Chikomba: Nursery of the struggle Major-General Zimondi (Rtd)

Elliot Ziwira Senior Features Writer
This land, our land, has always been ours, robbed from us by those “without knees”, who displaced us en masse; we fought for it, and we will continue to fight for it because, “a people without land are like cattle on naked ground with nothing to graze- they mope around hopelessly,” wrote Nilene Omodele Adeoti Foxworth in her book titled “Bury Me in Africa”.

It is for our land that the First Chimurenga was fought, and it is indeed for our sod of soil that the protracted Second Chimurenga became inevitable, because land gives a people an identity and roots.

There are many places around the Motherland known for their stock in resistance, resilience and leaving permanent marks on the history of our fight against colonial hegemony, and one such place is Chikomba in Mashonaland East province. The name is derived from an abyss or hell, Dhorongo, Gehena or Gomba in Shona; a culmination of the colonial apparatus for plunder, brutality and violence against our people; it is not Chikomba, as in “boyfriend”, no.

The story is told of one Chiwashira Muchecheterwa of the Masarirambi/Nyashanu/Museyamwa clan; whose people, the VaHera, occupied the land near Featherstone and were known for their massive cattle herd. The Chikomba area, which was home to the VaHera, Njanja, Maromo and Rozvi people, had been occupied by Europeans; the English and Boers since the 1850s, who were angling for the Chiwashiras’ cattle and land. Naturally, Chiwashira vowed not to take whatever was to come to his people lying down.

According to the historian Aeneas Chigwedere, the First Chimurenga was ignited around the Chikomba area, which the white settlers called “The Nursery of the Shona Rebellion”, and according to Munhamu Pekeshe in his article titled “Tormenting whites from a British museum: The legacy of Chiwashira”, (The Patriot, August 20, 2015), the rebellion pivoted on four individuals; Bhonda, who was a Mwari priest, Sango; a spiritual figure and headman, Maromo and Chiwashira as a well as a fifth one, who, however, was to the west of Chikomba; Mashayamombe of Mhondoro. It was such a formidable quintet, no wonder why the area was referred as the nursery of the rebellion. Both Pekeshe and Chigwedere concur that the spiritual component of the rebellion was of essence in bringing our people together in the fight against colonial oppression.

As the Chimurenga broke out, Chiwashira Masarirambi stood his ground at Zuru and Zhororiya, before falling at the third battle, leading to his decapitation, after being tied to a horse and dragged along to the colonial prison at Fort Charter, where, unfortunately, he arrived dead. The iconic warrior was decapitated and his head, along with those of Mapondera, Chingaira and Mashonganyika, was taken to Britain as a trophy.

Although versions differ at every turn, Chigwedere refutes that Chiwashira was in love with a white woman or that he was a rapist; hence, his brutal death at Dhorongo or Gomba (hell), a view that is shared by the First Chimurenga hero’s descendants Tichadii Ziwenga Chiwashira and incumbent Chief Mutekedza, Andrew Zhakata.

According to Chigwedere, when the war broke out, one William Taylor, who was the first Native Commissioner of Chikomba (Enkeldoorn) in May 1895, left his wife behind and Chiwashira captured her, forced her to dress like the VaHera women and cut incisions on her body, which irked Taylor and his fellow settlers on their return. With the war having been lost on our part in October 1897; Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi hanged in April 1898, colonialists set out to thwart any future resistance.

They rounded up all the leaders of the First Chimurenga and burnt them to death, or rather “roasted” them at Dhorongo, which remains a glaring reminder of the brutality and evil nature of colonialism and all that it epitomises. But the heroes of our first struggle against colonialism, who met a cruel demise at Gomba, did not die in vain. Their bones indeed rose, as the abyss became a womb to new heroes, who took the struggle to winning ways.

The late Gen Solomon Mujuru

Among those that metamorphosed from the bones at Dhorongo are the late national heroes General Solomon Mutusva Mujuru, whose nom de guerre was Rex Nhongo (May 5, 1945-August 15, 2011), Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi, who was elected chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association in 1997; and died on June 4, 2001, diplomat and former Cabinet minister Dr Tichaona Joseph Benjamin Jokonya (December 27, 1938-June 24, 2006), former Transport and Power Development Minister Ernest Richard Kadungure (February 13, 1942-May 13, 1990) and former Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Charles Munhamo Utete (October 30, 1938-July 15, 2016).

Chikomba, which remains the bedrock of Zimbabwean politics, and a “nursery” of resistance to imperialism, as Europeans called it, is also home to Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Retired Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri, former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss, Retired Brigadier-General Elisha Muzonzini and Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Commissioner-General Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi, as well as Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development Minister Mike Bimha, who is the Member of the National Assembly for Chikomba West and former Tourism, Environment and Hospitality Industry Minister and Member of Parliament for Chikomba East, Edgar Mbwe- mbwe.

The district, which comprises three constituencies – Chikomba East, Chikomba West and Chikomba Central represented by Felix Mhona – has an interesting history, with revered shrines, which could have been the reason why it has given birth to political luminaries.

Cultural critic Dr Sekai Nzenza, of the VaHera clan and descendant of Mutekedza Chiwashira; and Zanu-PF National Assembly candidate in the forthcoming plebiscite, said that the spiritual link to Dhorongo or Gomba, which she believes deserves national shrine status, could have spurred young people from the area to take up arms in the struggle for Zimbabwe’s Indepen- dence.

Dr Sekai Nzenza

“Dhorongo or Gomba remains a place of awe to this day, considering the way Chiwashira and other heroes of the First Chimurenga were killed. They were tied to stakes and burnt alive as a way of instilling fear and thwarting future resistance.

“The history of colonialism is quite strong around that area, which in my view should be made a national shrine. Colonial settlers displaced the VaHera, Njanja, Maromo and Rozvi people from their land to create Tribal Trusts Lands and forced them to work as labourers on their mines and farms.

“There is a strong spiritual presence at Gomba, Chinyamungororo and other shrines around this area, which could have inspired the liberation struggle, thus giving us prominent liberation war heroes like the late General Solomon Mujuru, Retired Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri and Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi among others,” she said.

This was also corroborated by Taurai Mandizha, Zanu-PF district chairperson for Pokoteke ward, and Ambuya Marunjeya Chigondo (90).

Chief Air Marshal Shiri (Rtd)

“There are people of different totemic origins interred at Dhorongo, whose descendants yearly visit the place to invoke the spirits of their ancestors. There are also other sacred shrines like Mudzimundateura, Gandandachibvuwa, Cheshumba and Jemedza, that the late musician James Chimombe, who was also born here, sang about.

“The settlers could have tried to make our people shun their shrines and culture through their religion; Christianity, but the spirits of our ancestors could not be silenced; their bones rose. That is why we won the liberation struggle,” Mandizha said.

However, for a district that boasts such a rich history, Chikomba still lags behind in terms of development. The poor roads, low-lying bridges, the sense of desolation and the rocky terrains, remind one of Charles Mungoshi’s “Waiting for the Rain” (1975). Mungoshi, another prominent son of Chikomba, purveys a desperate situation that seems to remain hanging in the Tribal Trust Lands of his fictional experiences.

Notwithstanding the setbacks, Dr Nzenza believes that Chikomba District, as the cradle of the struggle against colonial machinations, will soon have a new face with the coming in of a new crop of National Assembly representatives, herself included, who will be elected on a ZANU-PF ticket in two months’ time.

“My vision for Chikomba is to bring development to Chikomba in collaboration with the community. I will work with Chikomba Rural District Council to fix roads, electrify schools and clinics and build footbridges at Chinyika and Rwenje rivers. I have also realised that Sadza Hospital is in desperate need of washing machines and uninterrupted power supplies; so I will also work on that as well,” she said.

“I have short-term and long-term objectives for Sadza Growth Point; smallholder farmer income-generating projects, life skills training for the youth and other small business activities. In collaboration with responsible ministries, I will bring in volunteer professional skilled people in agriculture and health to provide skills on specific projects that are realistic and achievable.”

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