By Tafadzwa Masango

WHEN one thinks of Mbuya Nehanda, the first thing that comes to mind is probably one of the two images that the colonialists captured of her and Sekuru Kaguvi right about the time they murdered the two leaders by hanging. 

Yes, Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi were murdered but what stands out about Mbuya Nehanda was not just her passionate resistance to colonialism, it is the story behind her hanging.

At Mbuya Nehanda’s hanging, there was drama which could have been a display of her spiritual powers. 

Two unsuccessful attempts were made to hang her. An African prisoner present at her hanging then suggested that the hangman should remove from her belt a tobacco pouch. 

This was done and on the third attempt she was successfully hanged. 

Mbuya Nehanda’s dying words were: “My bones will rise again,” meaning her bones would rise again to fight the settlers. 

There were numerous and strenuous attempts by a Catholic Priest to convert her to Christianity but she remained defiant to the end. 

The use of Christianity to subdue and tame Africans, making them pliable to colonialism and the myth of the whiteman’s superiority is for another day. 

From Mbuya Nehanda’s rejection of Christianity, we fast forward to late last week, where the ever amusing buffoonery of opposition leader Nelson Chamisa again set tongues wagging after he astoundingly claimed that the Zimbabwe Bird was an idol and that there was institutional idolatry in the country. 

Interestingly, this latest gaffe by the immature and inept opposition leader united Zimbabweans from across the political divide who did not take lightly to a man who aspires to one day assume the highest office in the land denigrating the very national symbols that are part of the country’s identity. 

Chamisa is a classic case of an individual who denies his own history and identity in attempt to please outsiders whom he believes are superior to him. 

He is the exact opposite of Mbuya Nehanda. Where Mbuya Nehanda would fight for the return of stolen artefacts, including carvings of the Zimbabwean Bird abroad, Chamisa would rather they be wiped away from the country’s institutional memory and probably be replaced by some Judaic symbol as a way of ingratiating himself to the Americans. 

The fallacy of Chamisa’s attack on the Zimbabwe Bird should not be taken as a once-off episode of a political leader who mistakenly spoke out of turn, but as part of a series of utterances and actions that are intended to present him as a ‘reasonable’ and ‘good boy’ who will tow the neo-colonialist line if he is sneaked into office. 

The man came into his party’s leadership through the back door; he literally stole the leadership position while others where moaning the death of the late Morgan Tsvangirai. 

A man who bullies and sets a youth militia on critics and dissenting voices, all the while calling himself a democrat, would not have any qualms attacking state institutions and insulting our very identity for political expedience.  

Ironically, in all this, Chamisa, who has on several occasions claimed that he is on ‘just a phone call away’ terms with US leader Donald Trump such that the latter promised him US$15 billion if he won the 2018 harmonised elections, failed to realise that the US dollar that he so foolishly worships includes symbols much like our Zimbabwe Bird. In other words, while Chamisa claims that it is idolatry to have the Zimbabwe Bird as a national symbol, it is not idolatry to have such symbols on the US currency!

Symbols on the US$ bill 

The pyramid

It is one of the most iconic images on the US$ bill. Borrowed from Egyptian civilisation, the pyramid connotes strength and the ability to weather the ages. The Latin phrase ‘Annuit Coeptis’ around the top of the pyramid means ‘God has favoured our undertaking’. The phrase below the base, ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum,’ can be translated as ‘a new order of the ages.’

The all-seeing eye

The pyramid on the US$ bill is no ordinary structure. It is topped with an open eye gazing into eternity, seeing all in its wake. The letters on the base of the pyramid ‘MDCCLXXVI’! are Roman numerals spelling out 1776. It’s the same sequence of Roman numerals seen on the tablet held by the Statue of Liberty.

The eagle’s shield

The shield ‘is unsupported to signify Americans should rely on their own virtue. The horizontal top bar of the shield symbolises the federal government, and it holds together yet is supported by vertical bars that represent individual states (13 at the time it was designed).’

Stars above the eagle

The stars are 13 in number to signify the 13 colonies from the founding days of the US.

The eagle’s talons

The quintessential American bird is clutching an olive branch in one talon and a group of arrows in the other. It is a classic visual statement about the delicate balance between peace and war. And guess how many arrows the bird is holding? 13! But the symbolism of 13 doesn’t stop there. If you look closely, there are 13 leaves on the olive branch and 13 olives too!

The bald eagle which the US uses as one of its symbols is a bird of prey found in North America. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous US and northern Mexico. 

It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.

Our Zimbabwe Bird is believed to be the bateleur eagle which was held to be a messenger from Mwari and the ancestors, or the fish eagle which it has been suggested was the original totem of the Shona.

When Mbuya Nehanda spoke of her bones rising, she probably knew that the fight against the whiteman would not just end when the war was over. 

She knew that they would be those among us whose hearts and minds would be captured by the sadistic oppressor and who would be used as willing tools for continued oppression of her grandchildren while denying them the freedom they rightly deserve. 

We must never, and cannot afford to, forget our icons and symbols; they are the foundation on which our nation is anchored.