OUR recent coverage of the Njelele or Matonjeni or Mabweadziva shrine in last month’s issues of The Patriot has sparked debate among historians, different tribes, politicians and former liberation war fighters seeking more information on the origins, significance and why the prominent shrine has been left to lie derelict and even be defiled by our former colonisers all seeking to discredit our spiritual history.
This week we dig deeper into the role the shrine played during the liberation struggle, who owns the disputed shrine and the hazards of disrespecting the shrine.
The Rozvi remain the last political authority over Njelele.
This is the source of confusion today when people approach the shrine.
They forget the political side to the shrine.
Consultation of the oracle at Njelele in political matters is documented from at least the 19th century, the interest of the Mwari cult in ethnic group politics dates back to the time when the Rozvi began to use the cult as a ‘centralised service’ and as a means of consolidating their own dynamic rule over the surrounding ethnic groups.
These political uses of the oracle continued after the arrival of early Europeans in the southwestern part of the country in the early 19th century, and Njelele was consulted during the 1896/7 uprisings.
The consultation of the Mwari cult played a significant role and was the forerunner to its use in modern politics and war some decades later.
Njelele appears to have assumed new values at the height of the protracted liberation struggle of the country when prominent political leaders and liberation war soldiers in the land consulted the oracle for guidance and security.
A documented example is in 1954 when the Matonjeni was consulted in connection with a proposed strike by a group of trade unionists from the City of Bulawayo.
In 1965, the late Vice-President, Joshua Nkomo’s wife the late Joana Mafuyane consulted Njelele to have her husband released from Gonakudzingwa, a war time restriction camp situated in the south of the country where he was incarcerated.
Njelele continued to be invoked and consulted in matters of politics and war as the protracted liberation struggle continued until the country attained its independence in 1980.
But who are the Rozvi?
The Rozvi first appeared to the Portuguese as the followers of the Changamire, who rose to fame in the 1680s and 1690s as the Shona ruler who conquered the Torwa State of the south western Zimbabwe and drove them from their lands of Dambabare and Manyika.
His successes against the Torwa, against the Mutapa Mukombwe, inspired the Portuguese with a profound respect for the Changamire and his Rozvi followers, so that they called him their fatal enemy and circulated horrific stories of his desecration of graves for his magic.
Even though his forces entered their area of interest four times- Maungwe in 1684, the Mutapa state in 1693 and 1702, and Manyika in 1695- they were so impressed by his victories that they never again dared to enter the plateau in the 18th century. Thus the Portuguese recognised that the Changamire Rozvi were the greatest single power on the plateau and came to look upon the Changamire as their ally against other rivals.
The Rozvi were linked with the fall of Zimbabwe and the wrath of the god mwari, from then on, most accounts of the Rozvi contained at least one mythical element which has the function either of stressing their former power or of relating that power and the pride that went with it to their subsequent fall.
The historical variations are numerous, both in the details of the story and the basic orientation of the traditions.
One version implies that the god Mwari was already in the south west when the Rozvi arrived there, another suggests that he may have come with them from the north east, although most are silent upon this point.
Historians claim the Mwari cave cult was centred on a number of shrines devoted to the worship of Mwari.
The actual sites changed from time to time, and so did their relative importance, which seems to have depended a good deal upon the skill and personality of the priests of the shrine, so that a shrine that was prominent at one time might become dominant.
Like most Shona traditional religious cults, the Mwari cave cult was concerned with rain, the well- being of crops, local politics (as evidenced by recent and earlier pilgrimages by former liberation war fighters and other political leaders to the shrine) and so on, but unlike most cults it maintained local representatives throughout the area in which it operated.
To this day the custodianship and control of Njelele has been confined on individual and family contests for power.
These contests led to serious conflicts between chiefs in the Matabeleland south region, war veterans and traditional healers.
Like various religious denominations, the followers of Mwari in Zimbabwe hold this shrine in high esteem and used or congregate annually for intense praying, just as the followers of the Muslim in Mecca.
It is a holy place where it is believed Mwari resides, and time and again intermediaries take followers up the hill to consult the shrine.
According to the followers, Mwari is able to speak to people from his hiding place in the cave, but nowadays they are convinced cunning individuals do the talking pretending to be Mwari.
Similarly, it is alleged that failure by politicians or former liberation war fighters to publicly declare the shields and weapons of their defeated enemies or the prisoners captured in war to the shrine has resulted in the anger which has led the stone to go quiet and therefore a need for a national bira to appease the shrine.
Elders said this should be carried out despite the fact that the shrine which predominantly remains a Shona one falls under the Ndebele chiefs in Matabeleland South.
There is also the contentious issue of the nomination of the shrine keeper based on their legitimacy to priesthood and custodianship dating back to the Rozvi state.