King Mzilikazi commemoration held in style
POMP and fanfare punctuated commemorations that marked the 154th anniversary of King Mzilikazi’s death yesterday, with an eye-catching march in Bulawayo culminating in a colourful ceremony at Mhlahlandlela, the site of the founding Ndebele monarch’s royal palace.
Beautifully crafted traditional regalia, song, dance and poetry were all on display during an occasion that attracted hundreds, ranging from businesspeople, schoolchildren and local traditional leadership who all made the great trek from the city to Mhlahlandlela, located 22 kilometres outside Bulawayo along Old Gwanda Road.
Hordes of people made the trip to Mhlahlandlela after festivities within Bulawayo’s Central Business District, as owners of vehicles, big and small, braved vehicles on the rugged and rough terrain leading to what is regarded as King Mzilikazi’s last known homestead and one time capital of the Ndebele State.
During the commemoration, a member of the Khumalo Royal family, Mr Leo Zulukandaba Khumalo, spoke of the importance of
Mhlahlandlela when celebrating King Mzilikazi’s life and appraising his legacy.
“The King ruled over a vast kingdom that had a lot of strongholds dotted all around but this Mhlahlandlela is where he built his last home and where he was buried. It is important to note that this is the original capital of the Mthwakazi nation but because it is taboo for a son to build his home at the same place where his father built his, Lobengula moved on to the place we now call Bulawayo where he was resident until he vacated it at the time of great upheaval leaving what is now called the State House,” he said.
Mr Khumalo’s sentiments were supported by guest speaker, historian Mr Pathisa Nyathi, who also touched on the importance of King Mzilikazi, a ruler whose brave leadership moulded the Ndebele State.
“We are here because we are remembering our yesterday. King Mzilikazi ruled from Mhlahlandlela and that is why we decided that the memorial should also be here. We are here to pay respect to those that gave us the nation of Mthwakazi. This is the place where Mzilikazi built his last homestead and that is why we honour it. What makes us remember Mzilikazi? He is the figure that build the great nation of Mthwakazi. It is something that all of you should be proud of. You were given a culture and a language and you should be proud of it. There’s no reason to be ashamed of being a part of this because you did not give birth to yourself. You were born into it and hence it is your birthright,” said Mr Nyathi.
However, Mr Nyathi said it was not enough to remember King Mzilikazi through a once-off celebration, as he and several founding members of the Ndebele State needed to be acknowledged constantly for the important roles that they played.
“It is important to recognise that we should just not have one day when we celebrate or remember the life of King Mzilikazi. We should have more than one day when we remember such important figures and beyond today, there should be a build-up to such a big day. At the same time, we should teach our children about the culture because even today, I noticed that the poets move about a lot when they are praise singing, they move about a lot. That is not correct culturally because you only use your mouth and not your whole body to praise sing. So having workshops about some of these things will help the young ones to preserve the essence of a culture that they love,” he said.
Mr Nyathi said while people had gathered in their numbers to remember the late monarch, it was important to take stock and realise that they were doing so on a monument that had been build for him by Rhodesians in 1945.
“This monument was built by white people in 1945 to commemorate Mzilikazi but as the people of Mthwakazi, what have we done to also remember him? We need to build our monument but it should not stop with King Mzilikazi. We have a lot of Ndebele queens that are buried everywhere and we should take stock and leave landmarks that our great-grandchildren will also be able to follow in future. We should do this before our elders pass away and go with all that knowledge. We cannot afford to see it lost because it should be there for future generations to cherish and honour,” he said.