THE REBIRTH OF BUKALANGA A Manifesto for the Liberation of a Great People with a Proud History Part I NDZIMU-UNAMI EMMANUEL 2 The Rebirth of Bukalanga: A Manifesto for the Liberation of a Great People with a Proud History Part I ISBN: 978 0 7974 4968 8 ©Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel, 2012 Facebook: Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel Email: [email protected] Twitter: NdzimuEmmanuel Website: http://www.ndzimuunami.blogspot.com Published by Maphungubgwe News Corporation Language Editing and Proof-reading Pathisa Nyathi Bheki J. Ncube Cover Design Greg Sibanda, Tadbagn Designs All rights reserved. Not more than one chapter of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission in writing of the author or publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. 3 About the author Born on 29 March 1982 in Bulawayo and raised by his grandparents in the District of Bulilima-Mangwe, Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel Moyo completed his primary and secondary education at Tokwana Primary and Secondary Schools. He later completed a Diploma in Personnel Management graduating with Distinction with the Institute of People Management (IPMZ). Moyo later entered the Theological College of Zimbabwe (TCZ) in Bulawayo where he majored in reading Theology and Philosophy, dropping out of the College after one-and-a-half- years. Between the time of his finishing of the GCE Ordinary Level in 1999 and publishing this book in 2012, Moyo worked for the Zimbabwe postal service, Zimbabwe Posts, and the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) in his home town of Plumtree. He also served as a Community Organizer during this same time, organizing for the Plumtree Business Association (PBA), meanwhile serving as a Shop Steward at his workstation at Noczim Plumtree and a Branch Committee Member of the Southern Region of the Zimbabwe Energy Workers' Union. A Justice Activist, Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel Moyo is studying toward a Bachelor of Arts Honors Degree in Development Studies. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................... 13 The Earliest Settlements of Bukalanga South of the Zambezi and the Establishment of the Zimbabwe Civilization .................................................................... 13 CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................. 27 Who and What Actually Constitutes Bukalanga: A Re - Definition of Bukalanga vis-à-vis the Ndebele ............... 27 CHAPTER THREE .......................................................................... 55 The Relationship Between Bukalanga and the Shona: Are We Really a Shona People? ............................................. 55 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................ 89 On the Question of BaLozwi or BaRozwi: Are they a Shona or Bukalanga People Group? ................................ 89 CHAPTER FIVE............................................................................. 100 The Monomotapa, Togwa and Lozwi Kingdoms: Inside the Great Kingdoms of Bukalanga ................................. 100 CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................... 124 How Did We End Up With the Shonalized Version of History Part I ................................................................ 124 CHAPTER SEVEN ........................................................................ 144 How Did We End Up With the Shonalized Version of History Continued Part II .............................................. 144 5 CHAPTER EIGHT ......................................................................... 156 And Who Actually Built the Zimbabwe Ruins: Back Inside the Zimbabwe Civilization ............................................ 156 CHAPTER NINE ........................................................................... 186 The Pre-Christian Worldview of Bukalanga: The Mwali Religion ......................................................................... 186 CHAPTER TEN ............................................................................. 206 On the Origins of Bukalanga and the Question of ‘Semitic Blood’ ............................................................................ 206 CHAPTER ELEVEN ...................................................................... 225 But What Happened to the Great Nation of Bukalanga : Inside the Great Dispersion and Diaspora ..................... 225 6 PLEASE NOTE As shall be seen later in the book, the name Bukalanga is used with reference to a congerie of at least Twelve Tribes who all trace their origins to Bukalanga, among which are: 1. Bakalanga 5. BaLozwi/Loyi 9. BaTwamambo 2. BaNambya 6. BaLemba 10. BaTembe 3. BaLobedu 7. Vhavenda 11. Babirwa 4. BaLembethu 8. BaTswapong 12. BaShangwe This also includes the majority of those people currently identified as Ndebele in Zimbabwe who use such surnames as Ndlovu, Khupe, Sibanda, Tshuma, Mpala, Nyoni, Nyathi, Ndebele, Ngwenya, Shoko, Zhowu, Shumba, Moyo, Nkomo, Nleya, Dumani, Mlalazi, and so forth. Also included are thousands of other Bakalanga in Botswana who are currently identified as Ngwato-Tswana. Detailed evidence for the foregoing shall be provided in Chapter Three of the book. ‘Bukalanga/Vhukalanga’ and ‘the Kalanga’ shall be used interchangeably following the general Anglicization of Bantu names. For those readers who read the book when it was first published, they will notice that there have been some changes in this edition. The changes are not substantial but have been additions of evidence to back up the claims that are made in the book 7 PREFACE This book has come about as a result of a desire to understand my own identity and origins as a Kalanga, as well as my deep concern for justice, freedom, self-determination and self-government for my own people and others in general in the context of having lived in two countries where everyone is bundled up together, willingly or unwillingly, into a Shona1, Ndebele or Tswana identity. This led to three years of research into the history of Bukalanga, culminating in the writing of this book. Here is the story of what was once the greatest nation and civilization Africa south of the Sahara. It has been stated concerning Bukalanga by Dr Gerald Mazarire that the common understanding of Kalanga identity in Zimbabwe is tainted by a general legacy of high school textbooks that has had a tremendous impact on our somewhat obviated knowledge of local ethnicities through a process known in history as ‘feedback’. He states that until fairly recently, we did not know as much about the Kalanga who have constantly been treated as a sub-ethnicity of the major groups in southwestern Zimbabwe such as the Ndebele, Tswana and Shona (Mazarire 2003, Online). Dr Mazarire’s view is echoed by Wim van Binsbergen who, in his contribution to R. Fardon and G. Furnis’ work, African Languages, Development and the State, observed that: *******2 Like the Nkoya language, this western Shona dialect cluster known as Kalanga and today extending from northwestern Zimbabwe all the 1 Throughout this book, unless indicated otherwise, the term Shona shall be used with reference to the Zezuru and Manyika, and excludes the broader section of the Karanga, of which explanation shall be given in Chapters Two and Three. That is important to keep in mind when reading the book. 2 These seven asterisks have been employed throughout the book where normally quotation marks or indents would have been used. This has been necessitated by the length of many of the verbatim quotes used in the book, also partly necessitated by the fact that much of the history of Bukalanga as presented in this book has not been told for a very long time and is unknown to many people. The use of long verbatim has been employed so as to present the information from the original sources voetstoots, that is, as is; and to serve as a guard against accusations that this is ‘manufactured history’ as one would often hear. 8 way into the North Central and North East districts of Botswana (where it mainly exists in the form of the Lilima dialect) boasts a considerable local presence. While much of the history of this language and of the ethnic group which identifies by it remains to be written, it is a well- established fact that Kalanga, already called by that name, was the state language of the Tjangamire state which in the late seventeenth century succeeded the Togwa state; the latter produced the archaeological complex known as the Khami culture, and was historically closely associated with the earlier extensive state system centring on the famous site of Great Zimbabwe (van Binsbergen 1994, Online. Italics mine). ******* I have emphasized the sentences in italics above to show just how little of Bukalanga history is known in this generation. What little history of the Kalanga we know is so distorted that one can hardly tell who the Kalanga people are. As a matter of fact, nothing is mentioned in Zimbabwean school history textbooks and the Constitutions of both Zimbabwe and Botswana about Bukalanga. It leaves one wondering, who and from where the Kalanga people came. How is it possible that so little is known of a people whose ancestors were the builders of three of the four man-made