BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA
Many Zimbabweans waited in anticipation for the President’s visit to Glasgow for COP26. There was a strong feeling that the president will find time in his busy schedule to remind those who packed his bags to include the bones of our fallen heroes displayed in a human parts museum. The expectation turned into disbelief as Mnagagwa boarded the plane back home without uttering a word about Mbuya Nehanda or any other warrior being embarrassed in death as they are displayed as trophy in London museum.
The silence by the president was very loud, especially after a team of Zimbabweans who wanted to see the president to talk about the remains of our iconic heroine and heroes were refused to meet the president. This was because those who were responsible for the president did personalise him and again they do not think of Nehanda as an important issue on Zimbabwe. Nehanda can not remain in a museum for long. Whether we believe in spirits or not repatriation of these bones back home will give us pride and honour.
Nehanda and Kaguvi were two spiritual leaders that inspired the Zimbabwean revolution against the British colonial rule. They are the spirit that gave courage when there was none. They lifted the down trodden hearts. Life was strange in the bush but Nehanda was the ever present spirit throughout the war and after the war.
Nehanda was a woman who stood up when men sat down. She moved in when men hid in caves. Nehanda is a-life in our bones yet her bones are displayed as a sign of defeat. Zimbabwe buries SK today but the one who made SK is displayed in a museum. Nehanda gave her all. Together with heroes like Kaguvi chingaira and many more are displayed to prove the supremacy of the coloniser. Yet Under their guidance and leadership, local ethnic groups were united to fight in the first Chimurenga (War of Liberation) during 1896-1897. They sow the seeds of the second Chimurenga. Their blood was used to water the tree of liberation. Their names blow from ear to ear but their bones rattle in shame in a museum in the united Kingdom. The foundation of England is stronger with the bones of Mbuya Nehanda displayed as cowards yet they were brave heroes of the struggle.
The very first black people in Zimbabwe to be tried in a court of the colonisers. The court system we have adopted even today.
Kaguvi and Nehanda’s police dockets are currently under the custody of the National Archives of Zimbabwe they comprise of the records of the case entered as The (British) Queen against Nehanda (leading to their conviction and execution), judge Watermeyer’s criminal record book, information related to the court proceedings, some manuscripts and images of the arrest. In Zimbabwe, these records are regarded as a direct testimony of resistance to colonial oppression.
But the bones of such iconic people who made history in many aspects are displayed in a foreign land.
If Nehanda is to wake up today she will die straight away in shame. Those who accompanied the president to Glasgow never thought of Nehanda as they marvelled to the beauty of the lands of those who are humiliating their icons daily.
As the clock ticks every second at the museum ticks to the shame of the bones with no one fighting for them. There will be no closure without proper burial. We have come to a stage we must not care who brings the bones home as long as they are taken back home.
We are all aware of the history of Nehanda but we must never forget that in 1890, British colonialsts, under the flag of British South Africa Company (BSAC), invaded Mashonaland (currently Zimbabwe) and confiscated the land and livestock of the native people living there to find gold. The British government had granted them exclusive mining rights and the BSAC imposed forced labor and strong taxes on native families.
This scenario prompted an uprising known as Chimurenga (“War of Liberation”)—a military campaign that commenced in March 1896 to expel the British. A defining aspect of this first uprising was its strong link to the religion and tutelary spirits of the local communities.
Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana belonged to the Shona people, one of the local ethnic groups. Regarded as a spiritual leader, she was a medium of an ancestral spirit known as mhondoro. The mhondoro were among the most powerful spirits in the local tradition.
Together with the mediums of the other two mhondoro, Mukwati in Matabeleland and Kaguvi in western Mashonaland, Nehanda organized and led her people’s resistance until she was captured. She was a general in her own right.
The first Chimurenga spanned until late 1897, when the peoples of Shona and Ndebele were defeated, after running out of supplies. General Nehanda was captured and accused of the murder of H.H. Pollard, a European Commissioner famous for his cruelty. Her trial commenced in March 1898 and the following month she was found guilty and sentenced to death. Her execution was authorized by the British High Commissioner for South Africa, Alfred Milner, and supported by the Imperial Secretary. Unlike Kaguvi who was prosecuted at the same time and also sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer Nehanda refused to convert to Christianity. Before being executed, she announced to the British that her bones would rise again to lead the second, and this time successful, fight against them.
Nehanda’s words, “My bones shall rise again,” predicted the second Chimurenga from 1964 to 1979, which culminated in the independence of present-day Zimbabwe.
The irony of the whole case is that such a hero highly celebrated is left to be a sign of humiliation and shame in a front glass box at a museum.
Where she is kept now does not reflect that she held great authority even before the 1896-7 rebellion. She was a powerful woman and staunchly committed to upholding traditional Shona culture. Mbuya Nehanda was instrumental in organising the nationwide participation in the First Chimurenga of 1896. She was more than the National Political Commissair. She was a General in her own right.
Even though Zimbabwe’s government erected a ten-foot-tall statue of Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, a spirit medium who led a rebellion against British occupation without taking her bones home the nation will remain in a war mode. The bones which were said will rise again have risen but no one is willing to rest them now. No wonder we see war like situation in every aspect of our life as Zimbabweans. We are looked down upon even in South Africa. How can we be respected when we can not take care of our heroes. We must never forget that Nehanda continued to inspire African political movements long after her execution in 1898.
As Farai Mutsaka reports for the Associated Press (AP), Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa unveiled the statue in the center of capital city Harare. He called the likeness “a declaration that we stand proud of our history and identity.” But how proud are we that our history is displayed in the little box at a museum.
Shame on us all.
We must never undermine the role of Zimbabwean religious authorities in the Chimurenga wars especially that of the medium of the Nehanda spirit of the Mazowe valley in the central Shona area. In just over a century, the figure of “Mbuya Nehanda” has become the best-known popular symbol of resistance to colonial rule in modern Zimbabwe. She has been commemorated since 1980 in statues, street names, a hospital, posters, songs, novels, and poems. Bt what is all this without a proper burial.
Unlike many selfish heroes Nehanda sacrificed her life for us all. She decided to be captured so that the war will end. Nehanda allowed herself to be captured to avoid more bloodshed. She refused to convert to Christianity and, before she was hanged, declared that her bones would rise again to lead a new, victorious rebellion.
The president left without remembering Nehanda, he even failed to mention about the stolen human remains and artifacts in his speech. Was Nehanda snubbed by her own children.
Its a shame that Nehanda has to fight for her own dignity. In between her tears the colonial loot restitution debate enters UK parliament with nee Committee on African reparations.
An all-party parliamentary group headed by the MP for Streatham aims to “start a discussion and educate people” do we really have to wait until our tormentor is satisfied that we have taken enough.
Zimbabwe will be more peaceful of they remember where they came from. The fight to bring Nehanda back home must be championed by our leaders. After all they benefitted from Nehanda more than anyone.
Zimbabweans are now putting their heads between their legs in shame. How long will we wait for the Nehanda bones to be repatriated.
As we speak there is debate on restituting artefacts looted in the colonial era to African countries which will be one of the chief topics to be discussed by a new all-party group on African reparations in the UK parliament.
The sad part of all this is the affected Zimbabweans have forgotten where their war spirit come from. How does one expect to have peace when his mother is being humiliated in a museum.
Nehanda’s bones are screaming very loud but the hearers have gone deaf. Cop26 failed Nehanda and who will pay for this omission
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