The Sunday Mail
When Zimbabwe joins the rest of the continent to celebrate Africa Day on Tuesday, it will symbolically unveil the statue of Nehanda.
We say Nehanda, and not Mbuya Nehanda, advisedly, for the woman that is represented by that iconic sculpture represents many things to many people.
For the religious, she was a spirit medium.
For nationalists, she was a leader, warrior, martyr and heroine.
For her kinsman, she carried the royal blood of the Hwata Dynasty.
And to us, she was, is and will be a timeless symbol of nationhood, sovereignty, culture and heritage, which distinguishes us as a people and anchors values that we hold dear as a nation-state.
Situating her statue at the heart of the capital — especially near the site where it is believed she used to rest and drink water from a mashy stream that runs beneath what we now call Julius Nyerere Way — is a metaphor of putting our values and history at the centre of our daily lives.
As human beings, we need to be constantly reminded of who we are, what we stand for and what we seek in the world, which naturally defines our national interest.
The concept of a global village, which was premised on a cosmopolitan world sharing universal values and popularised by global media houses, was unnecessarily distracting as it promoted the mistaken view that modernity makes our own culture and values inferior.
Over the years, this has been very corrosive to our traditions and way of life as Zimbabweans.
The impact on the family unit — and with it the values it promotes such as decency, respect, hospitality — is quite apparent, leading to a moral decadence that threatens our social fabric.
Don’t they say families are the building blocks of society?
No wonder why we are now so polarised and toxic.
Put simply, we need to recover and protect our values and heritage.
We now know that US states and UK have since passed laws to protect and safeguard their cultural and historical heritage in the form of statues and monuments in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that roiled the two countries after the murder of a black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer in the US.
The protesters deliberately targeted statues of racist figures.
But we also now know that no matter how objectionable the history of these people who are immortalised in stone in these countries is, they are prepared to defend them at all costs because they represent who they are.
“We cannot — and should not — now try to edit or censor our past. That is why I am changing the law to protect historic monuments and ensure we don’t repeat the errors of previous generations, losing our inheritance of the past without proper care,” said the UK Communities Secretary Mr Robert Jenrick after the law was passed in January.
But the erection of Mbuya Nehanda’s statue should not be viewed in isolation.
It is part of a continued decolonisation project that has gained traction under the Second Republic.
Since 2017, our barracks, roads and key national institutions have since been renamed to speak to our past experiences and history.
A national fabric, from which a national dress can be designed, has since been launched.
During the launch of the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) in Harare on April 30, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, as an aside to his main speech, quipped why the dam he was scheduled to launch the following week in Mashonaland East was named Causeway Dam.
“What does it mean?” he queried.
The dam has since been commissioned as Muchekeranwa Dam, as it falls under the shared jurisdiction of three Chiefs — Svosve, Makoni and Mangwende.
This anecdote shows how the decolonisation programme is prioritised by the highest office in the land.
Again, on Friday, in his remarks to mark National Cultural Commemoration Day, the President reiterated the importance of building a strong cultural identity as a nation.
“In line with my Government’s quest to build strong cultural identity, values and ethics, I challenge families, communities and institutions to diligently nurture a society that recognises our rich cultural heritage while embracing our diversity. These must be passed on from generation to generation.
“As one philosopher once said, ‘a people without the knowledge of their past history. Origin and culture are like a tree without roots.’ While another said, ‘to know your future, you must know your past’,” he said.
But this is a process and not an event.
With every battle we are winning to reassert our values, we are slowly winning the war.
But the war is still far from being won.
The war is far from being won
The Sunday Mail
When Zimbabwe joins the rest of the continent to celebrate Africa Day on Tuesday, it will symbolically unveil the statue of Nehanda.
We say Nehanda, and not Mbuya Nehanda, advisedly, for the woman that is represented by that iconic sculpture represents many things to many people.
For the religious, she was a spirit medium.
For nationalists, she was a leader, warrior, martyr and heroine.
For her kinsman, she carried the royal blood of the Hwata Dynasty.
And to us, she was, is and will be a timeless symbol of nationhood, sovereignty, culture and heritage, which distinguishes us as a people and anchors values that we hold dear as a nation-state.
Situating her statue at the heart of the capital — especially near the site where it is believed she used to rest and drink water from a mashy stream that runs beneath what we now call Julius Nyerere Way — is a metaphor of putting our values and history at the centre of our daily lives.
As human beings, we need to be constantly reminded of who we are, what we stand for and what we seek in the world, which naturally defines our national interest.
The concept of a global village, which was premised on a cosmopolitan world sharing universal values and popularised by global media houses, was unnecessarily distracting as it promoted the mistaken view that modernity makes our own culture and values inferior.
Over the years, this has been very corrosive to our traditions and way of life as Zimbabweans.
The impact on the family unit — and with it the values it promotes such as decency, respect, hospitality — is quite apparent, leading to a moral decadence that threatens our social fabric.
Don’t they say families are the building blocks of society?
No wonder why we are now so polarised and toxic.
Put simply, we need to recover and protect our values and heritage.
We now know that US states and UK have since passed laws to protect and safeguard their cultural and historical heritage in the form of statues and monuments in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that roiled the two countries after the murder of a black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer in the US.
The protesters deliberately targeted statues of racist figures.
But we also now know that no matter how objectionable the history of these people who are immortalised in stone in these countries is, they are prepared to defend them at all costs because they represent who they are.
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“We cannot — and should not — now try to edit or censor our past. That is why I am changing the law to protect historic monuments and ensure we don’t repeat the errors of previous generations, losing our inheritance of the past without proper care,” said the UK Communities Secretary Mr Robert Jenrick after the law was passed in January.
But the erection of Mbuya Nehanda’s statue should not be viewed in isolation.
It is part of a continued decolonisation project that has gained traction under the Second Republic.
Since 2017, our barracks, roads and key national institutions have since been renamed to speak to our past experiences and history.
A national fabric, from which a national dress can be designed, has since been launched.
During the launch of the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) in Harare on April 30, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, as an aside to his main speech, quipped why the dam he was scheduled to launch the following week in Mashonaland East was named Causeway Dam.
“What does it mean?” he queried.
The dam has since been commissioned as Muchekeranwa Dam, as it falls under the shared jurisdiction of three Chiefs — Svosve, Makoni and Mangwende.
This anecdote shows how the decolonisation programme is prioritised by the highest office in the land.
Again, on Friday, in his remarks to mark National Cultural Commemoration Day, the President reiterated the importance of building a strong cultural identity as a nation.
“In line with my Government’s quest to build strong cultural identity, values and ethics, I challenge families, communities and institutions to diligently nurture a society that recognises our rich cultural heritage while embracing our diversity. These must be passed on from generation to generation.
“As one philosopher once said, ‘a people without the knowledge of their past history. Origin and culture are like a tree without roots.’ While another said, ‘to know your future, you must know your past’,” he said.
But this is a process and not an event.
With every battle we are winning to reassert our values, we are slowly winning the war.
But the war is still far from being won.
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