Njelele cleansing hailed

This came out at the cleansing ceremony of the Njelele Shrine on Saturday where its keeper Mr Solifa Ncube (81), popularly known as Khulu Thobela, blamed politicians for being part of the defilement of the place.

Njelele Shrine, situated in Matobo District, was closed recently following unsanctioned recurrent visits by people who claimed to be war veterans.

In an interview at Khulu Thobela’s homestead which doubles as the “Njelele Palace” (Isigodlo) on Saturday, Acting Matabeleland South Provincial Administrator Mr Midard Khumalo said Government was elated by the bravery of traditional leaders who led the cleansing of the shrine.

The shrine was declared reopened on Saturday.

“We want to thank chiefs for taking this decision and liaising with other stakeholders to cleanse the shrine. This unity of purpose shows that our society has values which should be respected,” said Mr Khumalo.

He said the occasion should go down in history as a lesson to every Zimbabwean that tradition should be respected.

“We expect the community to act likewise and show those people who disrespected Njelele and the local leadership that they should respect values. This should be a lesson to everyone in any part of the country and to future generations that chiefs are the custodians of society.

“As Government we are fully in support of chiefs because their power is derived from the Traditional Leaders’ Act, which is enshrined in the Constitution. We therefore welcome what chiefs in Matabeleland South and their counterparts in Matabeleland North and Midlands have done to uphold our traditional values and we will always support them,” Mr Khumalo said.

The cleansing of Njelele started on Wednesday last week and ended in the early hours of Saturday.

Chiefs and traditionalists were camped at the palace and were joined by scores of people from all walks of life on Saturday for other rituals expected to end today.

Spirit mediums and rain-makers known as ihosana were wearing traditional regalia. The majority of people were villagers from Matobo area. A huge tent was erected at the palace to accommodate the delegates. Men and women were busy fetching firewood and water, clear testimony of the revival of the tradition of working together.

The homestead was a hive of activity as women were still busy brewing beer and as the Chronicle crew left the homestead at 4pm, some ihosana were warming drums in preparation for a traditional dance ceremony at night.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Public Service, Andrew Langa, who is also Zanu-PF chairman for Matabeleland South, deputy secretary for information and publicity in the province, Cde Jabulani Phetshu, Minister of the Organ for National Healing and Reconciliation, Moses Mzila Ndlovu and war veterans attended the ceremony.

Chiefs Malaba, Masuku in whose jurisdiction the shrine is, Nyangazonke, Sithole Bakwayi, Masendu, Headman Phondo, who is acting Chief Tategulu from Tsholotsho, led the ceremony and were later joined by Dr Khotsho Bango, among others. The actual cleansing was done at night and by the time the news crew arrived, all that was left was time for merrymaking.

Chief Malaba, on behalf of other chiefs, said they were happy that their efforts had been rewarded as the shrine was now clean and open.

“We were so angry because of these people’s disrespect but now we are happy the shrine has been cleansed. If those people come back again then Zimbabwe has got its laws which should take their course. We would like to thank traditionalists for the efforts they put to correct the anomaly,” said Chief Malaba.

“Umsebenzi usuphelile, umtwana kazalelwa phakathi kwabantu and the keeper knows what should follow later on. The place is for rain making, consultation on diseases and other inflictions and it is open to anyone as long as they use the right channels. We do not enjoy sleeping in open places like this but it is all in the interest of upholding our culture and our hope is that those people would respect our culture.”

Briefing Cde Langa and traditionalist Mr David Mhabhinyane Ngwenya, an inyanga, said the unsanctioned visitors had tampered with the sacred clay pots at the Njelele rock. “We checked with elders and what we saw was that these people tampered with the pots and left them facing downwards yet they are supposed to be facing upwards,” he said.

The unsanctioned visitors jumped over the gate to gain entry.

Khulu Thobela appealed to chiefs to advice their subjects against continuously defiling the place.

“As we checked there were no footprints and those people jumped over the gates and tampered with the pots. There have been a number of activities done by politicians since 1947 when I started going there with my grandfather which defiled the shrine. I appeal to Chief Masuku to gather his people because they are the ones who are dangerous,” said Khulu Thobela while briefing Cde Langa and other traditional leaders.

Emerging from the briefing, Cde Langa said: “As Government we support the efforts of the chiefs and we would want to remind every Zimbabwean that no part of the country has values more important than others. Njelele is for everyone and people should use it as specified by traditionalists and custodians. We would want to thank the chiefs for coming to Khulu Thobela to put heads together and cleanse the place and we are happy that they have indicated that there was not much damage done.”

Cde Langa reminded politicians that politics was rooted in traditional cultural values and as such they should not disrespect chiefs.

Traditionalists had warned that unless proper cleansing was conducted, the unsanctioned visits to the shrine would lead to famine, outbreak of diseases and other natural disasters.

The cleansing ceremony followed concern that Njelele Shrine had been defiled after a group of 568 people who claimed to be war veterans and spirit mediums, forced its way into the place and conducted unsanctioned rituals without the knowledge and approval of local chiefs.

Recently the same group sneaked into Matopos National Park after police blocked them from travelling to Njelele Shrine and reportedly dumped some stones and soil taken from a mass grave in Zambia where former Zipra freedom fighters are buried.

The development has been roundly condemned by war veterans, politicians and chiefs who described the visits as provocative and bent on corrupting the country’s cultural fabric.

The defilement of the shrine has reportedly deprived hundreds of people who travel from all over the world for blessings from the rock as local leaders had since suspended visits to the shrine.