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The construction of a statue in Mbuya Nehanda’s honour is riddled with dissatisfaction as cultural leaders believe a proper reburial should be the first step to celebrate the late heroine.
This comes on the back of yesterday’s inspection of progress of the statue (whose pictures are already circulating on social media) and the site (corner Samora Machel Avenue and Julius Nyerere Way) where the statue will soon be erected, by President Mnangagwa and members of his Cabinet.
Mbuya Nehanda is a spirit medium who led the First Chimurenga war and greatly inspired the Second Chimurenga through her last words “mapfupa angu achamuka” (my bones will rise).
The words still echo as inspiration in the quest for a better Zimbabwe.
Born Charwe Nyakasikana of the Hwata Mufakose dynasty before she became a medium to Nehanda, a powerful spirit whose roots can be traced to the daughter of Munhumutapa, Mbuya Nehanda, even in death still remains one of the most revered women in Zimbabwean history.
Having roads and buildings named after her, and a statue of her likeness installed maybe a great honour and appeal to the now largely Westernised society, but culturalists believe honouring Mbuya Nehanda’s dying words is of greater importance and traditional value.
According to Fr Richertz’s account: “(Mbuya Nehanda) called for her people and wanted to go back to her own country Mazowe and die there.
According history scholar Dr Masimba Mavaza: “Her cries and resistance, when she was taken up the ladder, the screaming and yelling were that she wanted to be taken and be buried among her people.”
Mbuya Nehanda’s head is believed to have been cutoff and shipped off to England by her killers, where it lies as a trophy on display at a museum.
Historian Keith Martin writes that the rest of Mbuya Nehanda’s body was buried in the black section of Pioneer Cemetery, south-west of Mupedzanhamo Flea Market in Mbare.
The cemetery is divided according to ethnicity, wealth, class and religion – with the black section having unmarked graves.
This is the same cemetery Sekuru Kaguvi was buried.
Martin writes: “Two of the Africans buried in that unmarked section with their graves unrecorded are of Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi of the First Chimurenga.”
Ironically, those who condemned Mbuya Nehanda to death, Judge Watermeyer, who sentenced her and the hangman Patrick Hayden are also buried in the now closed cemetery.
Also in the cemetery is a mass grave of Rhodesian soldiers who were killed in the First Chimurenga.
Culturalists and African Renaissance groups are advocating for the repatriation of Mbuya Nehanda’s head and a proper reburial of her body.
“She is a national icon, the most influential woman ever to walk on our land, a guardian spirit who inspired black people’s emancipation,” said Taremekedzwa Makoni, an advocate for African renaissance movement.
“The least we can do is honour her wishes and rebury her among her people in Mazowe.”
Though Mbuya Nehanda’s grave is unmarked, traditionalists believe if summoned, her spirit will direct them to where her bones are and direct them on the right steps and rituals to be taken.
Some culturalists believe erecting Mbuya Nehanda’s statue is simply a publicity stunt by Mnangagwa’s Government to divert people’s minds from a failing economy and massive human rights abuses.
“The ritual must be in the right intention/spirit. Let the rhetoric, actions align,” said a culturalist only identified as Tanganyika. Nhau/Indaba
