By Masimba Mukichi
Tora huta hwako toda kuenda, dzinoruma
Nyuchi dzinoruma, dzinoruma (Take your bow, we are about to go now Bees sting and they sting for real). In 1896, Nehanda and others sang buoyantly as they face the brutal army of Cecil John Rhodes, on horse backs and horse driven chariots.
Men in animal skins danced and waved their spears in the air
Readying for a confrontation with ‘ those without knees’.
Bows and arrows, spears and assegais, and knobkerries were their weapons Women in loins ululated as Nehanda poured snuff on the ground to appease the war spirits.
The warriors advanced and bashed the enemy,left, right and centre.
They fought the enemy to the last drop of their blood Gallantry they defended their land from intruders,
They wanted to reverse the hut taxi and forced labour
With their spears they pierced the hearts of the bigots
With their knobkerries they smashed the heads of the enemies
With their bows and arrows they scattered the intestines of the intruders
Eventually the enemy fire power overwhelmed them
And they were defeated,ran to hide in mountains and underground tunnels Chingaira,Mashayamombe, Kaguvi and Nehanda Nyakasikana were all rounded up and tried for inciting war
Their heads were decapitated and taken abroad as trophies The heads were placed in museums to showcase the conqueror’s supremacy
And to instil fear to the voice of dissent As Nehanda breathed last she uttered these words:
‘My bones will surely rise’.
And in 2019 her skull has surely risen,
demanding to be repatriated home to where it belongs. Mashayamombe, Chingaira and Kaguvi’s skulls are also heading to Zimbabwe to be interred where their umbilical cords are buried.
Surely the skulls of first Chimurenga heroes have finally risen in our lifetime.
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