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Claude Maredza Correspondent
Even if a family member is not that loyal to the family, at least he/she is family all the same so it is better for the wealth to go to a disloyal family member than to a total stranger. So over and above eligibility, Mutota had the purity, albeit this purity was a result of an abomination, the abomination of incest through which his father Dlembeu was conceived, but it was purity all the same and it made Mutota an even better candidate for the throne.

And he asked for it. He didn’t grab it through some coup or revolt.

Instead, it was Mukwati who said,  “bva togwa”, — let’s fight; causing unnecessary bloodshed and the destruction of Great Zimbabwe city, the capital city of Zimbabwe.

How can this chaos be attributed to Mutota and the Moyo Chirandu people?

Clearly, there is no way that Mukwati cannot take the responsibility of the destruction of Great Zimbabwe.

Therefore, the oft erroneous position taken by many that the Moyo Chirandus caused the destruction of Great Zimbabwe simply because one of them, Mutota, had rightly asked for succession is not sustainable as the blame lies squarely at the doorstep of the Shoko Mbires, who, through Mukwati, opted to fight instead of negotiating for succession peacefully.

There is no other logic than this given the undisputed facts as averred by the events of the time which have been accurately captured in various accounts, both oral and written.

Also, there seems to be an uncomfortably overobsession in the public generally with the Moyo Chirandus as people who are overly incestuous, which is really a fallacy.

This unfounded obsession with Moyo Chirandus as people who are generally overly incestuous people, which is obviously totally erroneous, comes from the fact that the Moyo Chirandus, in remembrance of how their first forefather Dlembeu was conceived have over time ritualised the incest that resulted in Dlembeu being born by commanding that any Moyo Chirandu who is eligible for taking over chieftainship must commit incest with a sister or a close female cousin first before he is installed as a king/chief.

This ritual is called “kupinga nyika”,  which basically is a belief that after this incest, the new king/chief’s rulership will be blessed with fruitfulness in all areas of human activity.

This is clearly ritualistic in memory of how Dlembeu was conceived and is not a routine day-to-day practice which would lead to a whole people being described as overly incestuous.

In fact, its only done by those about to take over as rulers, not everybody else.

Anybody else caught doing this risks being killed because that’s the punishment for incest.

This ritual has been given a divine twist as this new form of royal incest is deemed to be necessary in order for the new chief’s reign to be prosperous with abundance and happiness for all.

It has therefore become a belief within the Moyo Chirandus that before any new chief is inaugurated, he must perform this ritualistic incest with a sister or a close female cousin so as to rid the kingdom of any bad luck.

In the vernacular they call this “kupinga nyika” meaning ridding the kingdom of any evil and bad luck.

In fact, such a sister or close female cousin on whom this ritualistic incest is performed by the chief-elect will henceforth become ritualistically referred to as VaNyakwava, obviously in reference to the original Nyakwava, who was incestuously impregnated by Chibatamatosi to produce Dlembeu, the first Moyo Chirandu.

When this ritualistic practice was still en vogue, these new VaNyakwavas would not be married and would be considered the first wives (VaHosi) of the inaugurated chiefs and the children of the VaNyakwavas would be the most eligible for succession to the royal throne, which is de javu purity, loyalty and unshaken patriotism.

Clearly, this is a belief without any scientific basis just like most beliefs like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc, which are also beliefs based on faith and not on any scientific evidence.

This is why this “kupinga nyika” is no longer practised these days because the Moyo Chirandus with time refused to perform this ritualistic incest until now when this practice has been totally eradicated                                                            altogether.

But alas, those that want to accuse the Moyo Chirandus of being obsessed with incest simply because of this ritualistic incest that used to happen then try and trace it back to Chibatamatosi and Nyakwava.

They forget that Chibatamatosi and Nyakwava were not Moyo Chirandus but Shoko Mbires. Therefore, if there is anybody who has to be accused of obsession with incest it has to be the Shoko Mbires because they voluntarily did it through what Chibatamatosi and Nyakwava voluntarily did as opposed to the Moyo Chirandus who have been doing it more as a religious ritual than out of obsession with it and this has been to honour Dlembeu, their founding ancestor, given the way he was conceived, until the practice was stopped.

So it is really preposterous to accuse the Moyo Chirandus of obsession with incest. They abhor it as everybody else. It is just that because of belief, they have been doing it ritualistically.

They have stopped the practice though although one may never know if it is still done very clandestinely when a new chief is inaugurated. But evidence on the ground suggests that the practice was long discarded  because many eligible crown princes gave up the throne on account they found the ritual disgusting.

So it is erroneous to accuse the Moyo Chirandus of being obsessed with incest. They are not and they never were. They just came into this world as a result of it.

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 Maredza’s contact details are aas follows: e mail: [email protected]; phone: 00 263 (0) 77 2 382 099.