Book review of Shona novel Dzimbabwedande
By Brilliant Pongo
Although a work of fiction, valuable history lessons can be derived from this well written Shona novel. Probably the first of its genre, it is pregnant with immense historical, educational as well as politically relevant content.
Published by Heritage Press, the 356-page novel captures the reader’s imagination from the very first page. Set between the 18th and 19th century, in a small town of Qualimane, a colonial outpost in Mozambique, Wellingtone Kusema’s Dzimbabwedande is a powerful epic of one man’s gallant struggle against the Portuguese slave masters.
A Zimbabwean warrior-king, Jekawacheka II (Dumbetumbe), wages an almost single-handed battle against the brutal system of slavery perpetrated against his state, Dzimbabwedande. What unfolds is a vivid account of the inhumanity of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and how this uncivilized trade affected the African nations economically, socially and politically, even to this day.
Upon arrival on the shores of Southern Africa, first as practitioners of unfair trade (a situation still obtaining today in trade between Africa and Europe), the Portuguese and Arabs quickly turned their imperialist ambitions to the macabre trade in human cargo.
At Dzimbabwedande (a fictional state found in the Dande valley), they consort and connive with the corrupt puppet-king Mutinhima, who began to sell his subjects to the slave traders in return for short term material gains, but becoming deeply unpopular with his own subjects.
As the puppet-king turns into an economic Lazarus, feeding on the crumbs falling from the table of the Portuguese slave master, Divases, and his ruling class henchmen prosper beyond their wildest imaginations; the people of Dzimbabwedande on the other hand plant their hope on the rukangarabwe of under-providence and poverty, living on a borrowed smile.
Matters come to a head when Mutinhima turns over into the slave traders’ hands Dumbetumbe’s (Jekawacheka) beloved fiancé, Sarudzai. Another gorgeous girl, Zororai, on whom the bachelor warrior-prince’s roving eye had been cast, is also captured into slavery. An earthquake of revolutionary combat then shakes Dzimbabwedande to the foundation, led by Dumbetumbe and his national poet friend, Chambwe.
Mutinhima, the puppet-king, was deposed and Jekawacheka enthroned as king in his stead by popular mandate. Having restored the sacred sovereignty of the Dzimbabwedande state, Jekawacheka II (the title he assumes on gaining the throne) then pursues the Portuguese slave traders valiantly over the hills and valleys, all the way down to Quilimane where an important Portuguese slave market had been established. A terrible battle ensues at Quilimane as the fearless warrior-king sought to rid his land of the evil vice eating up its length and breadth.
The emotions of a people wrenched from their motherland and taken away on the slave ships, the gore and torture perpetrated against those slaves by their captors, just to break their spirits, are lucidly described in this pioneering treatise. Written for the first time in Shona, this story raises pertinent questions on whether enough has been done by nations of the west to restitute and pay reparations for the evils committed against Africa.
Never before, in the genre of the old world Shona novel, has a book encapsulated such immense historical, educational and political consciousness. To all serious students of history and Shona literature in schools and universities, including every conscious person who needs to understand a painful era in Africa’s colorful history, Dzimbabwedande is a must-read. Through Kusema’s powerful pen, the reader is brought face-to-face with the titanic battle between the forces of good and evil.
Contact the author on 07534083906 for a signed copy.
