STROLLING THROUGH HISTORY Bulawayo’s Urban Heritage Corridor

06 Jun, 2021 - 00:06 0 Views
STROLLING THROUGH HISTORY  Bulawayo’s Urban Heritage Corridor President Mnangagwa , Vice-President Chiwenga and Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Judith Ncube listen to Bulawayo Mayor Clr Solomon Mguni’s address at the Inxwala grounds on Thursday

The Sunday News

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
FOR the first time in a long while, Bulawayo was last week forced to take a long hard look at the treasures that lie on its doorstep.

Sure, most citizens in the City of Kings are aware of the significance of certain landmarks. However, while some will pause for the occasional selfie with these landmarks in the background, few seem to take an active interest in them.

On Thursday, however, when the country’s First Citizen, President Mnangagwa, was in the city, this all changed.

After all, if the President and his high-powered team that included Vice-President Chiwenga can take time out of their busy schedules and spend the day traversing the length and breadth of the city, why should not ordinary men and women of Bulawayo, who have these sights a walking distance away from them, also take an interest in landmarks they walk past every day?

The launch of the Heritage Corridor, was a momentous occasion for artistes in Bulawayo, for so long hailed as the cultural capital of the country. For Bulawayo Arts Festival director Saimon Mambazo Phiri, it represented a nice and timely progression after last year’s interface between artistes and President Mnangagwa. Artistes made a knock on the highest office in the land and if last week’s tour is anything to go by, it was heard loud and clear.

“For us to have the Head of State here is a big plus because the Head of State has been here to have dialogue with artistes. We want takeaways from this, how is the sector growing from there? How can Bulawayo inspire other local authorities to grow? We’re willing to say, if this inspires Matobo Rural District Council, we can go there and do the same.

If Gwanda, Vic Falls, Rusape or Marondera do this, the sector will grow. That means eventually an industry will be seen. It’s not just about Bulawayo but the nation as a whole because we feed into the nation so for us this is very important. It sits in our hearts in a good way because this is us engaging with the highest office in the land and this is a good thing for the creative sector.”

Stride by stride with the country’s Head of State, the citizens of Bulawayo, together with their artistes, on Thursday took a stroll through history as they toured the city’s Urban Heritage Corridor.

Inxwala Grounds
Located between the city centre and North End suburb, the grounds are bounded by Masotsha Ndlovu Avenue to the south, the Old Lady Stanley Avenue to the west, Beit Avenue to the north, and Athlone Avenue to the east.

The site was used for a special Ndebele cultural event called Inxwala, where people would gather to pray for regeneration and rejuvenation as well as tasting the first fruits.

At this event, the people were called to gather once a year and, according to Pathisa Nyathi “appeal to God to give blessings to the nation, to the King. The King was the State, the State was the King so when you strengthen the King, by extension you are strengthening the nation.”

Council accorded a Site Preservation Order (SPO) status to the area, because of its historical significance. It usually houses the Lunar Park.

Hanging Tree
This is a sight of both beauty and pain, as it crystallises the agony of struggle and the enduring spirit and will for freedom that eventually culminated in the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980.

Nine black Africans who resisted white colonial settler rule during the first uprising were hung on Connaught and Masotsha Ndlovu avenues by Baden Powell, the man who started the Boy Scout movement which subsequently spread to many other parts of the world.

The hanging tree is an average-sized specimen of a false marula, or lannea schweinfurthii, with a wide-spreading crown, which was for many years a proclaimed national monument, but was de-listed and today few know of its existence, or of its history.

After hasty and discredited trials, three people were reportedly hung for allegedly looting when the inhabitants of Bulawayo were moved from their homes and six others for allegedly spying. At the time the tree was outside the town’s fortifications and a number of authors have said this was done to intimidate and put fear into the AmaNdebele on the outskirts of the town. However, the taking up of arms by people from Bulawayo and other parts of the country in the 2nd Chimurenga indicated that the hanging of those nine patriots did not have the stranglehold of fear that the colonialists hoped it would.

President Mnangagwa tours the late Vice-President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo statue during a tour of the Bulawayo Heritage Corridor

Joshua Nkomo Statue
Standing on a street named after him, Joshua Nkomo’s statue towers over Bulawayo. Erected in 2013, it depicts a giant that loomed over the city and country’s political fortunes in bronze. Since an alloy was used in its construction, the stature is hard and built to stand the vagaries of the African climate.

Further, the pedestal on which the statue stands, is made of varying sandstone rocks which include red sandstones from Esiphaziphazi and granite.

On the northern side of the statue on the pedestal just below his feet, are inscribed the words, Father Zimbabwe, which reinforces his paternal role in the birth of Zimbabwe. On the eastern side, are inscribed the words Chibwechitedza, or slippery rock, a name given to him because of his now mythical ability to elude Rhodesian security forces. On the western side is inscribed the words Umdala Wethu, which again refers to his revered fatherly role.

To the south, the words Ramatsatsi are inscribed. Nkomo’s statue is at the intersection of JMN Nkomo Street and 8th Avenue. In addition, there are lamp posts at the centre of the two intersecting roads.

St Mary’s Basilica
The church is called the cathedral because of the bishop’s seat which is called the Cathedra. In 2013 it was elevated to a basilica, meaning the house of kings, with God being the king of kings. It is the only one in southern Africa.

On 25 March 1903, the construction stone on the building was laid. It was not until 1958, after being extended and developed over that period, that it was completed to its current state.

“It is the only one in southern Africa and this is why we are saying that Bulawayo should be aware of the treasure that they have,” said Danisa Mpofu, a custodian of the basilica’s history. “This not only has spiritual value but economic value because of tourism. There are people that want to be in a basilica but would rather not travel to Rome and see a basilica but instead they can come to Bulawayo and experience life in one.

President Mnangagwa, Vice-President Chiwenga and Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Judith Ncube are taken on a tour of The Hanging Tree by historian Mr Pathisa Nyathi

It’s also got architectural value because students that are studying architecture can come and see how the Gothics themselves did the structures that will support almost 300 tonnes of the roof. It hasn’t shaken and it hasn’t moved in almost 120 years.”

Joshua Nkomo Museum

Located on Number 17 Aberdeen Road in Matsheumhlope Bulawayo, the museum was first opened to the public in 2012. The museum’s 10 rooms contain portraits, newspaper cuttings, photographs, clothes, tools, kitchen utensils including all the movable property that the late Nkomo and his wife, the late Joana “Mama MaFuyana” Nkomo used. One can even catch a glimpse of Mqabuko’s romantic side from a letter he wrote to his beloved MaFuyana after 27 years of marriage.

“Please accept the white Benz that I brought towards the end of last year, it was meant to be a present for you from me on the 1st of October 1976 which was the 27th anniversary of our wedding. . . . Please my darling accept this gift from me as a little token of love from me after 27 years of our wedding,” the smitten Joshua wrote.

The museum’s veranda is adorned by a navy-blue bullet-proof Mercedes Benz, whose smooth metal is scarred by bullet holes from an assassination attempt, an indication of the perilous life once led by one of Zimbabwe’s most illustrious sons.

Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
In a city filled with unique landmarks, the Natural History Museum is another that stands on its own. It is the only such museum in Zimbabwe. Much like some of the animals that it profiles, the museum was once a nomadic creature. In 1902, with F P Mennell, a geologist, as its first curator, the museum was first housed at what is now the Bulawayo Public Library before it was Congregation Chapel in 1905. From there it was then moved to Parcels House on Fort Street and 8th Avenue in 1908 before it eventually moved to its current home in Centenary Park.

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