Ranga Mataire
Zimpapers Politics Hub
ON Sunday, September, 15, 2024, at least 30 000 youths are expected to gather at the Great Zimbabwe Monument in Masvingo to commemorate the inaugural Munhumutapa Day that coincides with President Mnangagwa’s birthday.
Multitudes of youths from all the country’s provinces are expected to converge at the UNESCO World Heritage site, whose enduring structures have confounded some white colonial historians who tried to attribute its existence to Caucasians or Arab traders.
The Great Zimbabwe Monument holds a special place in the making of modern day Zimbabwe, and thus a befitting venue to celebrate the President’s birthday, including the achievements attained so far in the process of attaining an upper middle income society.
The white colonial historians attempted to manipulate evidence of Great Zimbabwe’s successful trade networks to support theories that a Caucasian civilisation had built the site.
Also, the presence of Araba coins and Persian pottery was used to attribute the site to Arab builders, not native Africans.
As Europeans engaged in the scramble for Africa between the 17th and 19th century, they systematically established systems that sought to disrupt the oral traditions that preserved African history and came up with their own narratives that justified their conquests.
They reinforced these narratives by ignoring or manipulating evidence of great African civilisations like the Great Zimbabwe, with the goal of wanting to uncover proof of a lost white tribe whose time in Africa pre-dated the existence of Africans.
Their main goal was to justify their claim to the territories they were colonising.
The legacy of these narratives is a series of stereotypes and misunderstandings about the continent and its people, including the insulting belief that Africans have no history.
However, subsequent research by various historians have proven that the Great Zimbabwe Monument was built by the Shona people of modern day Zimbabwe, and that it was a Great Empire that transcended current borders with Mozambique.
Who was Munhumutapa?
Several historical records state that the Munhumutapa (or Mwenemutapa) Empire became a major political entity in Southern Africa from 1420AD.
It was founded and ruled by the Nembire family, and its territory covered areas in the present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Its rulers used the title ‘Munhumutapa’, derived from the founder’s nickname, which was later adopted by the empire itself.
According to blackpast.org, an online research platform specialising in global African history, when Great Zimbabwe began its economic and military decline in the late 1400s, some of the city’s elites are said to have migrated to the north of the Zambezi River, and established the Shona state of Munhumutapa or the Mutapa State.
The state emerged around 1500 under Nyatsimba Mutota, the first mwene (king) who gained control of the surrounding gold producing regions and much of the Zambezi River Valley.
Mambo Mutota established a new capital at Zvongombe, near Zambezi River. At the climax of its power under Mutota’s son, Mwene Matope, Mutapa State included the entire Zambezi River Valley (modern day Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) from Zumbo in what is now North Central Mozambique to the Indian Ocean.
Matope’s title, mwenemutapa, means literally the “lord of the conquered lands.”
The Mwene Matapa was believed to be the “God of the sun, and the moon, king of the land and the rivers and conqueror of enemies.”
The Mutapa state was able to grow and expand through a system of vassalage (taxation) and controlled long distance trade with special state-sponsored markets called feiras.
Excavations by archaeologists have revealed the existence of feiras at towns along Zambezi River including Luanze, Dambarare and Masappa, showing tools such as iron tongs, Chinese white and blue porcelain and glass beads from India — all showing that Munhumutapa continued to participate in the Trans-Indian Ocean Trade that had helped establish Great Zimbabwe.
In an article published on the ruling ZANU PF website on January 22, 2024, the party’s director of information and publicity, Farai Muroyiwa Marapira listed by totem 12 original houses of chieftaincy in the Munhumutapa Kingdom as: Moyo, Zhou, Shoko, Shava, Shumba, Nyathi, Mbizi, Mhara, Ngara, Mheta, Gumbo and Shiri.
Each totem pool had a specific role in assisting the Munhumutapa in ruling the empire.
“Examples are vaera Shoko who had rainmaking knowledge. Other totems worked as intelligence, which intelligence included spiritual visitations, whereby the ancestors would visit them in dreams, and show them future events for instance (in) informing the Munhumutapa that; “Kuchauya vanhu vasina mabvi” (there shall come people without knees},” writes Marapira.
More than an attempt to reincarnate the spirit of Munhumutapa, the Munhumutapa Day is significant in its attempt to reconnect the Zimbabwean people with their historical and cultural heritage.
The Munhumutapa Empire is a tangible inspirational reference of valour and sophisticated social, political and economic organisation.
At a time when people’s distinct national identities are under threat from global influences dominated by the West, celebrating the President’s birthday under the Munhumutapa banner aims to unite Zimbabweans across different social or political divides.
On several occasions, President Mnangagwa has emphasised the need for Zimbabweans wherever they are to have a sense of pride in their country’s historical and cultural heritage.
In August last year, President Mnangagwa gazetted a warrant creating the new Royal Order of the Munhumutapa in the highest category, which can be awarded to an African foreign national for support rendered to Zimbabwe for her liberation and continued well-being.
The gazetting of such a warrant clearly shows the importance the President attaches to the inspirational figures of the Munhumutapa Empire, which at some stage extended its rule to the shores of the Indian Ocean.
In essence, besides the Mutapa Empire being such a solid inspirational reference point in the history of the country, marking Munhumutapa Day at the Great Zimbabwe Monument evokes a sense of cultural revival where Zimbabwean traditions, values, national identity and pride are celebrated.
Celebrating the President’s birthday on this day emphasises his commitment to Zimbabwe’s development and progress, drawing parallels between the King’s achievements with his own vision of a prosperous Zimbabwe.
Given what the President has done in terms of developing Zimbabwe, this national celebration has the effect of fostering a sense of community and shared purpose among Zimbabweans.
It is a celebration and an honour to the legacy of the country’s forefathers and the commitment to building a brighter future.
The Munhumutapa reign represents the golden age of the nation, and it is important that citizens are constantly reminded and rallied to work harder in reclaiming that glory.
Many at times, the lack of a solid inspirational historical or cultural reference point has led to lots of Africans being susceptible to negative foreign influences.
Many have been brainwashed to sneer at everything African.
And yet our rich historical heritage must always form the bedrock of an inspirational spring board needed to navigate the vagaries of an evolving world with confidence and pride.
