MY friend Chikonamombe this week sent me a plea for assistance in reclaiming the Maromo chieftaincy in Chikomba, a chieftainship denied the clan on Rhodesian political considerations.
He tends to overestimate my capabilities.
I, however, was touched by his reference to the heroics of the clan.
He told me Chinengundu was father of the Mashonaland part of the first Chimurenga and a Chikonamombe.
How true.
Chinengundu Mashayamombe was arguably the First Chimurenga’s foremost military strategist.
It is common knowledge among Chikonambe people that the great Chief Chinengundu Mashayamombe was killed in action in 1897 and his head decapitated as part of colonial conquest rituals.
Attempts to locate the head in local and British museums have not yielded any positive results.
The name Chinengundu was taboo during Rhodesia.
It was a name that aroused fear and hatred among Rhodesians.
During the time of Rhodesia, members of the Chinengundu family, for fear of retribution, dropped the name preferring second and third generation surnames instead.
The BSACo had in the early 1890s established an operational base in Chinengundu’s country.
From this base they collected hut tax, compulsory labour (chibharo) and women to use as sex slaves.
Chinengundu felt humiliated and insulted by these developments.
When he heard about the outbreak of uprisings against colonial rule in Matabeleland, he quickly jumped on the opportunity to exact revenge against colonialists.
He coordinated other Shona chiefs, religious leaders and comrades in Matabeleland and soon became the brains behind uprisings in Mashonaland. Chinengundu’s key attributes were diplomacy, intelligence gathering and knowledge of firearms.
The latter stemmed from years of contact with Portuguese like Gouveia.
Between June and July 1896 Rhodesians suffered several military defeats at the hands of Chinengundu.
Against their wish and expectations war dragged on deep into 1897 when Chinengundu was finally conquered in July.
It is recorded in written history that his body was paraded at impromptu victory parties that were thrown by Rhodesians.
Oral history mentions that his head was decapitated and displayed in imperial museums.
In their own words, whites admitted to Chinegundu’s military might; “At Mashayamombe we have not been able to take real control of the witch doctor’s kopje (Kaguvi’s stronghold); and we probably had more casualties than the natives”, “I do not propose to attack any strongholds, but to establish forts, harass him (Chinengundu) and threaten his crops.”
The First Chimurenga essentially collapsed in west-central Mashonaland with the fall of Chinengundu.
Today Chinengundu is forgotten.
His name struggles for recognition in our national historical chronicles.
Conflicting accounts about his death and what became of his head have been reduced to Mhondoro pub talk.
Yet in reality we are hard pressed to identify a mightier military hero.
Chinengundu Mashayamombe is not without company in our rubbish dumps of history.
His sad fate is shared with Chingaira Makoni, another legendary chief and hero during the First Chimurenga.
My great-grand-mother, a Makoni daughter, always swore, like many others across the country,“NaChingaira akafa achidamburwa musoro navarungu.”
“It is all well to call me a rebel, but the country belonged to me and my forefathers long before you came here.”
These enduring, defiant words, according to oral tradition, were Chingaira’s parting words as he faced the firing squad in September 1896.
He had been captured and then summarily tried and shot as whites feared his escape if he was to be taken to proper courts for trial.
What annoyed Chingaira most was the pegging-out of the whole of his territory for farms or gold claims.
Chingaira Makoni had also been incensed by the arrogance and cruelty of colonialists who grabbed his cattle and drove men into forced labour (chibharo).
It was therefore not difficult for him to mobilise his subjects in an attempt to drive away whites.
Whites underrated Chingaira’s army.
When war broke out, Chingaira held his own.
Several whites were killed some of whom are buried in the cemetery at St Faith’s Mission.
Chingaira made a significant contribution to an anticolonial war that claimed 372 settlers, a tenth of the settler population of that time.
Chingaira Makoni and a few dozen of his supporters were besieged from the end of August 1896 in a cave, and forced out after several days by dynamite and pledges of safe conduct.
Makoni emerged into capture in the dark of night September 3-4, and initial plans for some trial were hastily discarded upon the escape of some of his fellows.
Oral traditions are unanimous that his head was subsequently decapitated and presented to Rhodes as a war trophy.
Today Chingaira is well remembered in the fact and myth of oral tradition, but is conveniently forgotten in official chronicles.
His heroics inspired the participation of many especially from Makoni during the Second Chimurenga.
In 1988 a Makoni delegation went to England in an attempt to identify and repatriate Chingaira’s head.
They came back empty-handed, the British allegedly told them to look for the head in South Africa.
There have been no known national efforts to unravel the decapitation story and recover the head.
Like Chinengundu, Chingaira’s name is missing in our list of honoured First Chimurenga heroes.
Muchemwa was the oldest son of Mangwende Mungate II.
Muchemwa was born and raised before the arrival of the British imperial force. His father, Mungate II was Mangwende 1880-1924.
Between 1890 and 1896 Muchemwa watched with alarm as his father made concession after concession to agents of the British imperial force.
In October 1890 Mangwende signed the BSACo Treaty that had been brought by Fredrick Courtney.
Hut tax was introduced indiscriminately.
Natural disasters like small pox, drought, rinderpest and locusts broke out.
There was mass killing of cattle as a veterinary precautionary measure to contain cattle disease.
Mangwende authority was trashed and adults were openly flogged and mistreated by young European boys that Mangwende considered friends.
In June 1896 Muchemwa was in contact with emissaries of Mambo Mashayamombe, Sekuru Kaguvi and Mbuya Nehanda.
On June 18, he organised the killing of Bernard Mizeki, the symbol of Christianity in Nhohwe country.
Other notable accomplishments of the Muchemwa led First Chimurenga in Nhohwe country include the killing of the Mutoko Native Commissioner and the defeat of Harding’s force that included 500 Budya mercenaries, in March 1897 near Nyadire.
Muchemwa led the war against Europeans until defeat in September 1897.
Muchemwa refused to recognise the peace agreement and between 1898 and 1903 led a small guerilla army that caused havoc to BSA Co administration.
He eventually ran out of fighting resources and was deserted by key lieutenants leading to his capture in 1903.