The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
AS President Mnangagwa commissioned the Pupu National Monument in Lupane, Matabeleland North Province, for elderly villagers in the area, the hordes that gathered in the area on Thursday were a vindication of their long-held belief that a story that had been passed from generation to generation, through word of mouth, was not mere fireside fable but an important milestone in the country’s history.
In Pupu, the story of King Lobengula’s disappearance after a bloody battle between his warriors and the white colonial forces is not just part of local lore.
It is regarded as proud heritage, with those that know having inherited it from those that came before them and expected to guard it jealously before they bequeath it to succeeding generations.
While many are ignorant of why the area was called Pupu, Mr Menyezwa Dabane Ngwenya (88) told Sunday News that the area got its name from the sound of gunfire that could be heard echoing around the vicinity of the Shangani River on 4 December in 1893.
“My father was born here and I was also born here. I was born next to these graves that are around here. When I was young, this area did not have a lot of people and the area at that time was mostly bush. We were told that this place was named Pupu because of the sounds that the guns made during the battle.
“When we were young, we were also told that the river took its name from the fact that people who were coming from the battleground were saying “Kutsha ngale”, referring to where the fighting was taking place.
This meant that the fire was coming from the riverside. That’s what people were saying as they fell on their knees dying. Hence, the name Shangani, which evolved over time,” he said.
While the story of the battle is explicitly told in history books and in art at the Pupu National Monument, Mr Ngwenya said for the older generation, it was not a story that they could easily not narrate because the pain and suffering the fighting brought was still fresh in the minds. In fact, Mr Ngwenya said his grandmother used to break down in tears whenever she narrated the story of the battle.
“It was a very painful chapter. I lived with my grandmother from my mother’s side and she lived until she was at a very old age. We would ask her about the battle but she would not narrate it fully. Whenever she told the story, she would break down into tears before she finished it. She would say she is fearful that if she told the story, we would sell her out to white people. Sometimes she would hide from young people that wanted her to narrate the history of that battle to them,” he said.
Mr Ngwenya said people in the Pupu area had always felt that they had a special place in the country’s history because they were resident in the area where the story of King Lobengula’s journey ends.
“When we were young, a lot of white people would come to enquire about the path that Lobengula took from here.
However, the path he took has always been hard to find because a warrior has no grave. The only warrior that is buried in a public grave is one that is sick. Otherwise a soldier’s grave is a secret. Whatever people might say, what is important to note is that all stories end here. This is what makes this place important because this is where the story ends,” he said.
Another villager, Mr John Malolo Moyo (88), said the story of King Lobengula had seen their usually sleepy village become a hive of activity on occasion, as white visitors sought to gain an understanding of where the Ndebele king was last seen. This, he said, had given them an understanding of how important the place they were resident in was.
“We were removed by the white government from Gududu, in Bubi in 1947 and we eventually found ourselves here after moving around. I grew up here until I left to find a job in Bulawayo around 1954. When I was younger, we were told the story of the battle but it was only when I was older that I started to understand it in its entirety. I remember at one time, some white people came to our school and chose three children, including me and asked about the story of Lobengula’s journey. We told them what we knew, including the fact that a wheel that belonged to Lobengula’s scotch cart was lost near the great tree (umtswiri). They asked us to take them there and we did. At the time, we did not understand how important that this history we were sharing was,” he said.
Mr Bernard Moyo (58) said there were parts that were sacred and shrouded in mysticism because of their association with King Lobengula’s journey and the battle in Pupu. In particular, the tree where the Ndebele monarch was last seen (umtswiri) was always regarded as a no-go area.
“When we were young, we were very curious about this tree and we would sometimes go to investigate around it. As children, we were very playful but whenever we got near that tree, something would just tell you that this is not a place where you should be playing around. The tree is like a song that is sung by people that are possessed by a spirit called iGidelandlini. You will never hear any child singing their song. In the same sense, you will never see children going to play near that tree. It’s something that is very sacred to people that live in this area.
“This is a place of culture and many myths. For example, there are bees here that have always been there and people in the area will tell you that those bees are not meant to be disturbed. Before you harvest their honey, you have to appease them and make an offering. There’s river in Sipopoma, there are bees that just seem to come out of the water.
We don’t know where they come from but they have never been washed away by the water which is very curious. All these things are linked to the the history of this area,” he said.
As part of royalty, Chief Mabhikwa told Sunday News that they had been the subject of many probes by colonial government, who were also curious about the disappearance of King Lobengula. Chief Mabhikwa revealed that the story of the battle in Pupu and events that followed afterwards were spoken of in hushed tones in their household, as they were regarded as sacred.
“When we were young around 1957-58, white people used to come to the Mabhikwa homestead, when my father was still alive. My grandmother was also still alive so the white people would come, bring buns or money to give to us and then say ‘tell us where your grandmother says Lobengula disappeared’. We would run away and go tell our grandmother who would pinch us and make us promise to never tell them about what she said to us.
“We were told that we should never discuss this story because we were too young to do so. There were a lot of animals around the area and sometimes people would just disappear. Whenever that happened, we were told that whoever had disappeared had gone missing because they had been eaten by hyenas for speaking about the King Lobengula issue and the battle in Pupu. That is how sacred the story was and it was something that we were meant to guard with our lives,” he revealed.
