HomeOld_PostsThe history of Kariba Dam: Part Three

The history of Kariba Dam: Part Three

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By Michelina Andreucci

THERE is a BaTonga adage that goes: “Atika maanzi aatakwe buyoleke,” (Once water spills you cannot gather it again).
Which translates to: “When something bad happens it is not reversible”.
For centuries the BaTonga have inhabited both banks of the Zambezi River, from Kariba Gorge to Devil’s Gorge upstream, in what was known as the Gwembe Trough; calling themselves ‘Basilwizi’ (The River People).
They lived in relative peace, sharing cultures and languages, with very little outside influence except for slaving parties.
Their only contact with humankind was limited to prospectors, hunters, surveyors and the settlers’ district commissioners.
The escarpments, at over 60m high, created effective barriers from outside intrusions.
In the mid-1950s, with the decision to construct the Kariba Dam wall, their life changed forever.
Although not very populous, none-the-less, an estimated
150 000 people lived in the area and were displaced from their homes where little has changed since the iron-using Khoisan hunter-gatherers displaced their Stone Age predecessors living peacefully with the powerful Zambezi River, which they called Mulonga.
This is where the comical warning sounds, (like a tuba played underwater), of the hippos could be heard, as well as the short-sighted and short-tempered rhino disposed to meet problems head-on, could be found.
The Zambezi Valley is inhabited by 30 different ethnic groups and smaller sub-clans with related cultures which include the Lunda, Luchaze, Quioca (Angola); Tswana (Botswana); The Chewa, Tumbuka, Yao, Ngoni, Nyanja and Sena cultures (Malwai and Mozambique); Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, Luyana, Lunda, Bunda, Chewa, Luvale and Nyanja (Zambia); Shona, Ndebele, BaTonga (Zimbabwe) as well as Nambya in Zimbabwe and Namibia; BaTonga and BaTonga Bamu Zimbabwe; mostly pastoralists, hunters, fishermen and farmers cultivating cassava, peanuts, sorghum and maize.
Here, currency was measured in cows and distance in foot hours.
Eighty percent of the population of the valley depended on agriculture and the upper river’s flood plains to provide good agricultural land.
People lived and thrived, sharing traditional conservation measures related to their rural activities.
Social ties were strong between all the peoples of the valley.
At some points, the Zambezi River was narrow enough for people to greet one another across the divide.
If a crocodile was trying to catch a bather on the other side, it was possible to shout a warning to that person.
There was an absence of colonially demarcated boundaries and formalities.
Many inhabitants recall how people crossed the river to visit relatives or carry out religious festivities and traditional ceremonies.
Not anymore, since their enforced resettlement!
Many indigenous people opposed the building of the dam firmly, believing Nyaminyami, the river deity, would be angered.
They believed Nyaminyami foretold the weather and looked after them in times of droughts and hardships, providing them with food and water.
Despite repeated warnings by local chiefs and elderly tribespeople, the Rhodesian settler authorities obstinately proceeded with their plans to dam the Zambezi River.
The ensuing building of the dam wall across the Kariba Gorge created a lake with boats, houseboats and ferries gliding on the surface and notoriously dangerous crocodiles sleeping just below the surface where tour operators run all manner of activities including kayaking, canoe trips and daily river cruises.
The teeming birdlife includes the black-bellied korhaan, kingfishers, bee-eaters, herons, egrets and fish eagle whose calls echo to their cousins’ at Great Zimbabwe.
In order to pave way for construction of the Kariba Dam wall, reports estimate that some 57 000 to 60 000 BaTonga, along with the Gwembe, Kanchomba and others, were forcibly removed and resettled on higher ground; some as far as 160km away from their original homes.
The BaTonga accorded spiritual respect to the Zambezi River and its deity; believing the waters to be sacred and thus able to cleanse evil spirits.
They had many burial grounds along the shoreline of the river, which together with their rain shrines, ceremonies such as ‘Malende’ or ‘Mpande’ were able to ensure sufficient rains and good harvests.
These were abandoned, left to be submerged and lost by the rising waters of the lake.
The resettlement changed the lives of the river people forever.
Two major dams for hydro-electric power have been constructed on the Zambezi River, regulating its flow: Kariba Dam (1960) and Cahora Bassa in Mozambique (1970); resulting in major deleterious effects on the human and wildlife populations in the Zambezi Valley region as a whole.
Before the dam, seasonal flooding of the Zambezi Valley had a different impact on the eco-systems of the delta.
Medium-level floods, especially the kind to which the ecology of the lower Zambezi was adapted, are less frequent and for a shorter duration.
Over the centuries the people had evolved an agricultural strategy which ensured food security throughout the year by using both seasonal rain and the river’s flood patterns.
The drastic reduction in the flow of the river led to a 40 percent reduction in the coverage of mangroves, greatly increased erosion and negatively impacted on the eco-systems.
People struggle to produce crops in the higher, sandier areas and many still mourn the loss of the rich alluvial river soil.
Most people face poor soils, low and erratic rainfall as well as wild animals like elephants destroying their crops, impacting on the livelihoods of the people who eke their daily living.
Struggling to survive, many BaTonga view life before their forced resettlement with nostalgia.
They still believe in Nyaminyami although he no longer lives at his original site at Kariwa.
It is said he sleeps beneath the murky waters of the lake, and remains angry at the disturbances.
The experiences of the displaced BaTonga families can contribute to a greater awareness and understanding of the different ways resettled people have to adapt to new environments.
Decades after the Kariba Dam flooded their lands and submerged their villages, memories of the BaTonga people of the Zambezi Valley still remain vivid; convinced their gods have deserted them and that Nyaminyami was responsible for the unprecedented floods and casualties.
Dr Michelina Rudo Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian Researcher, Industrial Design Consultant and Specialist Interior Decorator. She is a published author.

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