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History lessons with Dr Manners Msongelwa
In March 1896 a African policeman was killed by the Ndebele. About 130 Europeans were also killed in mines and on farms in Matabeleland. The struggle was organised by priests, mainly the senior priest, Umlugulu and by senior regimental izinduna. Umlugulu worked closely with other priests such as Mkwati, Siginamatshe. These priests were of the view that Europeans should be removed forcefully both in Mashonaland and Matabeleland to restore the freedom of the people.
The Ndebele had learnt new tactics from the 1893 war. The Ndebele were successful in battle until late April 1896 when white soldiers drove the Ndebele regiments from positions around Bulawayo. By the end of 1896, settler armies had won the war in Matabeleland.
In Mashonaland the Chimurenga came as a surprise to the white settlers as the Shona had given them no trouble at all when they arrived in 1890. Some settlers believed that they were the Shona people’s liberators from harsh Ndebele raids and rule.
Since 1890 the Shona had been reacting sometimes violently against company rule in Mashonaland. When Chief Makoni of Manicaland showed signs of resistance in June 1896, the settler officials thought he was joking. While they were preparing to “teach” him a lesson, all hell broke loose in the Hartley (Chegutu) area. Between 18 and 22 June the Chimurenga had spread to Mutoko, Marondera, Headlands and as far as Makoni District.
Native commissioners, white farm owners and miners were killed in considerable numbers during the first few days of the war. The first Chimurenga in Mashonland was organised in similar ways to that in Matabeleland. Chiefs were united by religious leaders into a strong instrument for carrying out the struggle.
Spirit mediums played a heroic role in bringing unity among chiefs to carry out the struggle. One of these spirit mediums was Mkwati. Mkwati sent his people to central Mashonaland to politicise the masses there.
Chiefs involved in the Chimurenga were Chief Mashayamombe, Chief Mangwende, Chief Nyashanu, Chief Chifamba, Chief Marange, Chief Makoni and Chief Mapondera. In Mazowe, Mbuya Nehanda worked tirelessly by encouraging people to resist colonisation. Apart from being a spirit medium she developed successful plans for resistance and attack.
She forbade Africans from touching anything that belonged to the whites. She promised her people that settlers’ bullets could not harm them. Such encouragement led to a huge uprising by the people of Mazowe and Chiweshe areas. She begun the struggle by sending men to capture the Native Commissioner of Mazowe, Mr Pollard who was executed on her orders. Victorious Africans carried captured goods to Nehanda’s kraal. Mbuya Nehanda became famous among her people. She was later captured and executed on 27 April 1898.
Sekuru Kaguvi, was another spirit medium who became respected and obeyed around the Chishawasha area. Kaguvi told his people to kill and get rid of all whites but not to touch their things. Chiefs such as Makoni, Svosve, Mashayamombe and Nyandoro did as Kaguvi ordered. Attempts to capture Kaguvi failed. Kaguvi surrendered on his own on 27 October 1897. He was executed with Mbuya Nehanda on 27 April 1898. Mkwati was never captured. He died in north-east Zimbabwe while organizing the struggle in that area.
Why Africans were defeated
The Africans were not united as they had two separate armies while the British South Africa Company (BSAC) had one army.
Their primitive weapons such as spears, battle axes and knobkerries could not match the power of modern sophisticated weapons such as machine guns. Arrival of armed volunteers from South Africa to suppress the struggle was another important factor that led to Africans defeat. Africans who hid in caves were killed by the settlers’ army who used dynamite to force them out. Those who were forced out of the caves were immediately executed.
The BSAC went about burning African homes and especially grain bins to starve Africans between January and April 1897. In November 1896, Rhodes managed to persuade the Ndebele to an indaba at Matopos Hills where peace was agreed upon.
This allowed the BSAC to divert all its resources to Mashonaland. If the Ndebele had remained in the war, the resources would have been stretched and its victory would not have been an easy one.
The capture and execution of the Africans’ source of inspiration e.g. Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi in October 1897 finally brought the war to an end.
Dr Manners Msongelwa is the president of History Teachers of Zimbabwe and a Teacher at Camelot College in Kwekwe.
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