Mbuya Nehanda
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 Mbuya Nehanda |
Mbuya Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana was the spirit medium that was the inspiration behind the 1896-97 First Chimurenga war. She was based in the northern plateau of Mashonaland (specifically the Mazowe Valley,[1]) and was influential in resisting colonial encroachment and she used her religious authority to mobilise the masses against the Europeans. She was born around 1863 and she died in 1898 after being executed by the colonial authorities in Salisbury.[2]
See National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe.
See Mbuya Nehanda Statue.
Religious Influence
Mbuya Nehanda in the person of Charwe was very central in the religious organisation of all indigenous Shona tribes in the Central, Eastern and Western plateau of Zimbabwe.[3] She was believed to be possessed by super-natural ancestral spirits and thus she was the centre of communication between the living Shona societies and the underworld. As a religious figure, she even had influence in the installation of chiefs and political figures in most Shona speaking societies in the Mashonaland regions.[3]
Political Influence
Due to close links between early political structures and religion, Mbuya Nehanda found her influence in the mainstream politics of her time. She was influential in warning the people against accepting the entry of the Europeans in the Mashonaland region.[4] One of her common political rhetoric was when she warned the locals that Mashonaland was plagued by a drought because of the presence of the Europeans. She thus agitated the people to take up arms against the foreigners. She did so with the belief that she was the link between the people of the Mashonaland and the ancestors.[4] She was allied to Sekuru Kaguvi, another mhondoro leader, in the Goromonzi area. [1]
Arrest and Execution
Mbuya Nehanda was hunted down by the British South Africa Company due to her widespread influence and her denunciation of colonisation. It is alleged that she was arrested and was brought to Salisbury for the judgment, and she was convicted without a trial. She was executed in 1898 in Salisbury. It is alleged she was hanged from a tree.
She was captured in December 1897, and was tried with Sekuru Kaguvi in March 1898. On 27 April 1898 they were hanged. [1]
Photographic evidence shows she was hanged from a constructed gallows, in the Salisbury gaol.
Legacy
A new Nehanda medium emerged in 1906. [1]
Before her death, Mbuya Nehanda left behind a political oracle. In a frenzy of grief and torment, Nehanda prophesied that her bones were going to rise again. This prophecy has been interpreted differently by the locals. The bulk of the locals, especially nationalists interpreted it as the rise of nationalist sentiments in Rhodesia from the 1940s as the spirit of Nehanda.[5]
When we loosely say that Nehanda or Kaguvi were hanged by the BSAC admnistration or that Chanimuka was killed by the Ndebele, I hope it is understood that we refer to the mediums of those mhondoros. Historically Chaminuka is more than a thousand years old. His medium killed by the Ndeble in 1883 was Pasipamire. Nehanda's medium hanged in 1898 was Charwa; Kaguvi's medium as Gumboreshumba. Likewise, when we talk of Mukwati, Chingowo, Ganyire and Mbonga, we should distinguish between the mhondoro and the medium. you cannot kill a mhondoro but a medium. [6]
It was in fact the basis on which the war of the Second Chimurenga was fought. For this reason among others, the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda has been treated with great sacrality among conservative Zimbabwean traditionalists. There are some claims that in the contemporary society, the spirit of Nehanda is still in control of the religious and spiritual life of the the land of the Shona people, Zimbabwe.[7]
Skull in British Museum
In August 2015, Robert Mugabe lashed out at Britain for displaying the skulls of Zimbabwe's liberation war heroes.[8] It was believed that Mbuya Nehanda's skull was among the remains that were being displayed at the British History Museum.
Movie
A new movie, the untold story many of us have been waiting for. That is The Nehanda Story (Movie). It is the story around the trial and execution of Charwe Nyakasikana, the spirit medium for Nehanda. She was one of the leaders of the resistance to white settler occupation in the 1890s.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 [R. Kent Rasmussen (ed), Historical Dictionary of Zimbabwe/Rhodesia] (The Scarecrow Press, London, 1979) Retrieved 8 August 2019"
- ↑ , About Us, "Nehanda Radio", retrieved:22 Jul 2014"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 , Mbuya Nehanda Gandangakadzi Guru reZimbabwe, published:2004,retrieved:22 Jul 2014"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 , Nehanda, retrieved:22 Jul 2014"
- ↑ Dudu Masaiti, Mbuya Nehanda the prophet of Satan, "Bulawayo 24", published:9 Dec 2011,retrieved:22 Jul 2014"
- ↑ [Aeneas S Chigwedere, The Forgotten Heroes of Chimurenga 1; The Archives Speak] (Mercury Press, Harare, 1991) Retrieved 8 November 2021"
- ↑ Isdore Guvamombe, Mbuya Nehanda and the liberation tapestry, "The Herald", published:15 Aug 2012,retrieved:22 Jul 2014"
- ↑ Lloyd Gumbo, Britain to return heroes' skulls, Herald, Published: August 11, 2015, Retrieved: August 17, 2015
- ↑ [1], 3-MOB, Published: 22 March, 2021, Accessed: 23 March, 2021
