The Sunday Mail
Brutal past . . . The plague which was erected by the colonialists
As Colonel Pennefather’s Pioneer Column advanced towards what is now Harare from South Africa in 1890, it committed heinous atrocities and left behind a trail of destruction.
Just like the other black communities that lived along the route taken by the column, the people of Chikomba district in Mashonaland East also suffered at the hands of the invading colonialists.
Historians state that on September 3, 1890, a detachment from the column was left behind to build a fort on a plateau near present-day Chivhu.
Named Fort Charter, the colonial establishment was built opposite Chief Mutekedza’s kraal, marking the beginning of hostilities that led to the execution of thousands of black people.
Both written and oral history state that as soon as the colonialists established Fort Charter, a prison was built to house the many locals resisting subjugation.
As the number of prisoners incarcerated at the fort swelled, the colonialists dug a large pit in which those black people that were accused of resisting white rule were summarily executed. Those convicted were executed in a cruel, undignified and barbaric manner — they were thrown into a large pit and burned alive.
As a result of the mass and brutal executions, the area surrounding Fort Charter became known as Chikomba, in reference to the pit (gomba) that the locals were thrown into, to be consumed by the raging fire. A century after its establishment, the actual place where Fort Charter was located is still infamously referred to as PaDhirongo, meaning jail.
Since Independence, very little, if nothing, has been said about the thousands of people brutally murdered and burned alive at Fort Charter.
Historical accounts states that First Chimurenga heroes Chiefs Chiwashira and Chikonamombe were beheaded at Fort Charter and their heads were shipped to London as war trophies.
The colonialists were irked when Chief Chiwashira, who was resisting European encroachment, went on to marry and father children with a white man’s wife.
Chief Chiwashira’s head is believed to be in a London museum and there have been calls by his descendants to have this returned home.
When The Sunday Mail Extra visited the site of the former fort where thousands of black civilians were butchered in cold blood, only a plaque reading “Fort Charter 1890” sculpted out of granite block remains, completely whitewashing the place’s brutal history.
Acacia trees have since grown at the centre of the pit in which many were burnt alive. Although Fort Charter was operational over a century ago, the boundaries marking the dreaded pit that consumed some of the pioneers of the country’s struggle for Independence are still clearly visible.
Considering the large size of the pit, it is possible that hundreds of people could be burned alive at the same time.
“Strange things sometimes happen here. For instance, strong, unexplained winds sometimes bombard this place. The spirits of the people that were murdered here needs to be appeased,” said Tendai Mabhundu, whose homestead is not far from the site.
Mabhundu, who has lived at Charter Estates since the late 1990s, urged Government to make sure that the important historical site is safeguarded.
“Traditional leaders are no longer performing traditional ceremonies at the site. The place must be fenced and veld fires that sometimes consume this place must be avoided. The spirits of our heroes that were callously murdered here will never rest until certain conditions are met,” Mabhundu said.
Mabhundu called for the erection of a war memorial at the site, saying this would help preserve history as well as attract tourism.
