Tracing roots of the Chirandu clan: Part 11

Claude Maredza Correspondent
The other group of people to assimilate the Moyo Chirandu totem is the Tumbare people who are originally Dziva/Hungwe/Kalanga.

When General Dombodzvuku temporarily shelved the war to drive the Portuguese out of Zimbabwe and went to quell the power struggle in the new Guruswa near the Njelele area around today’s Matopo hills, he first met with stiff resistance.

General Dombodzvuku then went to seek the assistance of one Tumbare, a Dziva/Hungwe/Kalanga military man who was known for his military prowess.

Tumbare resided at Marungudzi Hills in the Berejena area near Masvingo.

Perhaps this background explains why Marungudzi Hills are considered sacred even in today’s Zimbabwe.

With the assistance of Tumbare, General Dombodzvuku was able to overwhelm his opponents and he thus became the first Moyo Chirandu (Rozvi/Dhewa/Moyondizvo/Mondizvo) paramount ruler of Zimbabwe, ending the hegemony of the Shoko Mbires which was the only rulership known thus far.

This was in the year 1695 AD.

General Dombodzvuku then nudged Tumbare to permanently stay as the commander of his army at the new Guruuswa and even persuaded Tumbare to change his mutupo from Dziva /Hungwe/Kalanga to Moyo Chirandu(Rozvi/Dhewa/Moyondizvo/Mondizvo).

So the Tumbare people again are another assimilated group of the Moyos as clearly demonstrated but once again note that their Moyoness albeit assimilated is still anchored on the original Moyo Chirandu undoubtedly making Moyo Chirandu the unshakeable tap root of anything Moyo.

While at it, we might as well add that all the Moyos in Matabeleland are also Moyo Chirandus.

As already seen Dombodzvuku became the national paramount ruler of Zimbabwe in 1695 based in the new Guruuswa near Matopo Hills in the present day Matabeleland.

At this time, there were no Mzilikazi Zulus/Khumalos to talk about as they trekked up to Zimbabwe nearly 150 years after 1695.

It means all the Moyos in this area were Moyo Chirandus as much as they are Moyo Chirandus to this day.

It is not surprising that there was an understandable proliferation of the Moyo Chirandus in what we call Matabeleland today because with a Moyo Chirandu Zimbabwean national paramount in the form of Dombodzvuku at the helm, the Moyo Chirandus naturally found themselves physically gravitating towards and rallying around where the Zimbabwean national paramount, who was one of them, was.

This resulted in the proliferation of the Moyo Chirandus in what we call Matabeleland today.

The Moyo Chirandus of Matabeleland only became Ndebele also by assimilation when Zwangendaba then Mzilikazi invaded the area bringing an end to the Moyo Chirandu rule of Zimbabwe around 1840 through the conquest of the then ruling national paramount, a Moyo Chirandu and the decimation of the Great Zimbabwe Empire.

It is public knowledge that the pivotal policy of the Zulus/Khumalos to increase their numbers was to make all their captives become assimilated Zulus/Khumalos.

These two maps show two sets of migrations, one from the north and the other from the south, that influenced the evolution of the Chirandu clan over the centuries

This same policy was equally applicable to the Moyo Chirandus and other Zimbabweans who were residing in the area we call Matabeleland today and were now conquered by the invading Zulus/Khumalos.

So all Moyos in Matabeleland today are Moyo Chirandus who only became Ndebele by assimilation and vassalisation by the Khumalos/Zulus and this fact is uncontestable.

Some may now be even using Ndebele equivalents of Moyo Chirandu as a result of this vassalisation by the Khumalos/Zulus; such equivalents as Nhliziyo, Nkomo (Bull/Chirandu), etc, but that’s neither here nor there.

They are still Moyo Chirandu.

They only started using such equivalents as Nhliziyo, etc, to become politically correct and to survive in a new political dispensation that dictated that they were now vassals of the Khumalos/Zulus.

Even the demographic statistics of Matabeleland today show what would appear as an unusually high number of Moyos in Matabeleland. But once one knows the reason, it is very easy to understand.

The explanation is as simple as that; the Moyo Chirandus populated most of the area we now call Matabeleland during the nearly 200-year rule of Zimbabwe by the Moyo Chirandus and this rule was initiated by General Dombodzvuku, a Moyo Chirandu, in 1695.

It clearly therefore demonstrates and proves that all the Moyos in the part of Zimbabwe we call Matabeleland today are Moyo Chirandu’s and not Ndebeles/Khumalos/Zulus.

So if one would attempt to redraft the genealogy of the Moyo Chirandu from iniquity to the present, the genealogy is like this:

  1. Somewhere in Nubia, which encompassed Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, there was a man called Mambiri whose totem was Shoko Mbire Mukanya Chirongo. This is way back in time before Jesus Christ was even an idea.
  2. Mambiri had a son called Tovera.
  3. Tovera had a son called Murenga Sororenzou.
  4. Murenga had two sons called Chaminuka and Mushavatu.
  5. People started moving southwards and they settled around the Great Lakes area of Central Africa. In fact, it is believed that Chaminuka and Mushavatu named the country we now know as Tanzania as Tanganyika because they were beginning a new territory so they were starting,

“Tanga”, a new territory, “Nyika”.

They called this area Guruuswa because of the savanna vegetation in the area with lots of grass and few trees (uswa – grass and guru – big therefore guruuswa or big grass area because of the nature of the area which had a lot of grass and few trees). They then moved further south and settled around present-day Malawi/Zambia.

  1. At this stage the big name that was being used as the great family name was that of Murenga although there was still very keen remembrance of Mambiri and Tovera.
  2. It is said that because the progeny of the brothers Chaminuka and Mushavatu were too closely related, it became difficult for marriage to happen and the population to grow.
  3. Therefore, Mushavatu decided to ritually sever his relationship with his brother Chaminuka and went his separate way.

Mushavatu even changed his totem from Shoko Mbire Mukanya Chirongo and became Mhofu (which is the eland) with the praise name of Shava, obviously a derivative from Mu-shava-tu. This made it possible for the two groups of people to intermarry and to multiply.

  1. The people then crossed the Zambezi River into the territory which is present-day Zimbabwe and decided to settle.

Somehow it is said back in Nubia, Mambiri had foretold that there was this jewel of a place south of the Zambezi River which was the land fit for them to settle in and this was a reference to Zimbabwe.

  1. As these people settled in Zimbabwe, it must again be remembered that the people referred to as Mushavatu, Chaminuka and Murenga were no longer the originals but those who inherited these important names and carried them into the future making these important names indelible right up to this day.
  2. The people on Chaminuka’s side became the rulers. They remained Shoko Mukanya Chirongo by totem. Of course, they always respected their Mhofu Shava brothers and involved them in all protocols.
  3. As life went on, this is when the new national paramount, one Chibatamatosi whose real name was Mavhudzi, a Shoko Mukanya Mbire Chirongo, had an incestuous encounter with his close female cousin, Nyakwava, also a Shoko Mukanya Chirongo, resulting in the birth of a baby boy who was given the name Wadyembewu or Dlembewu (as more en vogue today) who became the first Moyo Chirandu as already described in detail previously.
  4. Those of the Moyo Chirandu totem can therefore today try and thread themselves from Dlembewu through to the internal revolt at Great Zimbabwe of 1450. which destroyed Great Zimbabwe to place themselves somewhere in this whole matrix.

Although this is really not necessary, it is just a good mental and intellectual exercise.

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. His contact details are: e mail;[email protected]; phone: +263 772 382 099.

 

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