adminSamuel Kadungure Senior Reporter
CONTROVERSIAL and unadulterated cultural fanatic Kimpton Mutambara, of Cashel Valley, Chimanimani, who died on October 23, at the age of 83, will be remembered for his bizarre beliefs and way of life which was a departure from the norm.
He could not walk at the time of his death after his legs started swelling in April. His family blamed his demise on witchcraft, arguing that the deceased was among dynasty members tipped to take over the Mutambara chieftaincy.
His body was interred amid controversy. It was clandestinely buried in his yard by his nucleus family only after two days.
Ironically, when his father and then Chief Mutambara died a decade ago, Kimpton did the same – wrestled the corpse and secretly buried it in his yard against the traditional custom of burying the dynasty’s chiefs in a nearby sacred mountain.
It was the personality of Kimpton that used to send shivers down the spines of those who dared mention his name and those within earshot.
He was an ordinary man whose celebrity status emanated from a strange decision he took three decades ago – to completely ostracise himself and his family from the generality of society.
Kimpton chose a life for himself, his wife Tamary, two sons and three daughters by cutting ties with the outside world to guard against cultural erosion and pollution. Kimpton never entertained visitors and the only people he was at peace with were his nucleus family, which in turn, like disciples, religiously adhered to his life style. He modelled his family as a secretive and closed unit.
It was his cardinal principle never to leave his yard – meaning he never visited the shops to buy anything; never attended funerals, family and traditional ceremonies as demanded by dynasty ethos during social, religious and private functions.
His self-imposed exile earned him the nickname ‘Mr Lonely’ while on the other hand his addiction and prowess with bow and arrows prompted others to nickname him ‘‘Lord of the Arrows’’.
As a result he was backward and until a recent visit to his homestead by The Manica Post, Kimpton didn’t know that Zimbabwe once in the recent past had a Government of national unity – having last participated in the 1980 elections – in which his cousin Professor Arthur Mutambara, whose homestead was next to his, was the Deputy Prime Minister.
He did not know either that Zimbabwe had adopted the United States dollar and South African rand as official currencies.
When asked about whether he had taken part in the referendum, Kimpton said he last voted in 1980.
The only time he smiled was when he talked of President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
“Vote? What vote? I cast my vote in 1980 and that was it. What happened to those I voted for? We went to war because we wanted President Mugabe to be our leader. No one else should lead the country. I voted in 1980 and my vote still counts,” he said emphatically.
Kimpton’s grass-thatched huts were colourfully decorated with soil plaster and inscribed with political messages. “Forward with Zanu PF! Let us build Zimbabwe.”
Then there are drawings of a cock, a pangolin and Great Zimbabwe National Monuments.
Mutambara’s sitting place, the Dare – was in front of this decorated house.
“Pass my warm greetings to President Mugabe. Tell him I am fine. I am still strong and I am not polluted by these people staying around me. This is why I don’t associate with them. My children are unpolluted, too. I decided to live closed away from the rest of the cruel world. I believe there should be only one political party, Zanu PF. Some years back I heard by one of my Government visitors that there was a political party funded by Rhodesians and I was very sad. Such people cannot be in contact with my family. No!”
When a family member dies, Kimpton would bury them without the participation of his neighbours, something taboo in the village.
He used to wear animal skins until a recent donation of second-hand clothes for the entire family. His homestead depicted a military base, where security is of paramount importance.
His field is fenced by barbed wire, his homestead is walled by strong dry sugar cane and the gate is always closed. His sons loitered around armed with bows and arrows in the yard, maintaining vigil.
He spoke, briefly, on why he shut himself from the outside world.
“I have come to realise that in life I am surrounded by traitors. I decided not associate with this bunch of village idiots,” said Mutambara, who highlighted his frustration by naming one of his daughters ‘Munozodaani’.
He barred his children from attending school fearing they would be indoctrinated to worldly things.
“The best teacher of a child is his parents, in schools they are taught to be traitors”.
His children were unmarried adults – fuelling speculation among villagers that they engage in incestuous relationships.
Mutambara had a rich orchard moulded around the biblical Garden of Eden, which had sugar cane, indigenous and exotic fruit trees that include mango, lemon, orange, bananas, matohwe and paw-paw, among others.
“I have all the fruits you can think of. I also keep goats and chickens here. I do not need anything from the outside,”
He kept his livestock in such a way they do not interact with those from without.
He was a successful farmer. He had an inexhaustible water supply drawn from a water canal built in 1911 that passes through his homestead.
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