EDITORIAL
Josephine Sithole-Muganiwa: WINZ Board Chairperson
Josephine Sithole-Muganiwa: WINZ Board Chairperson
Greetings, greetings. Our Shona column has kicked off with Clever S Kavenga from Mutare. We have many more talented writers so keep watching this space. Ndebele writers, please, please bring materials for the Ndebele column. Let us promote our indigenous languages.The unveiling of Ruzvidzo Mupfudza’s tombstone is on the 22nd of October 2011. Writers, let us come out in large numbers and celebrate the life and works of our colleague. Festivals have come and gone. I hope they have had an impact in our communities and that our art continues to be relevant.
Let us keep writing! (Email: jmuganiwa1210@gmail.com)
NGATINYOREI!
Sinodhiya NaMatiropo Chii Chakatambika
Na Clever S Kavenga
Tasangana naMutsemhure munzira achiita seanobva nokumagirosa. Akatakura pepabheki raiva nezvinhu mukati. Tamuti masikati haana kudavira. Tapfuudzana zvishoma naye ndokumutizve masikati mukoma Mutse, angotendeuka ndokungonyemwerera zvake achingoenda. Nyemwerero dzake ndedziye dzemunhu angoti zvimubve chete. Haana kuzombodavira ndokuenderera mberi nerwendo rwake.
Mutsemhure anenge ava nemasvondo maviri abva kuHarare kwaanoshanda. Tinongomuona achikwira nokudzika nenzira iyi angori ega zvake. Ndiyoyi nzira yataisimuona achiperekedzana naSinodhiya. Ko kunyeba here? Handiti tainzwa chikuwe chake Sinodhiya chaaitsemura achikurukura naMutsemhure wake? Ndiani aisaziva kuseka kwake Sinodhiya? Wainzwa kana vanhu vaibvunzana vachiti; ‘Ko paye paseka Sinodhiya wanga uripi kana kuti wanga uchiitei?’
Sinodhiya aiseka zvokuti kana newewo kumunzwa achiseka unenge wotonzwawo kuda kuseka kunyangwe zvazvo zvaimusekesa unenge usingazvizive! Sinodhiya musikana aigara aine twumisodzi twekuseka mumaziso ake aive akachena seengururu, musikana aive neganda rakada asi risingazosviki paushava. Vamwe vaimuti munhu mushava pavanhu vatema achizova mutema pavanhu vashava! Varipo vaiti ganda rake chigangaibveibve.
Handizive kuti Tizvirinde aizviona here asi ini ndaiona tumakomba pamatama ake pose apo ainyemwerera kana kuseka. Aivezve naman’a mutsoka dzake. Dai ndirini Mutsemhure ndaitengera musikana wangu wandinoda shangu kana mapatapata zvavo kuti asatsike ivhu. Asi shangu dzeganda ndidzo chaidzo kana matenisi zvavo. Zvingaite here kuti musikana wako afambe achionekwa man’a nesuwo vanaRungano tisati taziva kuti kunzeno kunei? Isu vanaRungano tichiri kutya vasikana vacho vatinenge tichida. Unenge uchingomufunga iye asipo, kungovapo kwake chete unopeta muswe sembwa yasangana nechikuriri chayo. Muswe unotoita seuchapinda mumukanwa nokuhwarara. Kuzoti akazotokosora hana inobva yati tibvu!
Unototya kutarisana naye mumaziso uchitya kuti pada angavhundunyure zviri mumoyo mako akazosangana nerudo rwunokutambudza. Rudo rwaunotya kumupa!? Apa unozama napose paunogona kutiza narwo kuti arege kukubata. Ko akakubata akabvuta rudo rwacho ungazowana simba rekurwutevera iwe?
Asi chii chiri kutambudza Mutsemhure? Chii chiri kumunetsa kuzofamba akangoti tsinin’ini kutarisa pasi segwai rapiswa nezuva reChirimo...? Ndinomuziva Mutsee achifamba achitsvororidza muridzo semunhu anobva musango kunovhima. Aigarotiudza kuti ndizvowo zvatichagaroitawo kana takura –kufamba tichitsvororidza kamuridzo kerudo.
Nhasi Mutsemhure ava kufamba semunhu asingazive kwaari kuenda. Ava kugara akanyarara senjeni iri mudanga idzva. Njeni inogara zvayo mukona yakati ziroo, yakatarisa pasi. Pada inenge ichifunga rwendo rwayakafamba kubva kwayakabva kuzosvika yava payava nhasi uno. Ini ndinombofunga kuti zvimwe Mutse ari kutevera matsimba erudo rwaaaimbofamba naSinodhii wake. Ndokwaive kutaura kwake mukoma Mutse. Zvimwe ari kuda kunyatsoziva paakanzvengerwa kana kuti paakairasa. Iyoyi nzira ndiyo chete ingangomuudze chokwadi chizere nokuti ndiyo yavaisweroperekedzana kasingaperi. Kuyenda nokudzoka, ndiwo aive mafambiro avo, kuenda nokudzoka dzamara zuva doo tsvaa ngwindii vachingoperekedzana.
Isu taingovaona zvedu asi hapana chataigona kutaura nokuti kana nesuwo wacho rudo urwu rwaiwaraidza vaviri ava tairwutya kurwupa kune vataishairawo hope! Asi tingava tatadza here kumumhoresa zvaazoramba akanyarara? Mazuva ayo aipengesana naSinodhiya wake aitimhoresa wani asi nhasi zvasanduka muromo wogara uri mumhino!? Kuti Sinodhiya anozviziva here kuti rudo rwaakatiza narwo rwava kuita kuti mumwe munhu aite kunge chizengeya? Rudo rwaakaenda narwo kunogwadamira panamudhara Matiropo uyo ane vakadzi vaviri nechekare. Rudo rwakaba nzeve dzake Mutsemhure zvino haachatonzwi.
Ini handichazivi chokwadi nokuti vanhu vanotaura vanoti Matiropo naSinodhiya havana kumbobvira vadanana. Asika vatova kutobikirana zvavo. Vamwe vanoti Sinodhiya akabatwa chibharo paaive aenda kunoreza vana vasisi vake vakaroorwa naMatiropo. Iri soko unotorinzwa richitaurwa nevanhu vanenge vakadhakwa zvavo nedoro. Kana vasina kudhakwa hapana anomboriti bufu pamuromo pake.
(Clever Simbarashe Kavenga lives in Mutare urban. His debut children’s book, Mashiripiti Edehwe ra Rungano, was published by Lleemon Publishers in 2007. The book was also nominated for 2008 National Arts Merit Awards in the Best Children’s Book category. Currently, Kavenga writes for Pungwe, a provincial newspaper in Manicaland)
THE REGULAR WRITER
With Tinashe ‘Mutumwapavi’ Muchuri
September: Month of Festivity
Traditionally, September is a month known for its series of cultural festivals.
This year, September had a number of arts festivals held across the nation. Such festivals as the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, the University Of Zimbabwe International Arts Festival, Shoko Spoken Word and Hip Hop Festival, Dzimbahwe Arts Festival and Zimbabwe International Film Festival launched on September 30 and spilt into October.
In my quest to find out more about the cultural history of the month of September, I went around asking different people who have profound traditional knowledge.
A fellow writer from Mt Darwin said September is a month set aside for the conduct of rain-making ceremonies which could be big community events or a family ceremony. This writer concurred with yet another renowned writer, actor, producer Aaron C Moyo who said the month is normally reserved for the rain making ceremony and other ceremonies meant to appease the ancestors. He also said traditional marriage ceremonies are normally held during this time.
The events that happen in the Shona community during September are no different from those that take place within Ndebele culture. When I talked to Priscilla Sithole, founder of Ibhaisikopo, an all-female filmmaker’s academy in Bulawayo, she said September is the month when the most of the Ndebele community holds rain-making & traditional marriage ceremonies and other events to appease the ancestors. Sithole said the King Mzilikazi Day also fall during this month. This year it took place on September 9 and the day was marked in Zimbabwe, South Africa, United Kingdom and the USA . King Mzilikazi is known as one of the great-great fathers of the Ndebele people.
As pointed above, this year the month of September has been an arts festival month, unlike other years.
However, nowadays the arts festivals are being commercialized.
In the past, these cultural ceremonies were meant to bring communities together. No one was left out in these ceremonies. But, today, the festivals are not taken to the people. They are done outside the community, at centers far away from the people or villagers who must participate in them.
It is also disturbing to note that those festivals which sometimes use venues accessible to the people are not well marketed to the community. Because of this reason the festival is organized as if for artists to perform for other artists – in other words, the festivals are simply a gathering of artists without the community being involved.
Long ago, word about a forthcoming cultural festival would circulate around the whole community and by the time the event takes place, everyone will be well aware about the event, its meaning and what will be happening and why.
Unfortunately, today's festivals happen without the knowledge of the community. Only the artists and their peers slotted to perform will be aware.
Have we lost the meaning of our ‘arts and cultural festivals’? Please feel free to share with me your views and comments about this and/or any other literary/cultural issues. Cheers.
Email: tmuchuri@gmail.com
POETRY
Victim of Misfortune
By Tatenda Hanyani
There, he stood motionless in the eerie silence
Covered by the glowing light of the fading sun
Like a scarecrow in the middle of a barren, rock-strewn field
There he stood not shaken by anything tangible
Only the invisible hands of a dry past shook him like a reed
He stood with nothing but the claws of uncertainty upon him
Watching
Crows landing on a weather-battered scarecrow
His bald head glinting in the sun like a polished rock
Neither the past nor the scars fade away
From whence he came he can remember not
For the scars on his soul cannot tell
But can only narrate the pain he sailed through
“Will the rain come down or not?
The wind is too dry and empty to bear any moisture
Am I the cursed seed on a barren land?” He asks himself
He gazes up the sky and squint at the sun
His feet pinch the cracked, desiccated earth
Not even a little cloud in the sky, not even a bird
The sky refuses to pour its tears upon the earth
Its eyes as dry as the core of a granite boulder
Instead the earth
He remembers a bit
Vented out its useless tears
Another misfortune which found him a victim
Now he stood like a hungry vulture with nothing to peck
Where is the Lord? He breathes
Ask the lord of the sky, comes the reply
It is nothing but the mere, meaningless whispers of the wind
Whispers of his mind blowing in the wind
Yet it is clear the end is near
They say fortune favors the brave
I have been brave before, he says,
Hence where is my fortune, he asks the wind
The wind that blow and keep him company
Like a scarecrow being bathed by the sun and splashed by the winds of a bare field
He has been through it all and cannot go there again
He could pay anything for peace and joy
Yet he owns nothing except himself, the winds and the rocks around his world
His feet feel like they belong to a person who died long back
Only if all these stones and rocks could turn into gold, he mutters
At night the owls sing to him like they are singing for his funeral
Where he sleeps tonight he cares not
For he never sleeps as the hands of misfortune scratch him all over
What was once left of his pride faded away with the murky waters of the unknown
Waters which he cannot drink or bath to refresh himself
Silently but with a shrill of untold pain in his heart, he lay down on the parched ground
And waits for a cold bath of the morning dew to come
A morning which he might never see again..
(Tatenda Hanyani learnt at Kwenda High School. He started writing at the age of 13. Hanyani believes his strength lies in poetry, song writing, singing, short story writing. He is inspired by world’s greats such as Giovanni Boccaccio, Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Albert Einstein, Charles Mungoshi, Bon Jovi and Justin Timberlake. Currently, Hanyani is doing BSc Chemistry at the University of Zimbabwe)
TOMBSTONE UNVEILING FOR MUPFUDZA (1971-2010)
The Late Stanley Ruzvidzo Mupfudza:
"Mhofu"
Please be advised that there will be an unveiling of tombstone ceremony for the late writer, teacher and journalist Stanley Ruzvidzo Mupfudza, who was affectionately known as Mhofu. According to the late writer’s cousin, Tinashe Moyo, the ceremony will take place on October 22 2011 from 1100hrs to 1400hrs at the Mupfudzapake homestead in Guruve. Mupfudza died last year on May 3 at Parirenyatwa Hospital after a long illness. Close writing friends and relatives please accept this intimation.
LITERARY DISCUSSION
Topic: The Politics of Publishing and Book Marketing in Zimbabwe
Speakers: Tendai Vutuza, Alex Mashamhanda and Murray McCartney
Date/Time: Thur 20 October, 5.30-7pm
Venue: Book Cafe
Pamberi Trust has announced that this month they will be continuing with the Book Cafe Literary Discussions.
Be There!!!
Contributions still welcome for the Ndebele language column ‘Kasibhaleni' - yes, we can do it.
The pen iyazwakala kakhulu...
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