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Christopher Farai Charamba Features Writer
WHEN Zimbabwe was colonised, traditional and cultural laws were replaced by those of the British settlers. Some chiefs and their people were uprooted from their land and the invading white settlers took this land for themselves. One such area some 20km out of Harare now known as Christon Bank is the original

home of Chief Hwata. The area also known as Gomba is the home of the spirit medium Mbuya Nehanda Charwe, the daughter of Chief Hwata.

The area is said to be sacred, especially the mountain known as Shavarunzi where the chiefs and spirit mediums of the Hwata clan are said to be buried.

When Enos Mutyavaviri Maurikira (61) a resident of Christon Bank died on Thursday September 10, 2015 at Concession District Hospital his grieving family began the necessary procedures of obtaining a burial order and contacting Nyaradzo Funeral Services to arrange for the deceased to be buried.

As it was against the custom to bury the dead on Friday in the area, the day being sacred, the family opted to leave the body at the parlour overnight, collect it on Friday and bury their loved one on Saturday.

This, however, was not to be the case as on Friday when they went to Nyaradzo, they were informed that the burial order had been withheld by the Office of the Registrar General.

Derrick Mutyavaviri (32) son of the deceased said they did not understand why the burial order was being withheld when it had previously been granted.

“We went to the Office of the Provisional Registrar Mr Muchemenye and they told us that they could not give us the burial order but that we should come with Mr Goredema and Mr Chikuvanyanga, two of the community leaders from our area.

“We did not understand why they had to be there for us to get a burial order when the next of kin were present. Mr Chikuvanyanga was away at the time, but Mr Goredema wrote a letter to the RG’s office explaining that my father resided in Christon Bank, however, this was not enough to resolve the issue,” he said.

Mr Clever Goredema and Mr Gondokondo Chikuvayanga are two traditional leaders from Christon Bank. When Mr Maurikira died they proceeded to inform the family that he could not be buried in the area, because he had committed incest and this was a grave offence thus his body would taint the sacred land.

“Mr Maurikira committed a crime by marrying his relative and because this area is sacred, it is the area that Mbuya Nehanda is from he cannot be buried here. That is a serious offence culturally and so we cannot upset the ancestors by burying him here.

“When the family came to see Chief Hwata and myself we advised them that we could not handle this situation and that they should go to see the spirit medium Bungu who could preside over this case. We had already been told by Bungu that for the deceased to be cleansed of his offence they needed to pay three herd of cattle as an offering to the ancestors,” Mr Goredema said.

Derrick, however, disputed the accusation of incest accusing Registrar General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede of deliberately withholding the burial order because his father had been involved in a Hwata chieftainship row in that area.

“My father was a descendant of Chief Maurikira who lived in this area during the First Chimurenga. Chief Maurikira was the one who lived with Mbuya Nehanda and in fact they were killed at the same time for killing (Henry Hawkins) Pollard.

Pollard was a white native commissioner who terrorised people in the area. “Since then there has been no chief in this area because our family was moved by the white settlers and so my father wanted to claim the Hwata chieftainship. The problem, however, was that there were those such as Goredema, Chikuvanyanga and Mudede who are from the Hwata family who did not want this to happen,” he said.

Mr Mudede dismissed the claims made by the deceased’s son, saying that he had recused himself from handling the issue regarding the burial order of Mr Maurikira as he was a member of the Hwata family and so was Maurikira.

“When Mr Maurikira died the traditional leaders of the area Mr Goredema and Mr Chikuvanyanga contacted our offices and said that there was a case of incest and so the deceased could not be buried in Christon Bank as it was a sacred area.

“I recused myself from this case and it was handled by the Provincial Registrar without any of my input. The family, however, were not satisfied by the Provincial Registrar’s take on the matter and thus went to Home Affairs where Mr Hatina referred them to my office as the departmental head,” he said.

Monday September 14, 2015 was the first time Mr Mudede met with representatives of the Maurikira family where he explained to them that the burial order had been withheld at the request of the traditional leaders of the area and that the issue had to be resolved with them first if the deceased was to be buried in Christon Bank.

“I told them that I could not be part of the decision making regarding the burial order as I am from the Hwata family and that is why it was being handled by Mr Muchemenye.

The issue of incest, known as makunakuna is a grave one and needed to be addressed at the traditional level.

“As I could not make a ruling on the issue I could only advise them as to what to do and from that discussion the older brother of the deceased decided that they would bury their relative in Guruve where he had lived before moving to Christon Bank in 2004,” he said

Mr Gondokondo Chikuvanyanga (81) an aide of the medium of the Nehanda spirit exonerated Mr Mudede from the issue saying that although Mr Maurikira had expressed his desire to be chief and Mr Mudede was part of the Hwata family, the issue of chieftainship had no bearing on the matter because there was already a Chief Hwata.

“Maurikira’s son should not try to make this about chieftainship, as the reason their relative cannot be buried here is incest.

“It is a grave offence and on such sacred land we cannot bury such a man here because we don’t know what curse we will put on ourselves after,” he said

Regarding the chieftainship Mr Chikuvayanga acknowledged that there was a Chief Maurikira who had died alongside Mbuya Nehanda during the First Chimurenga, but this was not the end of the Hwata chieftainship and there was currently a reigning Chief Hwata.

“The Hwata dynasty started with Chief Hwata a long time ago. He had 6 wives or 6 households and all of the Hwata chiefs have come from these households. When one dies another household takes over the chieftainship.

“There is a current Chief Hwata and he has been there since 1971, although he was in Muzarabani because during colonialism the whites had removed us from this area. Chief Hwata has now returned to his rightful place so the deceased Maurikira cannot say there was no chief because there is one who was chosen by the ancestors.

“The two are even from the same Bungu household so it doesn’t make sense that he would challenge for the chieftainship.

“Should this current chief pass on then the chieftainship rotates to a different family such as Mukodzonyi, Chidambu, Mupondi, or Chopamba who held the chieftainship in the 1960s,” he said.

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