By Vitalis Ruvando

EUROPE is snobbish about ‘Christianity’ for it blesses her predatory agendas.
Africa can be proud of African spirits that inspire anti-colonialism and ensure the return of African identity and pride.
President Robert Mugabe now heads the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).
Tribute goes to Zimbabwean spirits and Gushungo totem.
African spirits have been guiding AU’s founding fathers.
They continue to inspire anti-colonial resilience in Africa.
Through their nuncio they say, ‘African resources for Africans’.
African spirits prefer all weather friends not colonialists.
Through their vicar they say, ‘Africa will never be a colony again’.
In Zimbabwe, the spirits include the Creator: Musiki, antecessors: vadzimu, talent conferring: mashavi and recognisance: nhangaruvanze spirits.
Their nuncios or vicars were called mhondoro: sacred practitioners (eg Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Chaminuka, Kaguvi, Mzilikazi and Lobengula), and magodobori (indigenous medical practitioners).
This tribute is inspired by the death scare cry heard when colonialists and ‘gospel mercenaries’ hanged Nehanda.
This cry is now the tone of the acclaimed statesman, President Mugabe.
Telegraphic messages, which smack of colonial cannibalism, were sent to Cape Town and London that resistance in ‘Mashonaland’ was over after Nehanda’s death.
Nehanda’s death scare presage Zimbabwean revolutions to recreate African identity; deconstruct global development and economic models to be Afro-centric.
Her teardrops invoked the immanency of rhapsodies of paradigm shifts – washing away the colonial past to create an empowered Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s land reclamation and indigenisation programmes reveal the paradigm shifts that are unfolding via the epitome of Zimbabwean identity, President Mugabe.
In Afro-centric parlance, the Second Chimurenga transformed Nehanda’s death scare cry into liberation battle cries.
Economic battle cries, outlined in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-ASSET) blueprint are imminent.
Nehanda’s refusal to be baptised symbolises the imminence of religious revolts and death signifies the demise of colonialism.
Her bones denote earned military and political victories.
History repeats itself.
The colonial cabal’s telegraphic messages foretold the anti-African superhighway broadcasts which are cascaded on Zimbabwe’s President.
No doubt, the lethal blackmail of President Mugabe will face the fate of morning dew as the prophetic prowess of Nehanda continues to haunt the colonial cabal.
Attempts to stop the invocation of Nehanda by cowing, dwarfing or jailing revolutionaries have failed.
Lest we forget, national hero, Dr Simon Muzenda was jailed after reciting:
“Nhai Nehanda Nyakasikana.
“Kuchazova riini isu Vanyai tichitambura, tichidya nhoko dzezvironda.”
Ultimately, Zimbabwe’s independence was earned from such invocations.
Tribute goes to Matongeni, Tangwena and Nehoreka spirits that inspired the liberation war.
In doing so, they predestined President Mugabe to be one of AU’s founding fathers.
The restoration of African identity is dawning through the vicars of the founding fathers.
Culturally, President Mugabe is their practising icon springing from Zimbabwe.
Lest we forget, Nehanda’s prophetic heroics showcased when, “mhondoro often directed combat situations against enemy warplanes at Chimoio — 1977, Pungwe 3 — 1979 and Tembwe base.”
“A number of bateleur eagles (birds) prevented warplanes from bombing Chimoio armoury,” said a survivor of enemy sorties, Cde Zvichapera.
“Combatants got war ethos from mhondoro.”
However, Zimbabwean spirits endured in the face of betrayals from Ndabaningi Sithole, Morris Nyathi, Abel Muzorewa and agent provocateurs who diffidently remained in the liberation front.
The founding fathers of the AU and African spirits have remained the categorical clamant of the total liberation of Africa in the face of betrayals by some Africans.
Betrayals aside, Western propagandists, colonialists and ‘gospel mercenaries’ remain haunted by the guardians of the land: vadzimu that manifest through revolutionary African leaders.
For land’s sake, battle-cry songs invoking Nehanda and vadzimu were broadcast from Mozambique during the war of liberation.
Chimurenga choir sang:
“Nehanda mutsa mudzimu, mutsa mudzimu, mutsa mudzimu muZimbabwe.”
Consulting mhondoro spirits was a revered ethos for liberation war cadres.
For two decades, the ferocity of ‘gospel charlatans’ was sterilised by the war of liberation.
Liberation wars in Africa continue to empower African spirits to reclaim their spiritual sovereignty and vice versa.
In Zimbabwe, total spiritual sovereignty was earned during the watershed of the liberation war, 1975-79.
This spiritual independence edified the execution of the armed struggle.
Each African nation can decide to appease African spirits annually on Africa and Heroes days.
By hook or crook, this spiritual renaissance is resonating in African Independent Churches.
Nuncios of mhondoro, spirits of AU’s founding fathers need to be promoted in African institutions.
They are vanguards and gatekeepers that resource African history and future.
Legates, if not sleepers for ‘gospel charlatans’ that hanged Nehanda and demonised freedom fighters need to share media platforms with the vicars of African spirits: vadzimu.
Patronage of media space by putschist cabals of erstwhile oppressors that discredit African spirits need to be reviewed to support a 75 percent local content in media programming.
Indifference to African spirituality in Africa is perhaps read as nursing the seedbed of a regime change appendage.
African media for Africans with African spirits’ full participation.
Some pan-Africanists say cultural amnesia, resulting from African media omissions is distorting the integration of spirits of AU’s founding fathers into African institutions.
Once, this cultural amnesia was outfoxed in the political sphere by African spirits during the 2008 general elections when Zimbabwe’s sovereignty was bullied by the MDC.
Afro-cultural activists see unquenched thirsty and omitted rituals for the spirits of AU’s founding fathers.
They need to be honoured as a way of appeasing them.
African spirits that ferment the spirit of liberation wars are not an ‘enclave outfit’.
It is in the spirits of AU’s founding fathers that the death scare cries of the hanging Nehanda abide.
African leaders may continue renaming streets and buildings in honour of AU’s founding fathers.
The development of liberation war heritage sites in and outside our bounders is noble.
A renewed trajectory needs to echo the spirits of AU’s founding fathers.
The same goes for renowned guardian spirits.
None, but us need to advocate this through multi-media platforms.
Knowledge about African spirits and AU’s founding fathers remain camouflaged with ignorance.
Let us not ignore or taciturn African spirits and AU’s founding fathers’ unconditional love for Africa.