The Sunday Mail
The Nyamweda people and communities living around the Nharira Hills are determined to preserve Sekuru Botemupote Mushore’s legacy.
In the early 1960s, Sekuru Mushore — the late spirit medium and custodian of the sacred hills — which are located near Norton and about 20 kilometres west of Harare — moved onto Saffron Walden Farm, on which the hills are located.
The colonial regime reacted swiftly and brutally, evicting the spirit medium in 1964.
Undeterred, the spirit medium was back at the hills after independence as he, together with 200 of his relatives, once again returned to the hills in 1996. Until the day he breathed his last, Sekuru Mushore was determined to make sure that the important heritage site, where important traditional rituals are conducted, remained untainted.
A prolonged fight for the control of the site ensued with Ross Hinde, the white commercial farmer on whose farm the hills sit, frantically trying to have the spirit medium and his people evicted.
After intensive lobbying, Government finally declared the Nharira Hills a National Monument in 2000. The Nyamweda tribe was elated as they freely accessed the hills they hold dearly for traditional purposes.
Following the passing on of Sekuru Mushore some few years ago, the Nyamweda clan, in collaboration with stakeholders living in areas surrounding the hills, have been making serious efforts to have the heritage site where rainmaking rituals are conducted, preserved.
“He risked everything so that this important cultural heritage remains what it is today. As his children, the only way that we can honour him is by making sure that the ideals that he stood for are fulfilled,” Mr Israel Kawanzaruwa, the late spirit medium’s eldest son said.
The recently formed Nharira Hills Trust, which is made up of members of the Nyamweda clan and other stakeholders, is currently engaged in a massive thrust to preserve the heritage site and also to make it a hotbed of heritage tourism.
Apart from being a burial ground for members of the Nyamweda clan, Nharira Hills is an important rain-making shrine for Zimbabwe.
Recently, The Sunday Mail Society went on a guided tour of the site and witnessed the transformation of the once sleepy and neglected site into a major heritage site.
Construction work has already begun for a cultural centre where such traditional artisanal skills as pottery, iron smithing and weaving, among others, will be taught to interested persons.
With the introduction of heritage studies in the new curriculum, the proponents of the idea to turn the site into a major heritage hub are anticipating that schools will in the near future embark on guided tours of the site.
Massive and beautiful stone works are being undertaken at the site’s main entry point.
Under construction are several other beautiful thatched structures that will serve different purposes such as information centres.
One of the site’s major attractions will surely be the late Sekuru Mushore’s meeting place — the dare.
Several traditional artifacts and ceremonial weapons such as knobkerries and spears are on display.
Apart from the stone structure that was used by the late spirit medium there are also three other huts that house visiting women and men. A hut that will be used for the purposes of brewing beer was being thatched. The mysterious rain-making tree will be a major attraction and so will be a maze of caves and underground tunnels. According to Kawanzaruwa, all the five Nharira Hills are interconnected by underground tunnels.
“The Nharira Hills are five hillocks that are used for different purposes. We use some of the hills for rainmaking purposes whilst others are burial grounds for members of our clan. Apart from the hills, there are sacred pools that are found in rivers that run across this area,” added Mr Kawanzaruwa.
The sacred hillocks that make the Nharira Hills are Bvopfo, Mafemera, Nharira, Chiburi and Vashamira.
Century-old grain are also found in some of the caves. Last year, a man from Kuwadzana, Harare died after falling off Bvopfo. According to the custodians of the hill, the man disregarded certain traditional rituals.
Although the Nharira Hills appears as if they are like any other hills, they are one of the heritage sites that are abundant with stunning historical artifacts.
It is widely believed that an underground tunnel links the Nharira Hills to the Chirorodziva Caves in Chinhoi, some 118kms away.
According to Mr Kawanzaruwa, each hillock has a sacred rain-making tree, which mysteriously grows only at the entrance of a cave. The Nyamweda clan also regard an island on Lake Chivero sacred.
