Friday Feature: Nehanda and Kaguvi of the Zezuru
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| Kaguvi (front,left) and Nehanda (front,right) after their capture |
Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana (c1840-1898) was a spirit medium of
the Zezuru Shona people. As one of the spiritual leaders of the Shona,
she provided inspiration the revolt against the British South Africa Company's
colonisation of Mashonaland and Matabeleland
(now Zimbabwe).
She was a Hera of the Hwata
Mufakose Dynasty. She and her ally Kaguvi were eventually captured and executed by the British.
The
spirit Nehanda is said to be the mhondoro, a royal mudzimu (ancestral spirit) or "lion spirit". At
one time this spirit resided in Nyamhika, one of the daughters of Nyatsimba
Mutota,who was given the name Nehanda at birth. Nyatsimba Mutota was the first
leader of the Munhumutapa state.
As
medium of the spirit Nehanda, Nyakasikana made oracular
pronouncements and performed traditional ceremonies that were thought to ensure
rain and good crops. As the spirit medium of Nehanda at the time, Charwe
Nyakasikana at first promoted good relations between the Zezuru people and
early European settlers pioneers. However, following the imposition of
a "hut tax"
and other tax assessments in 1894, both the Ndebele and Shona
people revolted in June 1896, in what became known as the First Chimurenga
or Second Matabele War. The rebellion, in Mashonaland
at least, was encouraged by traditional religious leaders including
Nyakasikana. After the end of the rebellion in 1897, she was captured.
Nyakasikana was charged with the murder of Native Commissioner Pollard. She was
found guilty after eyewitnesses claimed that she had ordered an associate to
chop Pollard's head off. Consequently, she was hanged. Much mythology grew up
around the difficulty in killing her.
She
must have had great authority even before the 1896-7 Rebellion and it is
interesting that no greater authority than the Anglican Church in a map drawn
up showing missionary work by the Church after 1888 there is a village in the
area called Nehandas. She was a powerful woman spirit medium that was committed
to upholding traditional Shona culture, she was instrumental in organising the
nationwide resistance to colonial rule during the First Chimurenga of 1896–7.
Even Lobengula recognised her as a powerful spiritual medium in the land.
According
to historical sources the original Nehanda was daughter of Mutota the first
Monomatapa who was living in the escarpment North of Sipolilo in about 1430. Mutota
was the founder of the Mutapa state, Mutota also had a son who later became the
second Monomatapa, and the son was called Matope. Matope was Nehanda’s half
brother, and to increase the power of Matope, Mutota ordered his son to commit
incest with his half sister, Nyamhika, who became widely known as Nehanda. This
incest ritual is believed to have increased Matope’s ruler and his empire, due
to this Matope handed over a portion of his empire to Nehanda who became so
powerful and well known that her spirit lived on in the human bodies of various
spirit mediums over the years until almost 500 years later when we find it occupying
the body of the Mazoe Nehanda. Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana was considered to be
the female incarnation of the oracle spirit Nyamhika Nehanda.
As
white settlement increased in the land, according to sources Nehanda initially
welcomed the occupation by the Pioneers and counselled her followers to be
friendly towards them "Don't be afraid of them" she said "as
they are only traders, but take a black cow to them and say this is the meat
with which we greet you." Unfortunately relationships became strained when
the settlers starting imposing taxes, forced relocations, forced labour, etc.
Kaguvi
Kaguvi
(a.k.a. Kagubi) was believed to be the spirit husband of the other great Shona
spirit, Nehanda, and it may have been this connection which enabled him in due
course to persuade Mbuya Nehanda to preach the gospel of war resistance in
Mashonaland, which led to the first Chimurenga. The role as well as the
influence of the spirit mediums in form of Kaguvi and Nehanda, can not
understated. As far as the people were concerned Nehanda and Kaguvi were the
voices of God a.k.a. Mwari. Kaguvi and later Nehanda (after convincing by
Kaguvi) preached that according to Mwari the cause of all the trouble that had
come upon the land was the white man. They had brought the locusts and the
rinderpest, and to crown it all, they, the owners of the cattle which had died,
were not allowed to eat the meat of the carcasses, which had to be burned or
buried. Mwari decreed that the white men were to be driven from the country.
They, the natives, had nothing to fear, Mwari would turn the bullets of the
white man into water.
Nehanda’s
heroism became a significant source of inspiration in the nationalist struggle
for liberation in the 1960s and 1970s. Her name is now usually prefixed by the
respectful title of Mbuya, or grandmother. The maternity section of Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare is named
after her. The College of Health Sciences of the University of Zimbabwe is located there as
well.
Feature accessed on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehanda_Nyakasikana on 25 July 2014.
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