvambire 1, are known as tribes; Korekore, Zezuru, Manyika, Karanga and Shangwe.
The province known as Manicaland is a corruption of the word Manhika, meaning “… a view of rugged mountains tumbled together, of deep valleys and running streams — a view such as one would get when descending from the Alps into the plains of Italy,” James Theodore Bent, 1891: cited in Chigwedere (2015:10).
Like the other two books “Shona Chieftainships: Principles of Succession” (2014) and “The Anti-Portuguese Wars 1675-1695” (2015), “The Mutasa Manyika Dynasty: 1695-2000” (2015) purveys the essence of the divine monarch embraced throughout Africa. A monarch or chief is closely linked to his territory, his people’s aspirations, health and prosperity because he was the vicar of the founding father and an intercessor between the living and the dead, his health and vitality or lack of it, therefore, had a bearing on the fortunes of his people.
It is this belief that led to divine assassinations, which were also acceptable, although this was also abused, leading to wanton murders and assassinations culminating in the mass exodus of defeated and disgruntled family members to neighbouring or faraway lands.
Although colonisation played a part in ending the violent assassinations, it changed the whole succession matrix which reduced chieftainship to a circus. The historical books are as informative as they are mesmerizing and thrilling which makes them appeal to readers in pursuit of academia as well as those seeking refreshing “edutainment”. They are a rich source of research fodder for those keen to know their roots.
Online Reporter