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This is because it appears there is a deadlock between chiefs, who are the custodians of our culture, and leaders of a group of war veterans pushing for the holding of rituals at Njelele Shrine in Matabeleland South province purportedly to cleanse them.
Last month, it was reported that groups of people came to the shrine in busloads and desecrated it by bathing naked while a woman who looks after the sacred place watched in awe.
It is the chiefs’ contention that on three different occasions, a group of unknown people numbering about 750, 650 and 150 clandestinely visited the shrine, forced their way in and conducted cleansing rituals without the knowledge and approval of the local traditional leadership.
Chiefs say anyone is allowed to visit Njelele as long as they follow proper channels. Njelele is a national shrine where important traditional rites such as rain-making ceremonies are held and chiefs are the custodians of the area.
While the visit has not gone down well with chiefs and traditional leaders who say the place has been defiled and therefore needs cleansing, it is the insistence by the previous visitors that they want to return that is more worrying.
This is despite sound advice from the chiefs that they should go back to the drawing board and follow proper procedures.
The controversy was re-ignited this week after the group insisted it was going to the shrine despite repeated warnings from chiefs from Matabeleland South and war veterans.
Yesterday, we quoted the president of the Chiefs’ Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira as saying the traditional leaders met the group in the capital and told them to stop their “disrespectful” behaviour.
“We are just coming out of a three-hour long meeting with the group of war veterans, which wants to visit to Njelele. We had provincial chairpersons of chiefs across the country and we told them that we are opposed to their rituals because of certain reasons,” said Chief Charumbira.
“We also met on 20 June after receiving their invitation letter and told them we were opposed to the move. We told them that cultural issues have procedures and practices, which they have to follow.
“As chiefs we are the custodians of culture and they should not invite us but we should invite whoever.
We also questioned why this issue is pushed by Harare province alone if it is a national event? As chiefs, we do not want to be dragged into factional activities as this has the potential of dividing the country and causing tensions between regions and tribes. Our duty as chiefs is to promote unity and honour the 1987 Unity Accord.”
The mind boggles as to why these people still insist that they want to go ahead with their rituals, moreso after the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association and the Zanu-PF leadership have condemned the previous visit as having been unsanctioned and that those involved were renegades.
There are a lot of questions over the visit which the nation needs answers to. Who are the people behind this and why are they not coming out in the open?
Who informed them that they have to visit the Njelele Shrine in order to be cleansed? If it was a traditional healer, then he or she should also come out in the open and explain to the nation why these people should be allowed to defile a national shrine in order to be cleansed.
Njelele, being a national shrine, should be protected under the law but where are our law enforcers as this drama unfolds?
If indeed there is any cleansing to be done on all those who participated in the liberation struggle, why not follow the advice of the chiefs who should rightly lead the process?
And why are other war veterans, led by ZNLWVA leader Jabulani Sibanda, distancing themselves from this?
We believe there are many questions which need answers and that this saga has gone on for far too long and it is time it is brought to an end.
Zimbabweans highly respect the institution of chiefs and it will be a sad day if their advice on issues to do with the country’s traditional values and culture were to be ignored.
Online Reporter