The Sunday News
“AFRICANS are merely grown up children, a race that will attain the maturity of other men after they have been persuaded to stop worshipping hills, rivers, woods and the malignant spirits of their own dead,” retorted David Livingstone after his kinsman failed to convert a significant number of Africans in the familiar story of the flag followed the Bible.
The statement has an undertone of frustration at the failure by missionaries to make Africans leave their way of life and adopt their way of worshipping and spiritual belief beneath which lay plans to colonise the continent.
The statement rings true today as the nation celebrates this month, the illustrious life of the revered luminary of the liberation struggle Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo.
His death on 1 July 1999 was regionally mourned as much as it was celebrated as it touched not only the lives of those that were close to him for he was a father figure who fought fiercely, fearlessly and tirelessly for the political, economic and social liberation of the continent in its totality.
He was selfless and seemed to be guided by the belief that what matters in life is not the mere fact that we have lived and died but the difference that we have made in other people’s lives. And indeed the monikers that he was given were befitting of his national stature.
He was referred to as Father Zimbabwe, Chibwechitedza, Umdala Wethu, all of them denoting and distinguishing him as the political figurehead whose wisdom illuminated not only the political course of the struggle but the cultural and spiritual courses as well.
Dr Nkomo was among those that were well educated, well travelled and well exposed to foreign cultures and traditions but that did little if anything to shape and change his identity as a true African.
He remained true to his culture and tradition and managed to read the undertone of frustration and disappointment in the deriding statements of people such as Livingstone, whose kinsmen were all too eager to take control of the country through colonising their minds first.
He was an iconic figure whose stature was not only symbolic of the wholeness of a nation that he stood and fought for but also overshadowed the tribal and party political fights that characterised post-independent Zimbabwe and threatened to plunge the young democracy into political chaos and civil unrest.
Dr Nkomo was vilified by the same colonialists for being the peacemaker he was.
He was a larger than life character whose departure was mourned and celebrated as well as remembered. He was everything — a unifier, politician, trade unionist, father, teacher, fighter, culturalist and many more.
This article will, however, focus on Umdala Wethu as a culturalist of note who, having travelled the world in search of ways to liberate his country from the shackles of colonial bondage, met and mingled with different people but never allowed their culture to influence the way he saw his own.
He respected his culture and jealously guarded it against forces of academic and political influence that threatened it with erosion and extinction from the various associations he had with other cultures.
One would assume that he would easily dump his culture but being the son of the soil that he was, he understood better that the liberation struggle was a time that needed more spiritual intervention and to be true to one’s identity.
In one of the statements in his book The Story of My Life Dr Nkomo said he used to sneak out of the house in the quiet of the nights when his parents, who were devoted Christians, were asleep to attend cultural and traditional ceremonies in the neighbourhood and the community.
According to historian Pathisa Nyathi, Dr Nkomo never wavered when it came to respecting his culture. He said it was his cultural and spiritual wisdom that saw him and those who worked closely with him surviving several attempts on their lives during the struggle.
His acknowledgement of spiritual interventions in the country’s politics started to manifest itself when in 1954 he visited Dula — a war shrine that is near Mtshabezi Mission in the company of other liberation iconic figures such as Grey Mabhalane Bango and William Sivako.
It was after his visit to Dula that he went into nationalist politics.
Often times, Nyathi said, he would take his national executive for meetings of the National Democratic Party (NDP) at the Matopos, a place of historical and cultural significance.
At the meetings, he added, they used wooden items and clay water containers as opposed to metal and Western made wares.
“Dr Nkomo was a culturalist of note. His respect for his culture is seen when he visited Dula in 1954 before going into nationalist struggle. Dula is a war shrine as opposed to the Njelele which is a fertility shrine. He went there in the company of Grey Bango and William Sivako.
“He always took his national executive for meetings in the Matobo Hills and loved traditional music especially amabhiza. At most of the meetings they used clay pots as water containers and other traditional wares. He detested most Western things. It was because of his love for traditional items that saw a battle axe being handed to him by a veteran of the 1896 war. He loved his fur hat and that was a manifestation of his cultural self. It was also a general practice among national leaders. Even President Mugabe had one.
“He then visited the Njelele in 1980 after the liberation struggle and travelled with his ceremonial stuff. In fact, he had lots of them,” said Nyathi.
He added that despite being Vice-President, Umdala Wethu kept close connections with spiritual leaders such as Sitwanyana Ncube who used to live at one of his properties in Umguza.
Veteran journalist and social commentator Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu echoed Nyathi’s sentiments about Dr Nkomo’s connections to his roots and African identity.
He said it was at Dula that they were told that it was going to take 30 years to liberate the country.
He added that being a cultural and spiritual leader, he always ensured that those who worked with him were sworn to secrecy.
“He was a typical African in spite of the high education he had attained whose food was mainly typical Ndebele or Kalanga dishes such as sorghurm isitshwala, dobi mixed with biltong or dried vegetables.
“Dr Nkomo was so much attached to traditional cultural religion. In the early 1950s he and Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, Grey Bango, William Sivako Nleya and Night Thobani Khupe, Sikhwili Khohli Moyo went to the Dula — Mwali Shrine to consult the shrine about how they should liberate the country. It was then that they were told that it would take 30 years to free Zimbabwe,” said Gwakuba Ndlovu.
He added that his going to the Dula shrine must never be construed to mean that he did not believe in Christianity but that he saw no conflict at all between Mwali and the Biblical God.
“At one time Dr Nkomo wanted to be a minister of religion while he was in South Africa,” said Gwakuba Ndlovu.
He later visited the Njelele Shrine after the liberation struggle in 1980 to report that they were back from the struggle and to thank Mwali for the guidance he had given in the liberation of the country. He organised a huge meeting and people went there in large numbers.
Dr Nkomo was a strong advocate of cultural recognition no matter how small and never dithered despite all the torture that he went through at the hands of colonialists who wanted to win him after realising the kind of influence he had.
He remained connected to his roots and his culture.
