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Nehanda and Gender Victimhood in the Central Mashonaland 1896–97 Rebellions: Revisiting the Evidence*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Ruramisai Charumbira
Ruramisai Charumbira*
Affiliation:
University of Texas–Austin
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Extract

In 1998 David N. Beach revisited the 1896-97 central MaShonaland rising in colonial Zimbabwe in an article titled “An Innocent Woman Unjustly Accused? Charwe, Medium of the Nehanda Mhondoro Spirit, and the 1896-97 Central Shona Rising in Zimbabwe.” Beach's main thesis was that, contrary to conventional wisdom that placed Nehanda-Charwe (and other leaders) at the center of those anti-European settler rebellions, Nehanda-Charwe might have been “an innocent woman unjustly accused.” For Beach, upstart Kaguvi-Gumboreshumba (a male spiritual leader) might have been the real hero, for he was to be found in all the sources and his tracks were better traceable than Nehanda-Charwe, who had a sporadic presence in the same sources.

Since Beach's 1998 study, I have not come across any other original study that has extended or disputed his arguments; to that end, I consider this study a response to Beach's study and an invitation to revisit the historiography of early colonial Zimbabwe through feminist lenses. My main aim is to revisit two major issues Beach raised in his study, and to look at them through a feminist lens in order to understand whether Nehanda-Charwe was indeed an “innocent woman unjustly accused” or whether something else was at play. After giving a brief background to the rebellion in MaShonaland, I will look at the issue of the credibility of evidence given by Africans to colonial officials about those who were up in arms against the colonial authority, the British South Africa Company (BSAC), with a focus on women's testimonies.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 35 , January 2008 , pp. 103 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2008

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank my colleagues at Denison University for their support during the writing of this paper. Additional thanks to Professors Robert W. Harms and Michael R. Mahoney (both of Yale University) who read and commented on an earlier incarnation of this article. My thanks also go to the Editor of History in Africa.

References

1 Beach, David N., “An Innocent Woman, Unjustly Accused? Charwe, Medium of the Nehanda Mhondoro Spirit, and the 1896-97 Central Shona Rising in Zimbabwe,” HA 25(1998), 27–54Google Scholar.

2 The historiography about African resistances in colonial Zimbabwe, though extensive, has tended to exclude women's histories. It includes Ranger, Terence O., Revolt in Rhodesia (London, 1967)Google Scholar; Keppel-Jones, Arthur, Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of 1884-1902 (Montreal, 1983)Google Scholar; Bhebe, Ngwabi, Christianity and Traditional Religion in Western Zimbabwe, 1859-1923 (London, 1979)Google Scholar; Beach, David N., War and Politics in Zimbabwe, 1840-1900 (Gweru, 1986)Google Scholar, idem., “The Rising in South-Western Mashonaland, 1896-97” (Ph. D., University of London, 1971); Cobbing, Julian, “Another Look at the Rhodesian Risings of 1896-1897” JAH 18(1977), 61–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 The Rhodesia Herald carried many advertisements of these companies in the years covered in this study.

4 William Harvey Brown, an American from Des Moines, Iowa, got British citizenship in order to participate in the political life of Salisbury. He became mayor of the town in 1909/10. Brown, William H., On the South African Frontier: the Adventures and Observations of an American in Mashonaland and Matabeleland (New York, 1899)Google Scholar. The 1970 reprint of the same book by the Books of Rhodesia carries Appendix 2, 433ff, which has a record of the end of year report of his mayorship in Salisbury in 1910. He was as much a Rhodesian as his fellow (British) settlers.

5 National Archives of Zimbabwe (hereafter NAZ). NAZ/N1/1/9, Campbell, A. C., “Quarterly Report Salisbury District,” 29 January 1896Google Scholar. Unless otherwise stated, all sources are from the NAZ.

6 Rhodesia Herald, 24 June 1896.

7 “Our Native Troubles,” Rhodesia Herald, 17 June 1896. It is worth noting that a significant number of Company reports on the Rebellions first appeared in the Rhodesia Herald. For this reason I have canvassed the Rhodesia Herald much more than previous scholars on the subject.

8 NAZ/A1/12/26, H. Marshall Hole, Report of the Civil Commissioner, Salisbury, 29 October 1896, 17-18.

9 Alderson, Edwin Alfred Hervey, With the Mounted Infantry and the Mashonaland Field Force, 1896 (London, 1898), 130Google Scholar. See also Gann, L. H., A History of Southern Rhodesia, Early Days to 1934 (London, 1965), 133–39Google Scholar; Ranger, , Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 271Google Scholar.

10 NAZ/AL/1/1/1, Messengers from Mazoe–Dispatches from O. C. Fort Alderson, 15 November 1896.

11 Alderson, E. A. H., With the Mounted Infantry, 162–64Google Scholar.

12 McMahon, Horace W., “Clearing the Granite Range in the Mazoe Valley” in Alderson, , Mounted Infantry, 184Google Scholar.

13 Ibid., 185.

14 It is worth keeping in mind that dynamite was already in use in the Mazoe, as much rock blasting went on in the mining process.

15 McMahon, , “Clearing the Granite Range,” 185Google Scholar.

16 “The Last Departure. A Large Convoy,” Rhodesia Herald, 18 November 1896; “No Judge in Salisbury,” Rhodesia Herald, 25 November 1896.

17 NAZ/W/18, “Report of the CNC of Mashonaland on Kagubi and Nianda,” 189?.

18 Note that Chargwe would have been the spelling used in those days; I use the spelling of Charwe, instead.

19 As mentioned earlier, the who's who of these rebellions can be found in Ranger, Beach, and Keppel-Jones, among others.

20 NAZ/N1/1/6, NC Mazoe to CNC, 30 October 1897; Rhodesia Herald, 18 August 1897.

21 Rhodesia Herald, 13 October 1897.

22 Rhodesia Herald, 27 October 1897.

23 NAZ/N1/1/1/6, NC Mazoe to CNC, 29 October 1897.

24 NAZ/N1/1/1/6, NC Mazoe to CNC, 30 October 1897.

25 NAZ/W/18, “Report of the CNC of Mashonaland on Kagubi and Nianda,” n.d.

26 NAZ/S/401/253, Preliminary Examination of Kagubi, 29 October, 1897.

27 Beach, , “Innocent Woman,” 38–39Google Scholar; NAZ/LO 5/2/50.

28 The term “Zambesi,” though never quite defined in the sources probably referred to Africans who came from the north or east of the Zambezi River in the north and possibly beyond.

29 NAZ/AL/1/1/1 “Statement of Boy named Zhornette, Portuguese from Tete,” 28 June 1896. This and the subsequent Rhodesia Herald reports here cited are also in this archival series NAZ/AL/1/1/1. As mentioned earlier the Rhodesia Herald reports on official matters tend to be the same as those in official records, sometimes verbatim, as the newspaper served as the official gazette of the BSAC.

30 Rhodesia Herald, 1 July 1896.

31 Ibid.

32 Rhodesia Herald, 15 July 1896.

33 NAZ/AL/1/1/1, Statements of: “Meekee,” 29 June 1896; Jack, 3 July 1896; Machine, 3 July 1896.

34 It is also worth noting that the African men, with the exception of the “Mashona Meekee,” all were “foreign” from the north, “Zambesi” or south, “Zulu” and “Shangaan.”

35 NAZ/AL/1/1/1, Statement of Effi and Pauline, two Basuto women who have come in from Marandellas Mission Station (Nongubo), no date, but possibly 28 June 1896. The report is sandwiched between that of Meekee (mentioned above) and Zhornette.

36 Rhodesia Herald, 8 July 1896.

37 NAZ/S401/258, Preliminary Examination Mabidsa, Rowanya, Mawonira and Gamanya, 20 June 1896, emphasis mine.

38 Rhodesia Herald, 22 July 1896.

39 For an articulation of hierarchies, even among the settlers themselves, see, among others, Charumbira, Ruramisai, “Administering Medicine without a License: Missionary Women in Rhodesia's Nursing History” Historian 68(2006), 241–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Mlambo, A. S., White Immigration into Rhodesia: from Occupation to Federation (Harare, 2002), 49–67Google Scholar.

40 NAZ/Image 3729, see also British South African Company, '96 Rebellions formerly titled Reports of the Native Disturbances in Rhodesia, 1896-97 (Bulawayo, 1975), 127 (facing page)Google Scholar. I discuss this image later in this paper.

41 NAZ/S401/252, Preliminary Examination of Nianda, 11 January 189[7]. Note that this document is misdated as 1898 instead of 1897.

42 It is important to reiterate that at this point in the colony, many of the bureaucrats were acting officers, as those in office had either died in the war or had shipped out. After the war the colony set out to restructure and outfit most of its posts with “trained Civil servants…” Hole, Hugh Marshall, The Making of Rhodesia (London, 1926), 380Google Scholar. On women workers, particularly nurses in the 1890s, see among others, Charumbira, “Administering Medicine without a License.”

43 NAZ/S401/252, Preliminary Examination of Nianda, 11 January 1898.

44 The nickname Kunyaira, among many possible interpretations, could mean that it was given to him by the Shona of Mazoe because of the way Pollard walked–ku Kunyaira–to walk with pomp or a sense of self-importance. Or it could well have been a play on one of his names, or meant kunyangira, meaning someone who sneaks up on people, being that he was infamous as an oppressive administrator. Africans did give nicknames to people, even their own, that were generally descriptive of that person's character, as was noted by one prospector in the Fort Victoria area Mss. Afr. 66, Rhodes House, Oxford.

45 I use Kunyaira when discussing African references to him, and Pollard for European references.

46 For commentary on the Rebellion trial sessions see Wood, R. H., “The 1898 Criminal Sessions,” Heritage of Zimbabwe 6(1986), 47–58Google Scholar.

47 Gutsa and Zindoga, Nehanda-Charwe's co-defendants, along with 44 other men, escaped jail on Friday, 25 February, five days before the trial. “The Escape of Prisoners,” Rhodesia Herald, 2 March 1898. In the same paper on the same day was a very small item titled “More Native Troubles,” which was a report from London, dated 26 February, stating that “a general rising has taken place among natives in the Sierra Leone hinterland, consequent on the collection of hut-tax, and the European officials and police have been attacked. Troops are being sent to their assistance.” The general sense of dis-ease among the settlers was quite palpable.

48 NAZ/S/401/253; unless otherwise stated, the discussion here is based on this court record. I have not yet determined what the women's names mean—the way they appear do not make much (Shona) sense to me. The last one was most likely Chisitumwe.

49 “The Escape of Prisoners,” Rhodesia Herald, 2 March 1898.

50 For more on this see Pwiti, Gilbert and Mahachi, Godfrey, “Shona Ethnography and the Interpretation of Iron Age Zimbabwe Burials: the Significance of Burial Location” Zimbabwea 3(October 1991), 57–59Google Scholar.

51 It is worth pointing out that Charlie's wife Chikunda testified against some other men charged of the murder of the gold prospector, William Birkett, killed in or near the Mazoe as mentioned earlier. NAZ/S401/258, “Preliminary Examination of Mabidsa, Rowanga, Mawonira and Gamanya,” 21 December 1897.

52 One of the witnesses against Nehanda-Charwe, “Pig,” claimed his life was spared because he promised “to give them my sister and they let me go.” NAZ/S2953. On the issue of women used as pawns in the late nineteenth century see Schmidt, Elizabeth, Peasants, Traders, and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939 (Harare, 1992), 30–35Google Scholar.

53 NAZ/S401/252, Preliminary Examination of Nianda, 12 January 1898; NAZ/S2953, Trial of Nianda, 2 March 1898; “The High Court,” Rhodesia Herald, 9 March 1898.

54 NAZ/S. 2953, Regina vs. Nianda, 2 March 1898; see also, NAZ/401/252, Preliminary Examination of Nianda, Wata, Gutsa and Zindoga, 12 January 1898.

55 I borrow the idea from Eric Hobsbawm's introductory essay in Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger, Terence, eds., The Invention of Tradition (New York, 1983)Google Scholar.

56 NAZ/S. 2953, Regina vs. Nianda, 2 March 1898.

57 Hwata consistently maintained the position that the witnesses were “telling the truth,” a reality that made the process rather difficult for both of them, and for Murphy, who quit the case because of this conflict.

58 “The High Court,” Rhodesia Herald, 9 March 1898.

59 NAZ/N1/1/6, NC Mazoe to CNC, 29 and 30 October 1897.

60 “The High Court,” Rhodesia Herald, 9 March, 1898.

61 Ibid.

62 Figures 1 and 2 need further investigation, as the people depicted as Nehanda and Kaguvi in each seem to differ in terms of distinguishing physical features. As mentioned earlier, Figure 1 in the BSAC reports states that it was an image of the “capture” in October 1897, which was true of Kaguvi, but not of Nehanda, who was captured only in December of that year. I might add a note that I am currently working on such a project myself, focusing on Nehanda and historical memory in Zimbabwean history.

63 The image also appeared in a report written by Richartz, Fr., “The End of Kakubi and the Other Condemned Murders” Zambesi Mission Record 1/2 (November 1898), 53–55Google Scholar.

64 NAZ/Image 172, no date, perhaps March or April 1898.

65 Richartz, , “End,” 53Google Scholar.

66 I did not have access to Richartz's diary while in Zimbabwe. A Jesuit priest said he was working on it, and flatly told me there was nothing else to say about the matter of Richartz that had not already been said – an idea to which I hold a different view.

67 It is worth noting that Richartz's conversion of notable prisoners like Kaguvi-Gumbore-shumba was made possible by the intervention of a woman, Kaguvi's daughter Dziripi, whose name he spelt Dziribi, and of whom he wrote:

As Dziribi, Kakubi's daughter, one of our school-girls, wanted to see her father before his death, I asked for permission for her from the acting Magistrate, Mr. Bayley, and called her to town on the Tuesday. She arrived in the afternoon with her sister, Likande, and I went with them and our native Christian boy, Victor, to the gaol and had a conversation with Kakubi, who had given me in the morning some hope of changing his mind, when he should see his child. The conversation with Kaguvi, during which Victor and Dziribi did their best to induce him to yield and listen to my instruction and receive baptism, had the good result that Kakubi promised to do as they asked.

Kaguvi did get baptized just before his execution, and was—fittingly—given the name Dismas: Richartz, , “End,” 55Google Scholar.

68 Ibid., 53-54.

69 Ibid., 54-55.