PSYCHOLOGISTS believe that a name is an important form of identity and can tell a story.
It can describe the character and attributes of a person, a clan or a Nation.
It can also be an indication of political change.
The naming process in independent Zimbabwe had to reflect the new power-relations that prevailed in the Nation.
It had to demonstrate that the blacks are no longer a subjugated people.
In addition, it had to replace a colonial heritage which was meaningless to the black majority.
A name creates a certain mindset.
Place names in colonial Zimbabwe had developed in blacks a mindset of a defeated and an inferior people.
The Journal of Social Sciences produced by Great Zimbabwe University notes that the names in independent Zimbabwe were supposed to transform the mindset of the black people to that of masters with control over their destiny.
The first significant name change was that of the country, which was changed from Zimbabwe-Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.
The process of changing the country’s name started after the Internal Settlement of 1978 when it became known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
However, the bestowal of this double-barrelled name after that political process could have been an indication that the white minority settlers still had an equal stake with the majority blacks in the country, an undesirable arrangement for the black nationalists.
Therefore, when the country attained independence in 1980, the name Rhodesia was immediately discarded because it was a major reminder of colonial oppression and exploitation.
The country’s new name, Zimbabwe, was derived from ‘Dzimba dzamabwe’, the Great Zimbabwe monument which symbolises the historical greatness of the ancient Shona kingdom.
Salisbury was re-named Harare while the Cecil Square was renamed Africa Unity Square.
One of the key buildings near the square is the Anglican Church.
‘Anglican’ means ‘of England’, but the Anglican Church exists worldwide.
The Anglican Church was spread worldwide first by English colonisation and then by English-speaking missionaries.
Cecil Square is where the Pioneer Column first settled in 1890 and it signified their occupation.
They were accompanied by a body of 500 British South Africa Company Police. There were also 19 miscellaneous civilians, including Dr Jim and a man named Archibald Colquhoun who was to head up the civil administration of Mashonaland – whenever it might be established.
Cecil John Rhodes had appointed him, confident that soon-enough the pioneers would constitute a Nation governed in the usual British style.
And last but not least, 350 African labourers came along to do the actual work of digging the road, together with assorted black cooks and drivers.
The Africans were Ngwato, Griqua, Zulu and Sotho – not Matabele – as King Lobengula had ceased to co-operate.
Given the deceitful and fraudulent means of securing the territory used by Rhodes and his company, tension began to mount between King Lobengula and the company.
A war broke out in 1893 in which the indigenes, poorly armed, were defeated. This war was to be known as the ‘Anglo-Matabele War’.
Although September 12, anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneer Column at the site of Salisbury, had been commemorated a couple of times, it was not until 1905 that it became firmly fixed in the public mind as a special day for Rhodesia.
Thus Rhodesians had a two-day holiday on July 5 and 6; Rhodes’ Day and Founders’ Day.
The year 1904 saw the dedication of the Allan Wilson Memorial in the Matopos.
These events led to a revival of public interest in the recent history of the country and a growing realisation that September 12 was a day of great national importance.
The new Mayor of Salisbury then, Edward Coxwell, decided it was time Salisbury’s children became aware of the importance of their fathers’ deeds and arranged a full programme of events to celebrate Occupation Day.
In Cecil Square, near the original spot where the Union Jack had first been raised, a gum pole was erected in front of an audience of 250 children.
A youngster named Frank Pascoe, the first child to be born in Salisbury, was given the honour of re-enacting the flag-raising ceremony.
Colonel Raleigh Grey gave the children a speech on the subject and their parents then proceeded with them to Hartmann Hill for a picnic and sports.
In the evening the adults held a dinner at the Commercial Hotel (Meikles).
In 1906, the celebration of Occupation Day was repeated, this time the honour of raising the flag going to the first girl to have been born in Salisbury, Florence von Hirschberg.
Every year after this, a flag-raising ceremony has been held, the honour of raising the flag going to the children or grand-children of the first pioneers, although in some years the flag was raised by one of the pioneers (themselves).
In 1932, for example, the flag was raised by Commander Tyndale-Biscoe RN, the man who originally performed this function for the Pioneer Column.
In 1940, to mark the occasion of Rhodesia’s 50th Anniversary, the original flag used in 1890 was returned by General Smuts from its place of honour at Groote Schuur in Cape Town, as a gift to Rhodesia.
This original Union Flag was used for the Pioneers’ Day ceremony for the last time before being laid up in the National Archives.
The Union Jack became the official flag of the colony when the first Governor to be appointed as the King’s representative under Responsible Government – Sir John Chancellor – arrived in the colony in 1923.
The Rhodesian High Commissioner in London, however, flew the Rhodesian Standard, the Blue Ensign with the Colony’s coat of arms in the fly.
The Union Jack remained in use at all Government establishments in Rhodesia until sunset on Sunday November 10 1968, when it was lowered for the last time and replaced by the new Rhodesian flag, the ‘Green and White’.
The Union Jack that was used at Brady Barracks was placed in safekeeping at St. John’s Cathedral in Bulawayo.
It was given to the Church.
To date, everything at the Africa Unity Square, except the name, signifies the British style left by Rhodes and his men.
The different footpaths and gates of the square make up the Union Jack.
And 36 years after independence, decisions are still being made in the very same buildings that used to brew racism and injustices for the indigenes.
This is the place where Rhodies used to unite and teach their children how their fathers were great by colonising the blackman.
How far are we in terms of decolonising our minds and dealing with colonial relics?