Elliot Ziwira @the Bookstore
“What I think a novelist can teach is something very fundamental, namely to indicate to his readers, to put it crudely that we in Africa did not hear of culture for the first time from Europeans,” writes Chinua Achebe in “African Writers Talking” (1972:7). Africans have always been proud of the cultural mores and values that have shaped their worldview since time immemorial; and it will be trite to think that Europeans and their Christian God brought civilisation as well as cultural etiquette to the African’s doorstep.

As posited by Chinweuzu et al (1985) the artiste in the traditional milieu has always functioned as the custodian of the mores and values of his people. He has always come to truth’s defence in the most discerning of ways through storytelling, singing, miming and dancing, fro generation to generation.

However, somewhere along the historical path a monstrous barricade was erected to separate the African from his source. It began with the deliberate clash of Gods — the Christian God and the African God, worshipped through their ancestors; then followed by cultural dilution and loss of language. When language, which is culture’s informant is lost then a society’s generational body of wisdom and knowledge disintegrates.

The African story can never be purveyed in a better way than telling it in indigenous languages, which is the reason why Ngugi WaThiong’o has vowed to use Gikuyu as a vehicle to ferry his thematic concerns on the Kenyan experience.

It is against this backdrop gentle reader that Crymio Kutyauripo’s contribution to the body of knowledge on the richness of the African culture cannot be allowed to go unnoticed. His debut effort “Museve Usingapotse” (2014) which is currently one of the prescribed Shona set texts at Ordinary Level heralded the arrival on the literary scene of one of the greatest voices on the historical novel.

Kutyauripo’s arrival with such a gargantuan stride on the Zimbabwean literary landscape rekindles the reading experiences of yore when the pastime was the in thing. Then books were indeed worth all the effort before the muse deserted our writers; or before the West usurped their creativity.

Though Kutyauripo taps into the historical novel pioneered by Ignatius M. Zvarevashe, Patrick Chakaipa, Giles Kuimba,Bernard Chidzero, Solomon Mutsvairo and Stanlake Samkange, he brings a refreshing aura to the Zimbabwean reading experience today. The announcement of his seriousness may have come through his first novel “Museve Usingapotse” (2014) which received rave reviews at the Bookstore, but his latest offering “Nhaka Yeropa” (2016) consolidates his intention.

Set in ancient Dande, the book explores a plethora of thematic concerns stitched together through adept use of metaphors, symbolism, characterisation, suspense, setting and plot fracturing. From religion, culture, love and marriage, through deceit, avarice, brutality and selfishness, to the political machinations that shape them, the writer keeps the reader on edge through an intriguing engagement of the satire trope and the element of surprise.

Although the story hinges on the bloody succession disputes characteristic of politics, Kutyauripo articulately examines the nature of Man in relation to the inherent struggles that inform his experiences, both external and internal.

As aptly captured its titling “Nhaka Yeropa” is a repertoire of the corrupt nature of power politics which breeds animosity, jealousy, avarice and selfishness leading to carnage and cannibalistic tendencies. It is the story of Mwoyoweshumba, whose father King Nyatsimba sets him up against his brothers because of the thorny issue of succession. The King’s polygamous marriage compounds the situation as his six sons are divided along maternal lines and he decides to lean on one side against the other.

Mwoyoweshumba and his younger brothers Hamandishe and Mateyanzou born to the first wife Chihwerure find themselves in an ugly square off with their half brothers Mubatapasango, Tadzeushe and Tavarwisa their stepmother Togarasei’s sons. The seeds of hatred that sprout among them were watered by their father who openly shows affection for his second wife’s children.

King Nyatsimba consults his council to map a way forward as regards to his heir. As culture dictates, he is aware that only the ancestors through their medium or oracle Old Munhengawezizi could anoint the rightful heir to the throne, but he decides to play that norm down as he prefers his last born son Tadzeushe to Mwoyoweshumba his first born son.

In the chicanery that ensures Wafawarova, Togarasei’s brother connives with the King to influence the oracle to denounce the ancestral call and anoint His Majesty’s preferred heir purporting to be in a trance so as to deceive the people in attendance that it was the ancestors’ will.

However, the supernatural force prevails over mortal men, as the ancestors through their medium Old Munhengawezizi warn King Nyatsimba and the oracle to desist from tempting them. Eventually both the oracle and Tadzeushe die on the inauguration day and the story takes a new and nerve wreaking outlook of deceit, witchcraft, brutality and death.

Through effective fracturing of the plot, Kutyauripo explores the essence of love and debunks the long held view that royalty should marry into royalty. Indeed like what Shakespeare says, “Love is blind. And lovers do not see.” In one of the many sub-plots in the novel, Mwoyoweshumba is smitten by the beautiful daughter of a commoner Wadzanai much to the chagrin of his father who dictates that he marries Chief Chikonamombe’s daughter.

In a hilarious, thrilling and evocative way, the writer takes the reader on a whirlwind voyage of suspense, surprise and intrigue as cupid’s arrow darts from the bow. After paying 20 head of cattle, 15 goats and 15 sheep as bride price for Chief Chikonamombe’s daughter Matinyanya who is forced into an “unholy” matrimony, King Nyatsimba is forced to eat humble pie at the marriage ceremony. The virgin bride-to-be chooses, in the glare of the multitude, her sweetheart Chayambuka, the son of her father’s arch foe and servant of meagre means, ahead of the supposed groom Mwoyoweshumba. Interestingly, love is allowed a chance on the podium for all the chiefs in attendance, the multitudes in witness and the King in awe, are dumbfounded, yet consumed in such a rare spectacle. His Majesty, astounded by such exhibition of unconditional love, allows the lovebirds to tie the knot at his expense; the bride price fully paid was allowed to stand. Such is the unconquerable nature of love which also paves way for Mwoyoweshumba and the love of his life Wadzanai.

As power politics assume an ugly twist, bloodletting ensues. The ancestors through their nine-year-old medium Chagugudza anoints Mwoyoweshumba as the heir to their throne in such a hair raising way that only an eyewitness could master, and Kutyauripo happens to be that witness, as he takes the reader step by step into the world of the supernatural; the world of the ancestors, the world of the African which Western interference attempts to scupper.

Because avarice knows no boundaries, death becomes a weapon to settle scores, as the King realises his folly and anoints his first born son Mwoyoweshumba as prescribed by his ancestors and corpses start scattering at his feet. His second wife Togarasei tries to use witchcraft to abet her sons’ efforts to no avail. She only manages albeit accidently to kill all her three daughters through a poison laced non alcoholic traditional brew meant for the King-in-waiting and his two brothers. As her heart takes to stone she murders the King’s nephew Mafirakureva for daring to threaten her with the exposure of her debauchery with one of His Majesty’s servants.

Togarasei’s brother Chief Chidaushe influences her nephews to rise against their father and half brothers. In the subsequent war where the battle for supremacy in brawn, skill, sorcery, organisation, wit and armory takes centre stage, death is traded for common sense and kin.

Kutyauripo’s “Nhaka Yeropa” is indeed a resonating, evocative, thrilling and intriguing rhapsody of the brutal nature of power politics if the angel of death is traded for reason, humility and love in a total warfare that leaves no victors in its wake.

It is a must read book for serious followers of the historical novel as it contributes immensely to the body of knowledge on the rich Zimbabwean culture, purveyed in powerful and captivating language.

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