The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara and Goodwill Zunidza
“My bones shall rise again.”
This defiant statement, which was a prophecy by the spirit medium Mbuya Nehanda as she faced death at the hands of British settlers in 1898, continues to reveal itself to this very day.
Revered as the first heroine of the Zimbabwe liberation struggle, traditionalists strongly believe that current developments, that have seen descendants of slain First Chimurenga heroes coming together to claim justice from the British government, is part of a fulfilment of Mbuya Nehanda’s prophecy.
Recently, descendants of slain First Chimurenga warriors Chingaira, Mashayamombe, Chiwashira and Mapondera have since came together and are pressing for the return of the heads of their ancestors.
A committee which is made up representatives from slain warriors’ families has since been formed.
The committee will work with Government to make sure that the British government releases the heads of the slain First Chimurenga heroes.
“Since the death of Mbuya Nehanda, her prophecy is being revealed. Since I am a descendant of the Rozvi people, I have been tasked with bringing the families of the slain First Chimurenga fighters together so that they pressure the British government to release the heads of their forefathers,” said Mr Campson Tsvetu.
Chief Makoni, whose forefather, Chief Chingaira was executed and beheaded, set up a sub-committee that will approach the Government seeking advice on how to take up the matter with the British government.
The Makoni sub-committee is made up of headmen Chikono, Nyahada, Mukuwapai and Muswere.
Musician Willis Watafi, a great-grandson of Chinengundu Mashayamombe, was recently named to head a delegation of other descendants and family members of the slain rainmaker to London to press for the return of Mashayamombe’s head and his mystical walking stick.
A representative of the Hwata family, Mr Weston Mandere said Mbuya Nehanda’s prophecy has since been revealed.
“It is not by coincidence that the First Family reclaimed land in Mazowe. Local spirit mediums had predicted the move long before the start of the land reclamation exercise. What is left is the return of Mbuya Nehanda’s head,” Mr Mandere said.
According to Mr Mandere and the local traditional leaders, the remains of Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, the female incarnation of the oracle spirit Mbuya Nehanda, were buried at a farm which is adjacent to First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe’s farm.
The body of Charwe, who was executed and her head shipped to London, lies in an unmarked grave.
“This is no coincidence. Of all the farms in the country, why did the First Lady choose to stay at Iron Mask Farm where the remains of Mbuya Nehanda were interred? We will soon approach the Government as we seek guidance on how we can engaged the British over the missing heads,” added Mr Mandere.
According to oral and written history, Mbuya Nehanda resided in the Baradzanwa Chebanga hills which are located in present-day Chidamba Village in Mazowe. The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe has since declared the hills a national heritage.
“We are going to lobby the Government to establish a First Chimurenga museum at Baradzanwa. The statues of such First Chimurenga heroes as Chingaira and Mapondera must be erected at Baradzanwa. It is high time our history is corrected,” Mr Mandere said.
Last year, chiefs from across the country converged at Baradzanwa seeking spiritual guidance for peaceful elections. The Mazowe mountain ranges is home to six people that were possessed by the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda.
From the Mashayamombes, Watafi urges a national convergence to thank the ancestral spirits for guiding the liberation struggle and says the repatriation of looted relics must form part of a national agenda.
According to the Natal Mercury, Mashayamombe, who was also known as Chinengundu on account of his dreadlocked head, “showed prospector Henry Hartley a rich reef of gold on the northern bank of the Mupfure River and he became the first Englishman to be shown gold in the country. He broke the news to Thomas Baines and German explorer Carl Mauch.’’
Continued the Natal Mercury: “Several years after the discovery in 1865, Rhodes dispatched the Pioneer Column in 1890, which was in essence a controlled gold rush. Every member was promised 16 gold mining claims. Once they got to Salisbury on September 12 1890, they rushed to Mashayamombe’s ‘Hartley Hills’ to stake their claims.
A leading pioneer confirms this gold rush: “We were seized with the gold fever, and immediately after disbandment, we rushed off on horseback, in wagons or with donkeys to the ‘Hartley Hills’ in a mad rush to stake out fortunes in gold properties.”
When eventually the Mashayamombe people ran away or refused to work for the miners, the Native Commissioner for Hartley, David Moony, set up an office at Muzhuzha, one of Mashayamombe’s headmen, to press-gang them to work on the mines. One day Moony confronted Muzhuzha on why he was not sending men to the mines. Moony beat up Muzhuzha in front of his subjects. The angry people killed Moony.
Two other white men, John Stunt and A Shell, came looking for Moony. They were bound and thrown into the Mupfure River. The killing of the three white men signalled the start of the First Chimurenga in Mashonaland.
On June 21 1896, Captain JF Taylor was sent to attack Mashayamombe. They were repulsed and they retreated. Then a force from Salisbury under Captain PA Turner burned Chifamba and Muchena’s villages. But their advance was halted as they entered Mashaymombe’s stronghold on the banks of Mupfure. Turner fled back to Salisbury.
Mashayamombe pursued them and Turner was killed in flight. Mashayamombe’s area was rid of settlers except a small number at Hartley Hills. He laid siege to this group at Hartley Hills. Rhodes sent a force to rescue the miners. Mashayamombe broke his siege and went back to his fortress along the Mupfure River.
“In April 1896, Lt Colonel Edwin Alderson of the Queen’s West Kent Regiment was sent to Rhodesia commanding four companies of mounted infantry to deal decisively with Mashayamombe.
Lt Alderson had at his disposal 622 men, 311 of them regular imperial troops.
Several accounts talk of another reinforcement under Major AV Turner who joined Lt Alderson as between 180 and 200. Thus the total troop complement was in excess of 1 000.
McGregor, who was involved in the fighting, said: “My company saw very little of the other troops as the front of the position was extensive and intervening hillocks divided us into separate units.
“As we slithered down the sloping ground, volleys fired in rapid succession greeted us. In one place the rebels had posted themselves under the river’s original bed and were firing at us between the rocks. The rally call now sounding, we postponed our advance and returned to camp for the night . . .
“The next day it was our turn to guard the camp, so I know little of the engagement which took place, but the firing was heavy and incessant. When the force returned at sunset we found that our own casualties were on the increase. The accounts given of the days’ work varied, but I concluded that in spite of all possible efforts, it was unpredictable to dislodge the rebels from their caves.
“On the third day, it was our turn again and we soon arrived at the river’s bank. A large kraal showed on the crest of the rocks opposite and we decided to assault it when a muffled report came followed by a cry ‘Coryndon’s shot’. Coryndon, a young fellow had been shot through the head as he was passing the mouth of a cave.
“We sent for dynamite. Volunteers were called, Lt Sauthen (MI) with corporal Tamett of the explosive party.
“They had only gone a quarter of a mile when shots were fired at them from four different directions. Our friends concentrated on one cave, but the rebels were now making it difficult and all idea of getting through was abandoned and the little party returned.”
Mashayamombe actually settled down when the rains came to plant his fields. Then Rhodes ordered that the imperial troops be replaced by the police. The BSAP went and established a fort at Mashayamombe’s kraal and named it Fort Martins. Mashayamombe’s crops were raided and destroyed.
Mashayamombe attacked Fort Martin, but failed to capture it. Then the Pioneers sent overtures for a truce to buy time while they organised another attack. They came back the following month. Mashayamombe met his death in this battle and his forces eventually succumbed.
Local historians believe the intention of beheading the famous rainmaker was to de-link his legacy from his descendants and the people of Zimbabwe who revered his divine powers in the past. Wataffi, who forms one half of the afro-jazz band Afrika Revenge, says their mission now is to restore Zimbabwe’s dignity.
“What is shocking is how this enormous fight during the First Chimurenga went unreported and why so few people in the country know who Mashayamombe was to celebrate his feat.
“As for the colonialists vaida kufumura zvinoera by beheading him and taking away his walking stick. They separated him from the people so that we could not communicate with him or any other of our ancestors when they have taken away the tools,” he said.
