HomeOld_PostsMaking Harare yaVanhu: In memory of Dr Chivaura

Making Harare yaVanhu: In memory of Dr Chivaura

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DR VIMBAI Gukwe Chivaura, that doyen of African pride and identity is no more.
He has passed on to take his pride of place among the Gukwe ancestry.
I received this news as I prepared my contribution for The Patriot on Zimbabwe’s naming crisis for this week.
Dr Vimbai Gukwe Chivaura, powerful names and solid pan-Africanism, was an inspiration to the piece I was planning to write.
It was no coincidence that among his fellow panelists were the equally powerfully named Dr Tafataona Mahoso and Professor Sheunesu Mpepereki.
It is generally true that political and cultural awareness of a parent is reflected in the names of his or her children.
The deficit in modern Shona parents who would name their children Celine, Eminem, Rihanna, Sean, Floyd, Kim, Last, Dontcare or Diego Maradona is unmistakable.
The overriding influence is English and/or celebrity name.
Since the 1960s nationalists have popularised African pride and vision with names like Nhamodzenyika, Tongai, Rusununguko, Garikayi and Batanai.
Among Dr Chivaura’s children we have Mutungamiri and Mutsigiri.
Need I say more?
Lack of cultural, political and historical awareness is quite evident in street and place names in Harare.
A city that is steeped in historical and cultural imagery of Chitungwiza (Dungwiza raChaminuka), Harare (Harava or Haarari?), Mufakose (Hwata Mufakose people), Dzivarasekwa (Dziva raSeke?), Mabvuku (and its Shawasha streets ancestry of Tingini, Godzonga, Marembo, Chauruka, Nyamare and Nyahuni), Mbare (Shumba Gurundoro) and Seke (Shava Mvuramavi), is also littered with culturally and historically offensive names.
These include Allan Wilson, Prince Edward, Churchill, Mazowe (our Gomba), Mt Hampden (our Tsikwi), Manchester, Coventry, Harvey Brown, David Livingstone and Fife.
To this historical/cultural garbage we can add Warren Park, Westlea, Tynwald, Sandton, Glaudina.
Either we are ignorant of our own history or at war against our own identity.
The name and philosophy of Vimbai Gukwe Chivaura shines brightly on these decaying gutters of national pride and identity.
When I moved to Harare in early 2000, directing people to my stand number in colonially sounding Mainway Meadows was a nightmare as there were no street names.
Fifteen years later nothing has changed.
In 2005 I moved to the new Adylin Township in Westgate.
Residents still endure the inconvenience of having to use stand numbers as the streets are yet to be named.
This confusion is replicated in most housing developments that have taken place in the last two decades.
Could it be that our City fathers are clueless on what to honour?
Harare history is full of indigenous river and place names and historical icons awaiting dusting up from the archives.
A starting point is pre-colonial nomenclature for the Harare region.
The only rivers well known by their indigenous names are Manyame, Marimba, Mukuvisi and Gwebi.
These have become names for areas as well as institutions.
Others are lesser known or are known by their corrupted versions.
Mazowe was Manzou or as some say Manzoro and Umwinsi was Mubvinzi.
Other Harare rivers include; Chiripagura, Nyaruwanga, Rukadora, Manyonga, Nyaguwi, Mhandara, Rumbabvu and Chiraura.
Original place names for the Harare area include Gomba for Mazowe valley, Zvamapere or Chimurove for Avondale, Mharapate for Hillside, Chizarezare or Mutewedzi for Mount Pleasant, Chaswi for Emerald Hill, Biriwiri for Hartmann Hill and Bare or Mutomboka for Gunhill.
In the 19th Century Harare was mainly a large plain, bani, known for its abundant cane rats, matapi, the Matapi hostels being the only reminder.
Chiefs/traditional leaders who have been associated with Harare area include Seke, Neharawa, Harare, Mbare, Gutsa, Hwata, Chiweshe and Chinamhora of the Shawasha.
Royalty totems for the area include Shumba, Shava and Soko.
Nineteenth (19th) Century European conquest was met with massive resistance, especially in the Harare region of Gomba (Mazowe valley) that was under Chief Hwata.
Although the resistance was eventually broken, seeds for future uprisings had been planted and watered.
Nehanda and Hwata, the faces of resistance in this area, were executed.
The former has to this day remained a rallying point for the Zimbabwean revolution.
The legacy of the latter has largely been extinguished in our inherited Harare.
In-between the First and Second Chimurenga sons and daughters have emerged who have served their City well in the capacities of trade unionists, community leaders, philanthropists, business leaders, sports personalities, musicians.
Such names include Charles Mzingeli, Arthur Shearly Cripps, Sipambaniso Manyoba, Mansell Mphamba, George Nyandoro, James Chikerema, Manu Kambani, Doroth Masuka, Oliver Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo, George Shaya, Peter Nyama, Freddy Mkwesha, Shacky Tauro, Kirsty Coventry and Proud Chinembiri (Kilimanjalo).
Civic honour could surely go the way of the various leaders and exemplary citizens via the many unnamed streets of Harare.
The protracted Second Chimurenga produced many luminaries who include over 100 national heroes who have gone unnoticed by civic authorities.
Harvey Brown, Churchill and Allan Wilson receive greater recognition!
As we bid farewell to an outstanding son of the soil, a true patriot, a culturally and politically liberated academic, we pray for our civic authorities to water our memory of Vimbai Gukwe Chivaura by making Harare yaVanhu, not a colonial relic.

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