The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda Entertainment Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe International Film Festival team headed by its executive director and founder, Mr Nigel Munyati, visited Chipinge in the past week and went about covering various traditional chiefs in an attempt to preserve the oral history of the nation and allow the people to know that as Zimbabweans, we are one and there is no reason to look at ourselves with tribal eyes.
Historically, the San (Bushmen) are the aborigines of this country but thousands of years ago, Bantus from the middle Nile River area migrated due to tribal conflicts to present day Zimbabwe and soon interacted with the local people to produce hybrids.
Another migration epoch came in the middle 19th century when Mfecane in Nguniland produced a number of leaders on the run from Shaka’s wrath; these included Zwangendaba of the Ngoni, Mzilikazi of the Khumalo, Xaba of the Ngoni and Soshangana of the Gaza. The second migration left a legacy in the western side of the country as well as the two districts of Chipinge and Chimanimani.
Manicaland has a number of people whose origins are East Africa, South Africa and other countries. Historians say Shona is a corruption of the word ‘‘Sona’’ which means ‘‘old’’ in Hindi. That leads credence to the idea of trade between the builders of Great Zimbabwe and the Indians during that great age when a mortar less city sprouted for some years before its abandonment around 1420 giving rise to Mutapa as the successor state.
‘‘There is no need for tribal conflicts. We have one common ancestor and thus our origins from the Guruuswa area is cited in many legends we came across in our interaction with the people of Zimbabwe. We divide ourselves using various schisms chief among them being tribalism yet the Shona were part of the great Bantu migration from the middle Nile region,’’ said Mr Munyati.
He complained about the failure to document historical narratives of a people when the old people are still around.
Munyati said: ‘‘The second loss is on undocumented history by our very own people. Our history comes from the foreigners’ perspectives; they look at Zimbabwe with jaundiced eyes. To arrest that phenomenon, ZIFF has embarked on the collection of oral history from different parts of the country. We have been to Dande, Mbire, Masvingo and Chipinge and recorded the history, culture and heritage of the Doma, Kunda, Karanga, Korekore, Ndau, Shangani and even recorded the Nyatsimba Mutota lineage.’’
Manicaland has the Makonis who are reputed to have come from Tanganyika with their progenitor, Gunguwo, as their guardian spirit and they are not alone in having come from the world yonder to come to this great country and live in peace with the original people here.
Chief Musikavanhu did not originally come from Chipinge but there is a legend of Nyakuimba who is said to have come from Mbire with his sister Chapo. In the yarn, the potency of the Rozvi in bringing forth rain is accentuated. Ironically, oral tradition states that Murenga had his headquarters in the Mbire province after moving from Guruuswa which is said to be somewhere in the Sudan and Uganda. Chiefs Marange and Nyashanu are related and that goes on to include Chief Seke Mutema who is a Shava. That means there is no contestation in saying we are all related in Zimbabwe one way or the other. The Vahera claim they came from Guruuswa. Vahera include Marange, Nyashanu, Mutekedza and Munyaradzi people.
One of the film makers, Mr Stephen Lundu, said Chipinge is a cosmopolitan district which is home to at least six different tribal groupings contrary to popular belief.
‘‘Chipinge has Hlengwe, Ndwandwe, Chopi. There are three variations of the Ndau: Vasanga whose chief is Mutema, those from Mbire headed by Musikavanhu and those led by Chief Mapungwana. We are not done yet with documenting the history of Manicaland but we are getting there,’’ Stephen said.
Mr Munyati’s team has the support of the National Museums and Monuments, National Archives, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and Zimbabwe Heritage Trust in its bid to right a wrong; for a long time, Zimbabweans were fed on the lie that David Livingstone discovered the Victoria Falls and that the Great Zimbabwe was built by Phoenicians or other exotic peoples but certainly not the Shona.
ZIFF needs to spearhead a new world view for the true history of Zimbabwe to be told.
‘‘We are documenting so that film makers can use the content to write scripts, produce feature films, documentaries and drama,’’ Mr Munyati said.
Over the years, there has been contestations between rival houses whenever a chief had to be succeeded-the Mutambara and Musikavanhu chieftainships, are examples. With the ZIFF’s work, it could be the beginning of resolving succession issues without involving the courts or political actors. The chiefs, historically, were the custodians of the land and the spirit world. With the advent of Christianity, tradition chiefs have been lampooned from every direction and they lost their standing in society. Perhaps, their revered positions will be recovered as ZIFF goes about its business.
