Panning: Not for the faint-hearted

By Chemist Mafuba
REASON Kufonya had diamonds for beautiful women in mind when he wrote Gweja Nyumwawo, urging students to finish their education first before they can think of going to pan for the special stone at Chiadzwa diamond mines in the scenic eastern Highlands.

The artist addresses students in the language that stands the test of time and he is mindful enough to put a list of words that have become current in Shona for the elderly to follow the storyline without sweat.
The intractable Mistake Chipikiri, main character, earns the wrath of the school principal at the mission where he is doing Form Six in Masvingo when he strikes his teacher on the head with a stone in order to impress other students with whom he is taking practical lessons in the orchard, where the incident takes place.

The drop-out goes to Chiadzwa which has one of the richest diamond deposits in the world to seek his fortunes. Mistake meets a gang of trouble-makers at Nenhohwe whose hair reaches their shoulders.
“These must be the ‘monya for hire’ whose exploits for notoriety I’ve been hearing about all along,” he thinks to himself.
One of them comes to where he is standing and says, “Dzemabhinya mufana.”

“Do you mean to say that you’re a tsotsi?” Mistake asks him.
“Is this the way tsotsi’s from your home look like?” asks the man, striking fear in Mistake’s heart with his red eyes.
The dreadlocked guy finishes the beer he has been drinking and goes on: “You dare to speak young man? Don’t you know culture? This is the syndicate of Dhiredhi known as Unemployment Benefits. There’s no gweja who doesn’t know it.

“I’ve seen that you’re bharanzi. Now I want kukuheresa all your chibharanzi so that you look sharp.”
“How are the runnings vanaDhiredhi?” asks Mistake, shivering.
“I want to slash you with my knife and put you out in the sun like relish,” says the man in a menacing fashion.

His companion says to him: “Leave that fellow alone, Amato. Let’s go. Don’t hereresa him.”
“Pombiyadonha,” Amato replies, “shut up. Let me hereresa this chap so that he can go back to his home.”
“Tosh”, he calls out.

“Toshinhwa! Come, let us hereresa this young man, who wants to play with culture. This is the end of you,” Amato threatens Mistake.
“What wrong have I done to you, sir?’ asks Mistake in a trembling voice.
“Ah!” exclaims Amato.

“You’re taking me for a rural fellow, don’t you? Don’t you see that we’re the born-location – the town fellows proper? We aren’t like you, the born-to-suffer peasant. You’re putting on airs when I’ve asked you to give me mbanje. You think that I don’t have money on me? You don’t have style, young man.”
He throws the bottle from which he had been drinking beer at Mistake, and it breaks into pieces. The other man drags his companion by the sleeve of his jacket. The two of them go away with a swagger. Mistake examines the bottle and sees that the brewers have written the name Lauzani on it in bold letters. On top of the name, there is the picture of an old man who is sitting on wet dung.

The man is pissed to the point of losing his senses. Lauzani can make one drunk like tototo, kachasu and Pepina. Mistake thinks of the day he imbibed Pepina and sent the class into panic when he screamed, thinking that his teacher’s tie was a snake.
Reason Kufonya would do well not to cramp his work by putting too many episodes in one chapter.

The slang that Kufonya uses is dated. It is preferable to use standard Shona when writing a book like Gweja Nyumwawo that has chances of becoming a classic.
While Mistake is examining the bottle of beer that Amato has thrown at him, he hears rugged voices calling behind him. He starts violently and peers over his shoulder and sees two policemen advancing at him.
“Hey, you! You are committing a crime there! You’re drinking in public and in front of policemen too! Don’t you know that we can arrest you? Do you have money to pay a fine?”

The policemen are swinging their baton sticks in the air. Mistake runs as fast as his legs can carry him. He stops to gain breath when he has reached the place where the two policemen can’t see him.
A storm is rumbling in Mistake’s heart. A short man, dark in complexion arrives where he has stopped. The schoolboy airs that Mistake exude makes him look like a troublesome cow with a bell round its neck that has broken away from the rest of the herd.

Mistake says: “Zhula wezhira! Zhula wezhara!”
The short man says: “Iyazhula wezhira! Iyazhula wezheve!”
Mistake says: “Ghihzaa-a!” The short man says: “Ghihza ghihza! Muface wangu!”

The traditional healer that Mistake had met along the way from school had told him that when somebody says “wezhira” it meant that well met, fellow Zimbabwean. “Wezhara” means somebody who runs from home because of hunger. “Wezheve” means followers of what others do; “vemanzwira-nzwira” means there is food to be had at Chiadzwa. “Muface” means a stranger you have befriended.
The two raise their right fists and press them together like what champion boxers do as a warm up to a fight. They smile at each other.

“I’m Mistake Chipikiri from Chiremwaremwa in Bikita. I was studying Form Six at Mashoko Mission. Who are you?”
“I’m Hardlife Jajarazi, but many people call me Jah. That’s the name I use for wooing ‘zvimoko’ and ‘magero’. I come from Paradza in Gokwe.”
Mistake is surprised to find out that people from afar are the first ones to come and prospect for the country’s riches. These people are enterprising.

“You come from afar,” says Mistake. “Gokwe is very far from Chiadzwa.”
“Friend,” says Hardlife, “people from afar are the ones who kill the hare that you’re used to seeing in your neighbourhood. The popularity of the Chiadzwa diamonds has a magnetic pull. You can’t be surprised to see me from Gokwe where you don’t have to take a plane. There is a glut of prospectors from overseas here. This is my third time to come and make money from diamonds at Chiadzwa.

“What surprises me is that I squandered money in Kwekwe and Kadoma without getting home to my wife and children. I realised that I was neglecting my own cave when the storm of woes soaked me to the skin.”
Mistake is happy that he has found somebody who knows what happens at Chiadzwa. With the money that he will get, he is thinking of how he will buy beer and the meat he will braai.
The two cross Odzi River and go past Mutsetse Village and they drink water from the borehole. “Gweja” means to draw water from the borehole and “nyumwawo” means be suspicious as well.

“Friend,” says Hardlife, “knowing you like what I’ve done makes you more precious to me than my relatives. If I were to die at Chiadzwa, you’d bury me.”
“Ah, my friend!” exclaims Mistake. “How come you talk of death when we’re going to find money in the field where it has sprouted? Who can kill us and why? I was told that money is what dies at Chiadzwa, not a person.”

Hardlife laughs. “You don’t know what you’re going to find there,” he says. “It’s not certain that we’re going to survive. There is no difference between life and death where we’re going.
“Many people are maimed and/or perish at gambling schools or, fighting for women or, fighting for diamonds.
“There’s no place to stay; there is no water to drink; and there are no toilets to use. There are many infectious diseases that you’ll find where we are going. Efforts are being made to force people to return to their homes.

“Police are fighting a losing battle. When they escort people to leave the area, they find new arrivals swarming all over the place.
“The last time I was there, there was talk that the Government would bring soldiers to help police to evict people. It doesn’t help to have people dying when they think that they will find money.”

Mistake is stunned. “Tell me everything, muface wangu.”
“Let me tell you,” says Hardlife, “otherwise people will make you go round in circles when they see that you’re new.
“Chigweja and panning are robbery. It’s illegal for you to pan for diamonds without a permit. The people who pan for diamonds have to be licensed. This country is not for people to do what they want. That is why there are soldiers and police who maintain law and order. If they were not there, people would kill each other until they are finished.”

“You’ve helped me very much, friend,” says Mistake. “I didn’t know that the police and soldiers are doing a lot of good work in that area.”
As the two approach Chiadzwa, Mistake hears the noise people are making. They have agreed that they will work day and night to amass wealth in a short space of time.

When they get to Chiadzwa, they hear what sounds like dynamite exploding. Balls of fire streak into the darkness.
The mob is shouting: “Herere herere! Herere Herere!” The whole forest is rumbling with shouts of “herere, herere”.

Hardlife shouts, “Lets us run. The guns have roared, friend. Chatoherereka!” The whole sky is glowing with fire as though there is thunder and lightning.
Mistake feels his heart beating violently like never before. The pair loses each other in the stampede. Mistake is furious with himself for losing his talisman that is supposed to give him luck in his diamond enterprise.

Reason Kufonya’s style of writing follows in the footsteps of those who have formalised the words “ndiri bho” into standard Shona. They mean I am fine. It will be easier to move a mountain than to make kids change that.

Many books have been written about why diamonds are a beautiful woman’s best friend. Few artists have written books about men who bring special stones out of the ground.
Gweja Nyumwawo is a refreshing piece of art that collectors of books should have on their shelves. Students, miners and police will benefit from it in view of the new speak that people who pan for precious stones use.

Reason comes from Gutu. He went to Gono Primary School and Chitendera Primary School.
He attended Pamushana Secondary School and in 2010, he was studying law with Unisa.
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