HomeOld_PostsReclaiming our spiritual independence: Part Eight

Reclaiming our spiritual independence: Part Eight

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WE showed in the previous episode that we reclaimed our spiritual independence as Zimbabweans by invoking our ancestral spirits, who not only inspired, but led our successful struggle for independence and sovereignty.
We can boldly say that had it not been for the full involvement of our ancestral spirits and their mediums (masvikiro), the Second Chimurenga would not have succeeded.
The white colonisers knew and appreciated the power of our ancestral spirits.
That is why they killed the spirit mediums of Nehanda and Kaguvi. Without spiritual leadership, the First Chimurenga was not successful.
This reality from our own history remains the basis for our call to Zimbabweans to reclaim our spiritual independence.
The Christian churches were on the side of our enemies, the European colonisers.
In the First Chimurenga, it was Robert Moffat and Charles Helms, two ‘Men of God’, who lied to King Lobengula, tricking him to sign the fake Rudd Concession.
During our Second Chimurenga, all the Christian denominations were either openly on the side of the Smith regime or they quietly collaborated in the war against the Mugabe-led ‘terrorists’, to support continued white domination.
Christian Church support for the oppressive colonial regimes is not in itself surprising.
We should not forget that missionaries had come in the first place to ‘soften’ the target, the ‘wild African’ using the Christian gospel to make him feel inferior, sinful, requiring an external power to rescue him.
Our combatants often take time to relate various incidents and happenings that clearly demonstrate the profound power of our spiritual ancestors.
Comrades who participated in the war of liberation tell us there was not a single Rhodesian raid that came unannounced.
It was not the enemy who announced impending attacks; it was our ancestral spirits.
Commanders who ignored the warnings from ‘possessed’ comrades about impending attacks, risked high casualties among their charges.
For the record, many of you know that the spirit of a dead person can possess anyone even those totally unrelated to it.
The possessed person will then speak in the language of the possessing spirit.
During the Chimurenga wars, the message would be that an attack was pending.
Often the message would be that many ‘eagles’ will fill the sky; the people should move to safety.
Eagles would signify the enemy’s aircraft that would drop bombs.
In the New Ziana programme ‘The Chimurenga Files’ appearing on ZTV, many comrades have appeared testifying to these warnings of enemy attacks.
In virtually all the major attacks like Nyadzonia, Chimoio, Tembwe in Mozambique and Freedom Camp in Zambia, and others, our ancestral spirits gave forewarnings of impending disasters.
Some camp commanders initially did not fully appreciate the importance of these warnings.
Each commander was seized with the task of maintaining morale among his/her charges.
Times were hard: hunger, disease and even attacks by wild animals were a constant threat to camp dwellers.
The political commissar was especially responsible for maintaining morale through inspiring songs and political messages.
These sessions were generally referred to as time for raising morale ‘morari’.
One can understand why some commanders had zero tolerance for anyone who caused alarm by talking of attacks and imminent danger.
Survivors of massacres at various war camps speak of how comrades who were inspired to give these warnings were sometimes severely punished by camp commanders who did not fully appreciate that our ancestral spirits were giving warnings of imminent danger.
The crime of those possessed by the spirit was that of spreading alarm and despondency among comrades in the camps.
The ancestral spirits followed their children to Mozambique, Zambia, Angola and Tanzania.
The spiritual dimension of our existence took centre stage in defending our freedom fighters and other refugees.
The senior commanders of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), realising the critical role of masvikiro, took the Mbuya Nehanda spirit medium across the Zambezi, to be closer to the fighting forces.
We know that one of Chief Tangwena’s wives was a great spirit medium who gave timely warnings that facilitated our President Cde Robert Mugabe to cross into Mozambique to lead the liberation struggle.
Other ancestral spirits and the mhondoros spontaneously possessed and pronounced guidance to the fighting forces and Zimbabweans in refugee camps across the sub-region.
I have yet to meet anyone who was in the fighting forces on the war front or in the refugee camps who reports of Christian prayers and church songs!
Instead, all the war songs, Dzimbo dzeChimurenga, were inspired and modelled on our African traditions.
Cde Dick ‘Chinx’ Chingaira, himself the descendant of a gallant First Chimurenga fighting Chief, must have been inspired by our ancestral spirits to sing those inspirational Chimurenga songs.
The songs invoked the power of the spirits of our forefathers.
While a few tunes mimicked church songs, the lyrics were unmistakably revolutionary.
Our African spirituality reigned supreme.
The comrades followed strict taboos on sexual relationships.
Total abstinence was the order of the day.
We have previously indicated the requirement for abstinence from sex for those intending to attend the court (matare) of masvikiro.
We understand that those comrades who indulged in sexual activities against the advice of the spirit mediums during the war, often got killed or seriously injured in battle.
Clearly our African spirituality was central to the successful execution of the liberation struggle.
We are saying that during the fighting phase, we reclaimed and religiously followed our spiritual identity.
We behaved as real Africans, closely adhering to our religious tenets.
That discipline, that commitment to our African spiritual values, gave us the strength and valour to fight and win independence!
During the Chimurenga wars, we dared to follow our own religious practices; to listen to the voices of our ancestral spirits, yes to be spiritually independent!
Only then were we able to defeat our enemies because our Mwari/uMlimo, God Almighty could hear our cries in our language, and came to our rescue!
We did not follow other people’s gods, we followed our own.
And when we did that Mwari, Musikavanhu delivered us from our enemies, the white invaders!
It is the experience of our liberation struggles that we succeed when we maintain our spiritual independence.
That is why we are calling on all Zimbabweans to work towards reclaiming our African spiritual independence.
The proliferation of ‘spiritual churches’ (chechi dzomweya) is a new phenomenon in African communities.
There are so many prophets.
Where do they get their inspiration?
In the next episode we shall show how many new so-called Christian churches are products of ‘hijacking’ African spirituality.

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