Mbuya Nehanda : Liberator, Witch or Innocent Woman?

 

Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi before their execution

Mbuya Nehanda aka Charwe Nyakasikana is a legendary figure in Zimbabwe history. According to oral tradition she was instrumental in the first Chimurenga war which saw the native Shona people rise up against the British settlers in the wars of 1896 to 1897. Black Zimbabweans call the uprising the first Chimurenga, Ndebeles call it the Umvukile and Rhodesians call it the Rebellion. The various names show how one event can be distorted and miscontsrued and used for political mileage by people. Let us begin with how Mbuya Nehanda is perceived by her supporters. 

Zanu pf the largely Shona based political party has lionised Mbuya Nehanda. She is like the Zimbabwean Boudica or the Shona Joan of Arc. Nehanda was apparently a spirit medium whose real name was Charwe Nyakasikana and she was possessed by the spirit of Nehanda. She encouraged and led the people to rise up against the white settlers. She told the warriors that if they had courage the bullets of their enemies would turn to water. Unfortunately, for Nehanda the rebellion was a failure and she was eventually captured and hung on the 27 April 1898. She was sentenced to death and allegedly before her execution she sang, danced and said, 'My bones will rise from the grave.' Nehanda encouraged her people to take weapons and reclaim the land. She was beheaded and her head was carried off to Britain. Why they took her head and will not return it remains a mystery. Nevertheless, today Mbuya Nehanda has a statue placed in the capital city of Zimbabwe. Books and songs are made about her and she has been immortalised.

Statue of Mbuya Nehanda in Harare the capital city of Zimbabwe

The song Mbuya Nehanda

According to her detractors like the Ndebele  she was a witch and a STD ridden prostitute. According to the Ndebeles it was another woman who was the central figure in Umvukile uprising. That woman was Queen Lozikeyi, a wife of the deposed Ndebele king Lobengula. Historically, despite her leading the rebellion, she made an agreement with Rhodes and company and escaped the hangman's noose. Today Ndebeles immortalise her in song and poetry whilst Shonas ignore her and most have never heard of her.

Queen Lozikeyi of the Ndebele

However, according to the Rhodesians and their written documents Mbuya Nehanda was neither a witch nor a martyr. DN Beach writes in a document entitle Innocent Woman Unjustly Accused that Charwe was not involved in the uprising. She had a white settler name Pollard murdered because he had lost some of the carriers she had given to him. Carriers being servants who carried things for Pollard. Allegedly, Charwe had supplied Pollard with workers and Pollard had returned to Charwe without the employees. Charwe was so furious she had Pollard killed. According to Beach, during the trial Charwe denied having had Pollard killed whilst witnesses and snitches like Kaguvi said she was responsible for it.  According Beach there was no singing, dancing and final speech. Charwe was just an old woman unjustly accused and scape goated for a crime she did not commit. Below is a link to the document written by DN Beach about Nehanda.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-in-africa/article/abs/an-innocent-woman-unjustly-accused-charwe-medium-of-the-nehanda-mhondoro-spirit-and-the-189697-central-shona-rising-in-zimbabwe/466CA1C5269F9CAB07A83F64E45FBAF1

There is a book I have been meaning to read called Charwe by an author called Elton Ndudzo. Unfortunately, I can only get it online and it is very expensive to purchase on Amazon with the delivery costs etc. Hopefully, one day I can read it and see how he tackled the Charwe story. I, myself had been meaning to write a fictional story about it but Elton Ndudzo beat me to it. Check out the book if you can.

https://www.amazon.co.za/Charwe-Elton-Ndudzo/dp/1914287835

I hope one day the government can one day bring back her bones from Britain and bury them at Heroes Acre. In a twisted way her bones did rise, just not in the way she meant it. They rose and went over the oceans and I hope one day they rise again and be returned to her homeland. Furthermore, I hope the government can make the day of her death 27 April a national holiday. And they must not forget about the Ndebele uprising and also honour Queen Lozikeyi for her contributions. Maybe one day they can make movies and tv shows about Mbuya Nehanda and Queen Lozikeyi

Was Mbuya Nehanda a liberator, a witch or an innocent woman unjustly condemned? We will never know for sure. But that is the beauty and ugliness of history. It is not an exact science. We can bend it to suit our own needs. Nehanda can be whatever you want her to be.