Online Reporter
Mbulelo Mpofu, [email protected]
HISTORY has a way of feeling distant to many young people. It often lives in textbooks, tucked away in classrooms, remembered only for examinations and assignments. For Bulawayo-born author Golden Mucheto, however, history is something far more alive. It is a collection of stories, mysteries, lessons and identities that continue to shape who Zimbabweans are today.
That belief sits at the heart of his debut novel, Chirorodziva: Pool of the Fallen, a book that blends fiction and history to encourage readers to look again at their past and ask important questions about who they are.
The 31-year-old writer, who grew up in Pumula North, officially launched the novel recently at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The occasion marked the end of a journey that began more than a decade ago when he was still an A-Level student with a notebook, an idea and a deep fascination with Zimbabwe’s history.
The launch attracted literature lovers, artists and members of the public who gathered to celebrate the arrival of a book that has been years in the making. Thaluso Da Poet entertained guests with performances inspired by history, while Cde Phil directed proceedings. Musician Hirev the Rockstar added a musical touch to the afternoon with guitar performances that helped create a warm and reflective atmosphere.
At the centre of the event was a simple but powerful idea. Mucheto believes young Zimbabweans should engage with their history in ways that spark curiosity and excitement rather than seeing it as a subject filled only with dates and facts.
“I wanted to write a story that could educate and entertain at the same time, a story rooted in Zimbabwean history, but told in a way that would awaken curiosity, provoke questions and make the reader want to dig deeper into the past,” he said.
That desire can be traced back to his childhood. Growing up, Mucheto was fascinated by old stories, historical mysteries and relics from the past. His interest deepened when he studied History and Literature at A-Level, subjects that helped him see how stories can connect people to their heritage.
One particular moment stayed with him.
During a school trip to the grave of Cecil John Rhodes in Matobo, his imagination began to wander. Standing at the site, he imagined a conspiracy involving the secret exhumation and removal of
Rhodes’ remains to Britain. What started as a passing thought gradually developed into the foundation of a much larger story.
Over time, that idea evolved into a novel that journeys through some of the most significant chapters of Zimbabwe’s past, including the Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa periods as well as the First and Second Chimurenga.
Mucheto first wrote the story in 2014 while completing his A-Level studies. Armed with little more than determination and a notebook, he penned the manuscript by hand before later typing it and sharing it with family and friends.
The feedback was encouraging. People who read the manuscript believed it had potential. Yet turning a manuscript into a published novel proved difficult. The financial realities of publishing meant the project could not move forward immediately.
Years passed.
Although friends continued to encourage him, including a university friend named Beverly, the manuscript remained largely unseen. Like many creative projects, it sat quietly in the background waiting for the right opportunity.
That opportunity arrived in August 2025.
Mucheto shared the manuscript with a friend and colleague, Privilege, whose enthusiasm for the story convinced him to return to the project. Through recommendations, he was introduced to editors who helped him refine the work and prepare it for publication.
From February this year, he worked closely with a publisher to strengthen key elements of the story, particularly its characters and overall structure. During that process, the novel also underwent a significant change.
Originally titled Reality Bites, the manuscript eventually became Chirorodziva: Pool of the Fallen, a name Mucheto felt better reflected the story’s historical roots and deeper themes.
His background in both History and Psychology also played a major role in shaping the novel.
“History provides the world in which the story unfolds, while Psychology helps explore what happens inside the people who inhabit that world,” he said.
That combination allows the story to move beyond historical events and explore human behaviour, examining how people’s experiences, environments and beliefs influence the decisions they make.
But while the novel draws heavily on history, Mucheto says its real focus is much broader.
At its core, Chirorodziva is about identity.
It asks readers to think about their connection to their culture, their heritage and the generations that came before them. For Mucheto, history should not be viewed as something that belongs only to the past. It is a living inheritance that continues to influence the present.
“If we want to move forward as a people, we must remember where we came from,” he said.
He believes losing touch with history comes at a cost. When communities forget their stories, they risk losing the values, traditions and sense of identity that hold them together.
That concern runs throughout the novel and is reflected in one of its central themes: the tension between preserving heritage and chasing material wealth.
The book repeatedly asks readers to consider what is really valuable.
“If we gain physical wealth but lose our identity, our values and our heritage in the process, have we really gained anything at all?” Mucheto asked.
During a fireside discussion with Samantha Nomaswazi Nunu at the launch, the author explained why he chose to combine established historical facts with fictional storytelling.
His intention, he stressed, was never to alter Zimbabwe’s history but to make it more engaging and accessible, especially for younger generations.
“I didn’t distort our history but married it with a fictitious character to make it more appealing to young. We need to invest more in our history to control our own narratives,” he said.
That commitment to telling Zimbabwean stories from a Zimbabwean perspective is one of the ideas that drives the novel.
Mucheto believes Africans must take ownership of their own stories rather than relying on others to interpret their experiences and history.
The same sentiment is echoed in the book’s foreword, written by Chronicle Quality Editor Stanford Chiwanga.
“In the landscape of African literature, some stories are written to entertain, while others are written to reclaim. Golden Mucheto’s debut novel, Chirorodziva: Pool of the Fallen, belongs firmly to the latter,” Chiwanga writes.
He describes the novel as more than a work of fiction.
“At its heart, this book is an act of remembrance. While the characters navigating these pages are fictional, the ground they walk upon is hallowed by fact,” he writes.
Those observations capture the essence of what Mucheto hopes readers will take away from the book. While the story is fictional, the questions it raises are very real.
Who tells history?
Who owns it?
How should it be preserved?
And what happens when people become disconnected from it?
Those questions generated lively discussion during the launch, particularly around the role of storytelling in a world increasingly shaped by technology and artificial intelligence. One speaker argued that authors represent “Real Intelligence” rather than Artificial Intelligence, highlighting the unique role of human memory, imagination and lived experience in creating meaningful stories.
For Mucheto, the publication of Chirorodziva: Pool of the Fallen is about much more than fulfilling a personal dream.
It is an invitation to young Zimbabweans to explore their roots, question what they know about their past and think carefully about the future they want to build.
From a handwritten manuscript in an old notebook in 2014 to a published novel more than a decade later, the journey has been long and at times uncertain. Yet the result is a book that seeks not only to entertain but also to inspire reflection.
For the young author from Pumula North, what began as an imaginative thought during a school trip has grown into a novel that challenges readers to think deeply about history, identity and heritage.
And perhaps that is the greatest achievement of Chirorodziva: it reminds readers that the past is never truly behind us. It lives in our stories, our values and our sense of who we are.
