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Claude Maredza Correspondent
And finally, just for purposes of knowledge, we will take a quick glimpse of the Norumedzo Royalty as things actually stand as of now. In writing about the Norumedzo Royalty as it stands now, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution made by my younger brother ,Bernard Maredza, to this part of the whole Norumedzo Royalty polity and this part of the narrative.

For almost the whole of the two months of August and September 2016, I was probing Bernard for information regarding our Norumedzo Royalty and I was amazed by Bernard’s lucid knowledge about his own royalty as indeed he is himself a Royal Crown Prince of the Norumedzo Royalty as much as I am.

Bernard just oozed with so much accurate knowledge and information which helped me shape this part of this discourse to the correct and accurate position it has assumed regarding this part of the Norumedzo Royalty and the correct straightening of same.

This was indeed pretty amazing because for a mere 45-year-old as at October 2016, who is the eighth and second last born in my family of nine siblings and is number five from me (me being the third born — gee! my parents didn’t have television!!); knowing one’s royalty in such detail as Bernard knows his own Norumedzo Royalty gives the future a very good and bright chance as continuity is assured through such clear, lucid and promising minds like Bernard’s.

Thanks a lot Bernard.

Tinotenda Moyo, Chirandu, Gono, kushaya chirashwa chokudye minwe, vakuru vakadye jombwe, ditinini ramba waravira, bvuma varanda, varidzi venyika nazvese zviri mairi; pamusoro, pazasi nomukati mayo nyika; zveveMoyo zvinouya nesengende, zvechikundi ngezvavarombo, zvichishumwavo kunana vatete, hazvanzi nevanasikana, vanova ndivo vanaMaMoyo; VapaMoyo, vana mai naana mbuya tisingambovasiyi; kumandodyechipi, nhapitapi uchi hwavakadzi, gonyohori matake vanotaka nedzavamwe, mushenjere weDuma, kuti twiii, mugara ndakatunga, vakadzi vachiuya vega.

Vasingadzokeri sure samakanda engerekeni, asi vachitonga zvine unhu nouMwari, fuve rashe, vari mambiru, chimwazando; hezvoyo Rwatirinda,

Takarwa, Maredza, Chirume, Muchinapaya, Ragunha, Nemeso, Fupajena, Rukweza, Nyamunda, Mutota, Dhlembeu, Mavhudzi Chibatamatosi, Murenga naChaminuka, Tovera naMambiri navese vari mberiyo kusvika kuna

Musikavanhu! Zvaonekwa bamboweee!!!

Let me first of all observe that when I first wrote the first edition of the book “Harurwa”, while most names of people in the book were correct, some of the information I got from the elders regarding people’s names and their positions within the hierarchy of the Norumedzo Royalty might not have been 100 percent accurate.

This inaccuracy included things like who fathered who, etc, but these are minor issues as the facts themselves remain correct.

These inaccuracies were a result of some of the elders I had interviewed distorting information while others had no information at all resulting in these inaccuracies particularly with regard to which name stands at what hierarchical position and in what context, etc. There was no problem with the facts themselves but just the names and their positioning.

This has led me to do further research of the Norumedzo Royalty as representative of the generality of other Moyo Chirandu royalties all over Zimbabwe and what I have now come up with after extensive and intensive research represents information which is nearly 100 percent accurate and can be relied on without any reservation.

I will therefore leave both versions of the book as they are but this analysis of the Norumedzo Royalty as it stands now will accurately give names and attach them to correct contexts.

Once again, the question of the inaccuracies of names in conjunction with contexts they are mentioned around in the two versions of the book do not in any way distort the correctness of the facts and the correctness of the narrative thereof.

I hope this new information as narrated below, which is very current and very accurate, will help not only the royalty of Norumedzo but other adjacent royalties in Bikita and indeed Zimbabwe at large and Africa in general to clearly understand and straighten up their royalties particularly as this pertains to matters of succession as this issue of succession has caused serious rivalries in some families as brother fights against brother in order to succeed as the next Chief/King or overall royal in charge.

If you add to this the problems caused by our colonial rulers who came and completely messed up our royal systems and even went to the extent of installing non-royal people into royalty simply because such people were weak and pliant and were considered safe for the purposes of furthering the colonial masters’ aims and objectives of looting us, then the messing up of royalty in Zimbabwe has become even worse messed up.

Colonials could install somebody into kingship/chieftainship simply because the person in question did not participate in the Second Chimurenga led by Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi.

Everybody is hopefully now aware that the real First Chimurenga is the one fought under the military leadership of General Dombodzvuku, a Moyo Chirandu against the Portuguese circa 1675 when the Portuguese attempted to colonise this country but dismally failed as they were driven out of Zimbabwe by General Dombodzvuku and the Zimbabwean army he commanded at the time.

General Dombodzvuku ended up as the first Moyo Chirandu Paramount ruler of Zimbabwe in 1695.

As far as the colonials were concerned, if you were less vocal and less critical of the colonising British you could be rewarded by the British colonials by being given royalty which was not yours and which you didn’t deserve.

Conversely, if you were too vocal and critical of the colonial British, you would be stripped of your royalty even if that royalty was divine and spiritually incapable of being stripped.

That’s serious desecration of a people’s spirituality!!

And this happened many times as the British went on to reward their puppets with royalty which these puppets didn’t deserve.

This has really messed up our royalty systems and, most importantly, our spirituality in Zimbabwe and this British affront on our royalties is one of the major causes of the present succession squabbles in Zimbabwean royalties.

It is also a major source of our other problems because our spirituality was messed up in the process and unless we correct our spirituality, then let’s just forget about the good life because the good life will never come until we are in line with what our ancestors and God expect of us spiritually.

We can never be rewarded for monkeying the spiritualities of the very same colonisers who humiliated our ancestors and us.

So do not expect any positives from shouting Hallelujah! or Hamdullelah! because these are chants that derive from our colonisers’ spiritualities and not from our own spirituality as directed by God through our ancestors.

To make matters worse, at independence, the newly appointed first black district administrators and provincial Aadministrators in Zimbabwe were very Young Turks just out of university and thoroughly wired up with Eurocentric education which made them far removed mentally from issues of black Zimbabwean royalty that these young boys and girls who were ironically black.

Africans just carried on from where the white colonial masters left without any clue that they were actually continuing messing up their people and themselves further and worse . . .

To be continued

Claude Maredza is a member of the Moyo Chirandu (Duma) Dynasty, specifically of Norumedzo Village ( KuHarurwa), Bikita, Masvingo, Zimbabwe and is in fact a Crown Prince of the Norumedzo Moyo Chirandu (Duma) Kingdom Royalty. He has doctoral level formal education and everything else below that besides other professional qualifications. He is also a well known published author and film writer/producer/director/actor. Claude Maredza’s contact details are; e mail;[email protected]; phone: 00 263 (0) 77 2 382 099.

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Acknowledgements:

In compiling this whole Moyo Chirandu series in its entirety, I would like to acknowledge:

1. The oral narrations of my elders of Norumedzo in their entirety and totality.
2. The works of and discussions with revered Zimbabwean historians, academics and intellectuals with special mention of Dr Stan Mudenge, Dr Aeneas Chigwedere, Professor Mazuru Gundidza, Professor Mandivamba Rukuni and R.M.G. Mtetwa.
3. Written narratives as gleaned in material in the National Archives of Zimbabwe.