By Dr Tony Monda

HAVE you ever noticed how every religious sect has its uniform, paraphernalia and trappings of faith; robes, staffs, tsvimbo, nhokwe (snuff horn), magemenzi echi postori (apostolic garments), manhenga emasvikiro (feather head dress), the Methodist red and the Catholic blue ‘chita cha Maria’.
Are these trappings Biblical or man-made?
Here is my Zimbabwean story: The Sunday religious pageant.
It’s a Sunday morning. From a park bench in Africa Unity Square I watch the various church groups pass by parading their various church vestments. Methodists and Catholics, the reds and the blues, marching to various churches (like Liverpool United and Chelsea FC). The Apostolic sects in white; the khaki-clad Salvation Army troopers and the Africa Initiated Churches (AIC), in their own ‘designer wear’ complete the parade.
Earlier, on my way into town along Chiremba Road, I saw various flags raised among the rocky meadowland vleis: greens and reds with embroidered crucifixes in white or yellow; each one righteous and convinced or confused, in their faith and their uniform. Nattily dressed charismatic Baptists and Pentecostals; pastors in their cheap, gaudy, glitzy Chinese-made suits. Bible and I-pads under armpits and the latest phones in hand; they need to show they are up-to-the-minute and techno-savvy.
From my pocket Bible I read up the scriptures about outwardly appearances and pray for enlightenment, understanding and salvation for everyone.
I suppose I am not the only one whose mind boggles at the sights and wonders thus. Being an artist I felt the urge to find out about the history and import of these new religious fads in Zimbabwe, and leave the judgment to God as well as the reader.
I see walking in my direction, a procession of sharply dressed, praise-and-worship groups with hooded guitars strapped fashionably on their backs, with a bevy of female groupies in tow, all aspiring to be the next gospel chart-breakers. ‘Praise-and-worship’, the double synonym which is repeated with pride by both learned and un-learned broadcast journalists ad-nauseum without giving it thought. I notice tribal scarifications etched on a pastor’s forehead and cheeks and the unmistakable bulge of a snuff horn in his shirt pocket and wonder to myself if he partakes before preaching to his congregations.
Silently I wonder at this freedom of worship, or worship of freedom and ask myself where God is, in this equation? Are these the signs of the times? Is this the new face of Zimbabwean religion?
I stroll towards the bottom end of Second Street and Robert Mugabe Street and see corporate adverts and symbols on glossy religious posters of various pastors, plastered in a row on shop windows and likewise on a few of the kombis that pass along the streets … the ABCs, AFCs, PHDs, AICs, AFMs; acronyms for gospel missions and religious sects that sound like American radio stations advertising their latest DJs.
My head stirs crazy as I try to decipher the artistic politics of the new Zimbabwean religions.
On the same street an elderly woman in heels, well in her 60s, a church leader, fusses over her new ginger wig – It is a mass of orange tendrils sticking out of her doek. On her shoulders a blue Chita cha Maria’s poly-cotton shawl hangs precariously. She asks her young group if her wig/hair is OK — they reply without looking: “Weave yenyu yakanaka mufunge”; like blue and white sheep, they follow their leader.
Another group of young church goers, Bibles in hands, passes by discussing the pastor’s latest Bentley, the wife’s new diamond-tipped shoes and silver buckles as well as the next ‘big’ church wedding. I laugh at their material aspirations and unholy conversations and I think to myself ‘cubic zirconias are not diamonds’.
On First Street and George Silundika Avenue I see an itinerant preacher screaming his impromptu service in broken English with his interpreter giving a flawless Shona translation of the Gospel. The crowd grows.
Are people genuinely searching for the truth or mid-morning entertainment? The preacher blithely continues even louder, addressing the white English god in his wrecked English. Someone in the middling crowd comments: “Anenge abatwa ne mweya – (he seems to be seized with the Holy Spirit, we better listen.”
I wonder what God meant when he said: “Come to me in your own language.”
In pre-colonial times our Shona, Rozvi and Ndebele religions were well established in the country. All were monotheist and worshipped Mwari the benevolent creator God albeit through various cultural intercessions.
For enlightenment let us look at the history of some of the churches originating from colonial times to date.
In 1560, a Jesuit priest Goncalo de Silveira, made the first attempt to establish the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe when he reached the Munhumutapa’s capital and attempted to convert its ruler to Christianity. Father de Silveira was killed a few days later. Dominican nuns and Jesuit priests in the 17th Century worked amongst the settlers and traders in north-east Zimbabwe. However, in 1693, they were pursued from the country together with the Portuguese, by the Mutapa, thus ending their work. Making little progress the Jesuits finally withdrew from the country.
In 1879 Henry Depelchin headed the Zambezi Mission in Bulawayo, run by the Society of Jesus, which established the modern Church in Zimbabwe.
In 1890 Father Hartmann accompanied the Pioneer Column as chaplain, marking the return of the Jesuits; Father Prestage escorted the Dominican nuns who came as nurses and worked in nursing and education sectors. The work carried out by the Dominicans was an essential part of the early colonial expansion of the Catholic Church.
The Jesuits established Chishawasha Mission (Harare) and Driefontein Mission (Masvingo), which excelled in vocational training crafts, such as woodwork, domestic science, arts and crafts and our famed religious iconographic sculptures.
In Zimbabwe, by 1955 there were 116 000 Catholics, 40 parishes, 87 priests and 11 religious orders. And at Independence in 1980, there were 800 000 Catholics, when diplomatic relations were established between Zimbabwe and the Holy See in Italy. Today there are an estimated 1,2 billion Catholics throughout the world with a large percentage in Africa.
The Reverend Robert Moffat of the London Missionary Society and his wife Mary opened the first Christian mission stations in 1859 at Inyathi, and Hope Fountain in Bulawayo, in 1870. In the 1890s, after white settlers’ occupation of Mashonaland, the Anglican Church established missions in Zimbabwe as did the Methodists and a number of other denominations.
In 1891 the Salvation Army in the Transvaal sent a mission to Mashonaland where it was granted 3 000 acres in the Mazowe Valley. By 1910 many people in the Chiweshe area had been converted; resulting in the establishment of Howard Institute in 1923.
In 1894 the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which was based in the US, started work in Zimbabwe at Solusi Mission from where it spread throughout Zimbabwe. Headquartered in Bulawayo, it now operates over 72 primary and secondary schools, runs clinics and dispensaries in Bulawayo, Gweru and Harare. Its current adherence number is an estimated 200 000.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was first established in the US in 1784. It entered Zimbabwe through Mozambique in 1897. It became the Methodist Church in 1939 and the United Methodist Church in 1968. Under the auspices of the United Methodist Church, the development of national leadership was a top priority under the administration of Bishop Ralph Dodge, who organised study scholarships for qualified Zimbabweans among whom was the late Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who became the United Methodist Churches’ first indigenous Zimbabwean Bishop in 1968.
In 1957 the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ) was formed by a union of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and Evangelical Reformed Churches (ABCFM), who entered Zimbabwe in 1883 via Zululand in South Africa. Chief Ngungunyana in 1893 granted them permission to establish Mount Selinda and Chikore missions on his lands. Their goal was to prepare the people for the new colonial socio-political order by teaching them Christianity, nursing, school teaching, carpentry and building. The United Church of Christ Zimbabwe (UCCZ) was the first religious organisation in Zimbabwe to send indigenous Africans overseas to train for university degrees. The UCCZ fostered black nationalism by speaking out against racism and practising racial equality on mission lands. Rev Ndabaningi Sithole was greatly influenced by the UCCZ which had a large following from the Ndau people.
Most imperial church denominations in Zimbabwe are an indirect result of colonisation. However, there are now many indigenous-run churches, each with its unique artistic logo, symbols, corporate colours and charismatic leaders.
Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) and Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, musician, art critic, practising artist and Corporate Image Consultant. He is also a specialist Art Consultant, Post-Colonial Scholar, Zimbabwean Socio-Economic analyst and researcher. E-mail: tonym.monda@gmail.com