THE CHEWA PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE

ChiChewa is recognised as an official language in terms of the constitution of Zimbabwe. ChiChewa is a Bantu language spoken in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe & Mozambique. (Adventist ladies singing in ChiChewa – Malawi)
The first generation of people of Malawian/Zambian origin came to Rhodesia between the1930s and 1950s to work in mines and farms. Some of the Chewa people also came from Zambia. The ChiChewa dialect spoken in Zambia is known as ChiNyanja. (An old ChiNyanja hit!).

Not all Malawian descendants in Zimbabwe are Chewa nor are all ChiChewa speakers Malawians. Thus, many Malawian migrants do not belong to the Chewa ethnic genealogy, but they speak the general ChiChewa language.Some are Manganja, Yao, Nguru/Lomwe, Angoni or Tumbuka.

Some Chewa people in Zimbabwe still practice a spiritual cultural practice known as Gule Wamkulu/ Nyau dances (izitandari/zvigure). The Gule Wamkulu institution has an aim of transforming their members into an exalted status of adulthood as well as entertaining the audience.

Many Malawians/Zambians are now integrated into the Zimbabwean social fabric through intermarriages and acculturation that has happened over the decades. ChiChewa was taught in Rhodesia up to Standard 6 but this stopped after independence.

ChiChewa speakers are found in mines like Alaska, Trojan, Wankie, Shamva, Madziba, Mazoe, Acturus, Antelope and Mangura mines.They are also found in Triangle and Hippo Valley sugar plantations.Former Zambian president Rupiah Banda was born and raised in the Gwanda mining town.

In Harare, they are concentrated in Mufakose, Mabvuku and Tafara. In Bulawayo, they are concentrated in Sizinda, Matshobana, Makhokhoba, Njube, Tshabalala and Luveve. Some of these townships like Sizinda are railway workers’ communities.

ChiChewa music is played in Zimbabwe by artists like Nicholas Zakaria, Alick Macheso, Daiton Somanje etc. People of Malawian/Zambian descent have dominated football circles in Zimbabwe in top clubs like Highlanders / Dynamos for decades.

At some point during the colonial era between 1953 and 1963 Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi were a federation of countries known as the the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The official languages of the federation were English, Ndebele, Shona, Chewa and Bemba.

ChiChewa programmes and news are broadcast on National FM. A ChiChewa community radio station is earmarked for Shamva because of the dominant ChiChewa community in the area.