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Richard Runyararo Mahomva
The past week was hyped up by Bulawayo’s annual Intwasa Festival. The opening act of the festival was an exhibition held at the National Gallery in Bulawayo. In my humble understanding, the exhibition was meant to celebrate Shakespeare’s literary legacy 400 years after his death.
Since his death in 1616, 2016 has been punctuated by global exhibitions, festivals and performances particularly inclined to celebrating the legacy of William Shakespeare. Tradition centred on Western arrogation of knowledge represents Shakespeare as a premium playwright and poet ever to exploit the English language as a medium of universal expression. As such, Shakespeare poses as an ancestor of English literature and its role in promoting Western cultural hegemony.
In the UK, the Warwickshire town of Stratford-upon-Avon became the ritual site for extoling Shakespeare’s contribution to Western supremacy through literature. The handpicking of this space to celebrate Shakespeare is by no means an accident.
Where else could be suitable to celebrate Shakespeare’s heritage than his native home, where he was educated, married and raised a family, was enthused to pen voluminous editions of his work? After his passing away on 23 April 1616, his remains were concealed in the local church. One then is left wondering why a festival in independent Zimbabwe celebrates an epitome of cultural coloniality in the guise of promoting cultural diversity.
The logical explanation to this enquiry is that our cultural discourse and the spaces to celebrate what we perceive as “culture” is in imperial hands of the former colonisers of the continent. As such, platforms to celebrate Zimbabwean culture are engulfed by the hypocrisy of celebrating cultural diversity in a manner that conveniently gives pleasure to interests of imperialism at the same time promoting silently coercive global cultural uniformity.
This is why whenever the British and Rhodesians decide to celebrate their heroes of Western expansionism they pour in money to our cultural spaces to remind us of their icons at the same time perpetuating a deceitful merchandising of racial prejudice. If it’s really about promoting cultural diversity, what is the fundamental motive of imposing a commemoration which is more relevant in Stratford to the people of Bulawayo?
Why Shakespeare and not Sigogo, Ndema Ngwenya and other literary legends of this side of the country? At least why not celebrate Marechera whom they awarded the accolade of being a top notch Black writer and still ejected him from their country and university? To make matters worse — the festival in partnership with our National Gallery in Bulawayo and the British Council paid tribute to Shakespeare through an exhibition.
Was that initiative not going to make more sense if it was tribute to the late veteran writer cum visual artist and the esteemed former director of the National Gallery in Bulawayo Dr Yvonne Vera?
On another note, it was also refreshing to have Welshman Hadane Mabhena’s biography released during the same period of the Intwasa festival. On the evening of the 29th of September, Pathisa Nyathi’s Amagugu Publishers launched a new publication which offers a historical excursion through the life of the nationalist — Welshman Mabhena. Cde Mabhena was called to glory on the 5th of October in 2010. The publication offers a fresh narrative of cadre’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s national memory six years after his death.
The biography is a product of the collective effort by Marieke Faber Clare and Pathisa Nyathi. Previously, the two authors penned a historical account of Lozikeyi Dlodlo the Queen of the Ndebele kingdom. The two authors’ recent project affirms that their interests mainly in promoting national memory through biographies of luminary national coins from a more progressively-Ndebele archival record. As a result Pathisa Nyathi has played a central role in this regard as his Amagugu Publishers has produced numerous biographies of former Zipra cadres.
In one of his unpublished writings Nyathi argues that in 1963 Zapu became progressively Ndebele. As such all narratives produced from a Zapu point of view solicit a Ndebele-centred entry into the national discourse. As a point of departure Nyathi argues that this is one of the fundamental terms of confronting realism of ethnicity (Nyathi 2005). Pathisa Nyathi, decided to “decriminalise” the subject of ethnicity, thus validating Brilliant Mhlanga’s call for the celebration of ethnicity and not criminalising it through narrow nationalist discourses.
Zimbabwe’s Cultural Heritage offers a unique contribution to the subject of belonging in Zimbabwe. It avoids both the idea that “patriotic history” should take the lead in constructing the national image, and the anti-nationalist narratives. Hence Nyathi’s work steps away from the literary norm of this time.
This justifies the branding of Mabhena as a “Voice for Matabeleland” in the biography co-authored by Clarke and Nyathi. The publication offers the readers some deep insight into Mabhena’s personal history. Mabhena was born on 26 June 1924 in Nkayi.
Cde Mabhena attended Zinyangeni Primary School before proceeding to Inyathi Mission School for his secondary education.
He then moved to Tiger Kloof in South Africa for further studies and returned to Inyathi Mission before joining active politics.
Mabhena joined the nationalist movement championing the end of white minority rule in the country in the 1950s. He argued that the eviction of his family from Inyathi to Nkayi acted as an impetus which drove him to detest the Ian Smith’s led regime.
According to Enos Nkala, Mabhena was a member of the African National Congress which was then being led by Joshua Nkomo. He became a member of Zapu.
Between 1962 and 1979, he was detained at Wha Wha and Salisbury prisons. A shoemaker by profession, Cde Mabhena was jailed and detained from 1962 to 1979. During that period, Cde Mabhena attained an Advanced Level Certificate and Fellowship of the Association of Certified Bookkeepers of South Africa. In 1985, he was elected Member of Parliament for Nkayi on a PF-Zapu ticket and also became the party’s secretary-general. After the signing of the Unity Accord between Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu in 1987, Cde Mabhena became the Matabeleland North Provincial Chairman of the united party.
In 1990, he was elected Deputy Speaker of Parliament and was later appointed Minister of State for Political Affairs, before being appointed Secretary for Transport and Welfare in the Zanu-PF Politburo.
He was later appointed Matabeleland North Governor — a post he held until his retirement in July 2000.
Online Reporter