The Sunday News
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
ABOUT a week ago, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) was reported to have had some difficulty in selecting a name for one of its high- density schools.
Among the names from which the BCC could choose, all were of people or places or events that featured in either this country’s military, cultural, political or social history after the arrival of King Mzilikazi and his Nguni and Suthu followers in 1838, that is some 177 years ago.
The exception among those names was that of Tjibundule, King of the BaKalanga who was defeated and replaced by a mambo of the BaRozvi. We do not know exactly when but in about the 14th or 15th century.
A look at the names of schools and suburbs in Bulawayo’s western area shows that almost all were given in memory or honour of people or events or places that featured in this country, particularly the Matabeleland region, after the arrival of Mzilikazi.
Names of schools in the eastern suburbs are those of former colonial personages or philanthropists of European origin.
A very erroneous impression has been created that this country had no history before Mzilikazi’s and or Cecil John Rhodes’ arrival in what we now call Matabeleland.
Naming of schools should be based on one or more of the following considerations:
- The role played by the person to be remembered or honoured in the promotion of education in that locality or region or country.
- The part played by the individual to be honoured or remembered in the historical evolution or development of the locality or region or country concerned.
- The contribution or sponsorship made by the personality (whose name is proposed) concerned to the creation of the school in question.
- The part played by the individual who is proposed to be remembered or honoured in the promotion of education globally.
- The traditional position of the personality whose name is proposed for the school.
- Geographical or topographical features of the locality or region in which the school is situated.
These six considerations cannot all apply at the same time. However the one to be considered will be decided by the local authority’s wish or aim expressed as a resolution.
In historical terms we do not have any evidence whatsoever that King Mzilikazi ever wanted or encouraged his people to acquire formal education.
In fact he actually discouraged them so did his son Lobhengula. Both were however experts in military science. If it were not because Rhodes’ colonial forces had much more advanced military weapons, Lobhengula’s troops could have overrun them on the Shangana River in 1893.
Meanwhile Inyathi Mission established in 1870, had virtually nothing to show by the time Rhodes invaded the Matabeleland Kingdom in 1893.
So it would have been much more appropriate to give Mzilikazi and Lobhengula’s names to some of the country’s military barracks than to schools. It would also be quite appropriate to name some towns in memory of those two monarchs but certainly not schools.
The social, political and cultural evolution of this region goes back to the period of the San, formerly referred to as Bushmen. Although the only record they left about themselves are rock paintings in various parts of the country. We know that one of their prominent leaders was a man called Gariya.
He seemed to have featured prominently in the Tjolotjo and in Bulilima areas where a couple of streams are named after him. But he was not relevant to education.
We also know that the San were pushed to the relatively inhospitable western regions of Bulilima and Tjolotjo areas first by the Tonga people. They did not have anything in the form of graphic records.
However names of rivers such as Sanzwukwi, Kana and those of mountains such as Nkugwi are evidence that Tonga people once lived in the areas where these rivers and mountains are found. We may remember them by naming a school in their memory although they are also irrelevant in educational terms.
If, however, we are concerned with the history of this country we should look beyond 1838, the year when the people led by Mzilikazi arrived. Before them there were leaders whose official title was “mambo”.
There are no official records with their names in a chronological order, but oral tradition has it that the last mambo was called Tjilisamhulu, a nickname for a man whose actual name was Tjgadzike. His brothers were Ntinima and Dlembewu.
Tjigadzike committed suicide at his palace at Entabeni Zika Mambo, known in TjiKalanga as Kumanyanga.
Tjigadzike had succeeded his brother Lukwangwaliba who had been assassinated on orders by a court of elders to get rid of him because for about five years from the time he became a mambo, very little rain had fallen.
In any case his name Lukwangwaliba means drought in old TjiKalanga. He had succeeded his brother, Nitjasike.
Some oral traditionalists are of the opinion that it was Nitjasike who led the Rozwi people along the Ntugwi (Thuli) River, from the direction of the land of the Venda people into the territory of Tjibundule, King of the BaKalanga.
Some oral historians say the Rozwi were led by Maluzapi who was later succeeded by his son Madlazwegwendo the father of Nitjasike. We can thus count backwards from Tjigadzike to Lukwangwaliba, to Nitjasike, to Madlazwegwendo and to Maluzapi.
I find it strange that many Moyo clan people know more about Mzilikazi’s lineage and history than about their own, even those of Mambo lineage proper.
The royal Kalanga lineage is not easy to trace except that we are told that Tjibundule’s real name was “Madabhani.” He gave himself the nickname “Tjibundule” to signify that he was an unchallenged bull that was bellowing in the veld. (Ndobundula senkono wen’ombe. Tjinowodla nkoma tjowongina naponi).
Those words mean literally: “I am bellowing like a bull. How can any harm be able to reach me?”
So the BCC has a great deal of information about the period before the advent of the Ndebeles. The City Fathers should not act as if the history of this region started with Mzilikazi.
As far as education is concerned, the Christian community played a leading role through what was called the United School based in various church buildings in the old location (Mkokoba). The Methodist, the Salvation Army, the Anglican, the Roman Catholic and the American Methodist Episcopal churches led in promoting education in Bulawayo’s black community from 1894 right up to the early 1940s when the first government school was built in the city.
The Roman Catholic had built and run St Patrick’s, and the Anglican Church had constructed St Columbus. Names of those who pioneered these schools are easily available. Those names are relevant to the promotion of education among the black people of Bulawayo.
Names of Ndebele regiments have no relevance to our educational development, but can feature elsewhere.
Saul Gwakuba is a retired Bulawayo based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734328136 or e-mail [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
