The Sunday News
Phathisa Nyathi
ABNORMALITY is associated with power. The abnormality referred to covers all forms of life, from grasses and trees to humans and animals. In human beings that translates to disability or uniqueness. The norm is enabled while the converse applies. Albinism is absence of melanin which renders the black colour to the skin. The majority of Africans (black) do have melanin. Those without are in the minority. They thus stand out from the norm and it is this consideration that makes them special. It is this specialty that is associated with perceived power which explains why in some countries such as Malawi and Tanzania albinos are ritually killed.
It is precisely the same thinking that makes mountains special. They are in the minority in terms of altitude as they stand out against the rest of the more expansive ground. Such perceptions were not exclusive to black Africans. In many communities elsewhere, mountains were regarded as sources of sacredness, divinity and power. Fuji, Zion and Sinai are among the several mountains that were regarded as sacred by communities around them. The 10 commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Sacredness is imparted on individuals, animals and indeed, elements within the broader environment such as mountains, groves, springs and pools. Their sacred, divine and holy status is preferred on them by human beings. It is human beings who either confer, withdraw or take sacrilegious actions. What are considered holy places can be desecrated. Retention of sacredness demands existence of certain conditions. When these are removed by whatever means, sacredness or holiness are lost.
A good example is the Njelele Rain Shrine which many communities, both within and outside Zimbabwe, consider sacred and holy, it being the abode of Mwali. Not so long ago the shrine was desecrated when stones from graves in Mozambique were brought to the shrine. Graves and what they represent, that is death, are the antithesis of the Njelele Shine and what it stands for, which is fertility. Fertility is about life, its extension and sustenance, whereas graves and death are the very opposite. The colour red is prohibited at Njelele and when it is raining because it symbolises death. However, what man desecrates, man will restore to the former state of sacredness. This is precisely what ought to be done at Njelele.
When some spiritual initiate in South Africa was getting ready to brew beer for the ritual she was told not to obtain water from the usual sources. Instead, she was instructed to obtain it from the summit of a named mountain. Indeed, elderly people, perceived as ritually clean, were assigned to perform the task. The party had never scaled the mountain, nor did they know there was a hole in rock which contained water. Lo and behold, when they got to the summit, there was, right in front of their eyes, some water as directed and advised through a dream, a mode of revelation or communication between human beings and God or ancestral spirits. In a spiritual sense, water collected from a mountain top is infused with power, particularly spiritual power, is transferred to the spirit medium who brews ritual beer to be dedicated to her ancestral spirits. Equally, the top most leaves of a tree found at the summit of a mountain possess more power than leaves from a similar tree at ground level.
Water is life and Africans, and indeed other peoples of the world, have crafted cultural means to induce rain to fall. A few weeks ago we travelled to Zezane, on the banks of the Umzingwane River in Beitbridge. At Makhado we turned left past Majini, Madzivhe and Masungane. Before getting to the Umzingwane River, the site of the Zezane Assembly Point (AP) and its associated aerodrome were pointed out to us. Freedom fighters assembled there at the end of 1979 and the beginning of 1980 following the ceasefire in December 1979. I began wondering whether the numerous assembly points in Zimbabwe have been marked out for posterity. Certainly the APs are an important part of Zimbabwe’s liberation heritage.
I began enquiring about the name Zezane. My informant indicated to me that Zezane was a Mbedzi man who lived in the area. He pointed out that the Sitaudzi chieftainship is Mbedzi just like the Matibe further east, near Malungudzi Mountain. He indicated the Mbedzi in the western part of the district actually travelled from the east. A hill in the area bears a name that points to that migration. A hill to the north bears the name Vhutulula. My informant said some time ago there lived a Mbedzi man not far from Zezane. He pointed out that during their north westward migration the VhaMbedzi rested near the said hill. Goods were offloaded as the migrants took a rest. The hill was accordingly named Vhutulula.
My mind wandered to my rural home at Sankonjana in the southern part of Matobo District. There lived two brothers, Mbalekelwa and Khani Siziba. Sometime last year, while researching material for my book, “Dissidents: Creation and Operation in Post-Independence Zimbabwe,” I interviewed Marko Siziba, son of Khani. These Siziba people are Thobela, Mbedzi people. Could they be related to the Mbedzis both in Zimbabwe and South Africa? The interview did indicate the two groups are related.
Marko pointed out that his father Khani and Mbalekelwa, the elder of the two, migrated to Sankonjana, a hill named after ubiquitous euphorbia trees that abound in the area. They were trekking from Mpu, a place at Enqameni in Gwanda District. Their chief was Bafana Ndiweni. Before relocating to Mpu, they had been resident at Dula, a shrine under Maswabi. As Mbedzi people, they were associated with the Njelele Rain Shrine. Khani’s father was Phalamunwana, son of Tshakalisa, the son of Sitaudzi. Before their westward migration they had been at Malungudzi Mountain area. Mbedzi refers to a rain cloud, which resembles a pool of water, hence reference to Siziba. Dula was also a shrine and oral traditions point to one Mhlambezi Nyathi from Ratanyane (Riretenyana in SeBirwa and so named because the hill resembled a small testis) who frequented the shrine and was working in conjunction with Ngalapi Nyathi’s wife, the mother of William Ngalapi who owned Suka Sihambe buses.
Apparently, these Mbedzi people were no strangers to association with rain shrines. Marko pointed out that his ancestors were linked to Dulibadzimu on the Limpopo River. I could not help wondering if there was some connection between Dulibadzimu and Dula, as both were associated with rain-making rituals and both have similar words: “dula” and “duli’’. I do know the former refer to a mortar. Does the name derive from the similarity between the shapes of a mortar and that of a hill? What is clear though is the link between a “dula” and food. Rain shrines are approached for rain which fertilises the earth. Food is the product of that fertilisation. Certainly there is a link.
Be that as it may I am left wondering what the connection is between these Mbedzi people who are Thobela and associated with the rain and the Malabas that are also associated with the Njelele Rain Shrine. The latter too share the same Thobela and Mbedzi praises, and yet the Malabas are said to be Ncubes, the Shokos. The praises of Mwali are shared by both. How come?
