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Elliot Ziwira At the Bookstore
Former Education Minister and Mashonaland East Governor Aeneas Chigwedere, who succumbed to Covid-19 on January 22, 2021 and was buried on January 24 at his farm in Marondera, was more than a historian; he was a passionate doyen.
Soon after the colossal historian and educationist’s death, President Mnangagwa conferred a Liberation Hero Status on him.
It is not our culture at the Bookstore to write obituaries, nor are eulogies our forte.
We derive our strength in books in their multifarious readings.
That is our tradition, for it is in books that the essence of humanity lives; because art in all its controversies, mirrors life.
Where life exists, death thrives also, in an embrace that leaves us, the jaundiced, counting our losses as if to die is to lose. And in that necessary combination history is forever made, lived and relived.
Because history is the launchpad of a people’s forward thrust, as past and present memories interact and merge, the late Chigwedere’s name featured prominently here at the Bookstore over the years, and will continue to do so.
The interface between history and literature makes it imperative that it does so.
Chigwedere was passionate about history; the history of his people. He contributed immensely to both history and literature in Zimbabwe, for a reading of one is a reading of the other.
He believed that: until lions learn to write their own stories, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
Colonialism did not only rob indigenous people of their ancestral land, but its advent destroyed shrines and cultural norms central to Africans’ well-being.
It 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 ancestors, who were in a way related in one way or another.
This makes the entire nation one people that should not be divided by ethnicity — itself a creation of the colonial apparatus to divide the Africans for the benefit of the settler.
It is against this backdrop that Chigwedere, a 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.
His objective was to tell the story of his people from an Afrocentric viewpoint, so that they would not have to rely on commercially driven publishing houses, whose ideological affiliations are steeped in the Western view of the African.
On October 28, 2015, I was invited to attend the occasion of the launch of Chigwedere’s three historical books at the Maestro Restaurant in Harare.
The event was attended by then Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage Minister Abednigo Ncube as the 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; Professor Jameson Kurasha and his now late wife, then Vice Chancellor of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) Professor Primrose Kurasha.
Also in attendance were Mr Elvas Mari, Mr Zimuto, the late historian’s former Standard Two teacher, his former headmaster at Waddilove Institute Mr Malaba, Mbizo Chirasha, the Black Poet, author Tinashe Muchuri 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), were all published under the Mutapa Publishing House label. They 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.
Chigwedere understood the intrinsic nature of history on a nation’s culture, which shapes its destiny. It is, indeed, a reflected internal matter that should not be allowed to be controlled by aliens.
He was aware of the skewed history about indigenous kings/chiefs 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, as Prof Jameson Kurasha highlighted at the launch.
Minister Ncube (Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage) heaped plaudits on the esteemed historian and author’s feat, 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 historian and the outcome of the research on the Mutasa Dynasty of which he is a progeny. Chief Charumbira, who 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, yet 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.
Chigwedere was of the belief that the Zimbabwean story should be told as it should be, 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 (which traditional leaders agreed to discard), and disregard of the chiefs’ divine powers and authority, are issues that require urgent attention.
Although the books (all gracing the shelves of the Bookstore) were launched at the same day, the researches were done way before they were published.
Chigwedere revealed to the Bookstore then: “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 (2016) 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.”As a descendant of the Mutasa dynasty, I am enthralled by “The Mutasa Manyika Dynasty: 1695-2000”. It has enlightened me on my totem Tembo Samaita, and how the Shumba Tembo descendants are scattered across the country, as Tembo Mazvimbakupa, Tembo Samaita and Shumba WeMhazi. Because of colonialism, these people, who come from the same ancestor Nyamubvambire 1, are known as ethnical groups; Korekore, Zezuru, Manyika, Karanga and Shangwe.
According to Chigwedere, 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” (citing James Theodore Bent, 1891).
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” 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 is the vicar of the founding father and an intercessor between the living and the dead, his health and vitality or lack of it, therefore, has 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.
Chigwedere’s books are as informative as they are mesmerising 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. They situate the essence of spirituality to Africans and how settlers dealt with the issue by destroying indigenous people’s shrines.
In the book “British Betrayal of Africans: Land Cattle Human Rights” (2001), Chigwedere argues how settlers benefitted from the illegality of the Rudd Concession of 1888 and the 1891 Lippert Concession.
The concessions were void at the level of both law and social justice, yet the British South Africa Company premised its occupation on them.
All the challenges that the nation-state faces today are traceable to the chicanery spearheaded by the colonial godfather Cecil John Rhodes, and his so called Pioneer Column.
A doyen of history, Chigwedere had the history of his people at his fingertips.
He attested to this once again in May 2018, when I was working on a story on a place known as Chikomba in Mashonaland West.
The name is derived from an abyss or hell; Dhorongo, Gehena or Gomba in Shona. It is a culmination of the colonial apparatus for plunder, brutality and violence against the indigenes. It is not Chikomba as in “boyfriend”, no.
After visiting the area, I called the late historian, and outlined my story. Off the cuff he gave me all the details of the story of Chikomba, as it had been told and more. I was astounded to say the least.
The story is told of one Chiwashira Muchecheterwa of the Masarirambi/Nyashanu/Museyamwa clan; whose people, the VaHera, occupied the land near Featherstone and were known for their massive cattle herd.
The Chikomba area, which was home to the VaHera, Njanja, Maromo and Rozvi people, had been occupied by Europeans; the English and Boers since the 1850s, who were angling for the Chiwashiras’ cattle and land.
Naturally, Chiwashira vowed not to take whatever was to come to his people lying down.
According to Chigwedere, the First Chimurenga was ignited around the Chikomba area, which the white settlers called “The Nursery of the Shona Rebellion”, and according to Munhamu Pekeshe in his article titled “Tormenting whites from a British museum: The legacy of Chiwashira” (The Patriot, August 20, 2015), the rebellion pivoted on four individuals; Bhonda, who was a Mwari priest, Sango; a spiritual figure and headman, Maromo and Chiwashira as a well as a fifth one, who, however, was to the west of Chikomba; Mashayamombe of Mhondoro.
It was such a formidable quintet, no wonder why the area was referred to as the nursery of the rebellion. Both Pekeshe and Chigwedere concurred that the spiritual component of the rebellion was of essence in bringing our people together in the fight against colonial oppression.
Although versions differ at every turn, Chigwedere refuted that Chiwashira was in love with a white woman or that he was a rapist; hence, his brutal death at Dhorongo or Gomba (hell), a view that was shared by the First Chimurenga hero’s descendants Tichadii Ziwenga Chiwashira and incumbent Chief Mutekedza, Andrew Zhakata.
According to Chigwedere, when the war broke out, one William Taylor, who was the first Native Commissioner of Chikomba (Enkeldoorn) in May 1895, left his wife behind and Chiwashira captured her, forced her to dress like the VaHera women and cut incisions on her body, which irked Taylor and his fellow settlers on their return.
With the war having been lost on our part in October 1897; Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi hanged in April 1898, colonialists set out to thwart any future resistance.
They rounded up all the leaders of the First Chimurenga and burnt them to death, or rather “roasted” them on spikes at Dhorongo, which remains a glaring reminder of the brutality and evil nature of colonialism and all that it symbolises.
But the heroes of our first struggle against colonialism, who met a cruel demise at Gomba, did not die in vain. Their bones indeed rose, as the abyss became a womb to new heroes, who took the struggle to winning ways.
Go well, the people’s historian! We are poorer, yet richer without you, as your contributions to both our history and literature live on.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter