CHIVHU — The Shana drumbeat got clearer as one descended Dengedza Mountain towards Matarutse Village in Chikomba East. Now and again, a melodious tune interspersed with the clapping of hands could be heard as one got nearer to the Nzenza family homestead.
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA
The family was performing a traditional ritual meant to bring back their late daughter’s spirit into the home. This followed another ceremony held last Friday to begin the ritual, attended by scores of villagers, relatives as well as the village headman.
The late diplomat, Charity Nzenza, was reportedly the second wife of former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss Elisha Muzonzini.
Popularly known as Virginia in her rural home, Charity now “officially” has two graves — one at the lush Glen Forest Memorial Park on the outskirts of Harare where she was buried soon after her death in 2011, and another in Chivhu, where she was “reburied” by her family in Mataruse Village in May this year following an estate wrangle with Muzonzini.
The grave in the village contains soil taken from the Glen Forest grave as the family invoked the law of representation.
On the same day, the family also performed the traditional rites of bringing back the spirit of Munyengetero Nzenza, Charity’s sister, home.
Although many of the Nzenza family members are well-educated, the family has held on to its traditional Shona values and practices.
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With state-of-the-art infrastructure erected at the homestead including running water and top-of-the-range-vehicles parked in the yard, the Nzenza family boasts several doctorate degree holders and professionals in various fields, many of whom attended the traditional rituals.
“Virginia is now back home. She is with us as we speak. She is not in Harare. She is now able to fight the battles that we were failing to deal with,” Luke Jemedza Nzenza (84), one of the family elders, said after the ceremony.
Friday night was action-packed. The late Mbuya Nzenza’s hut could not accommodate all the people who had thronged the homestead for the ceremony.
Two gifted drummers kept people dancing throughout the night. Traditional beer was brewed and kept flowing at the homestead. A beast was also slaughtered in line with tradition and there was plenty of meat.
At dawn, the singing and dancing came to an end and close relatives got into the hut where the family elders announced that they were now going to the graveyard to “fetch” the spirit of the deceased and bring it back home.
The family’s daughters-in-law, delicately balancing clay pots full of the traditional brew on their heads, led the procession.
At the graveyard, the singing and dancing intensified, and Shuvai, wife of family head Sydney Nzenza, led the proceedings.
She stood on top of the grave and poured some beer on the grave using a hollowed-out gourd, followed by the elderly members of the family. At the same time, the family members loudly called on Charity to return home and fight the family’s battles.
The grave, adorned with an expensive tombstone, was all sprinkled with opaque beer.
Shuvai then led the procession back home where relatives entered the hut where they intended to leave Charity’s “spirit” before the ceremony continued.
“I am now at peace. This is what should have happened. We are custodians of our culture. The Western ways have no place in this family. This is our way of doing things. Our daughter is back home and she is with us now,” Sydney said.
The Nzenza family is currently embroiled in a bitter wrangle over the late Charity’s estate with Muzonzini, who is suing Sydney $50 000 for defamation after the latter wrote to police chief Augustine Chihuri pleading with him to assist in the estate wrangle. This was after Muzonzini had allegedly threatened them against raising the issue.
Asked whether he was aware that according to law the surviving spouse had the right to the estate, Sydney said his in-law could have followed the cultural route of handing over a dura to the family.
“We are not at war with anyone. I am surprised that our son-in-law came here and paid part of the lobola as per our tradition, but today he is employing modern laws. In our culture there is what we call dura and it is the same as estate, we never got that. I asked for it because it belongs to us. Is that a crime?” Sydney queried.
“He (Muzonzini) got the wife traditionally and now wants to get the estate through modern means. My in-law doesn’t have a child with our daughter. Our daughter left behind a child, but that child did not benefit from her mother’s estate.”
Meanwhile, Muzonzini has applied for a default judgment at the High Court after Sydney failed to respond to the lawsuit summons.
Village head Ishmael Chimombe (Headman Matarutse) said the traditional ceremony of bringing back Charity’s spirit would bring bad luck or ngozi (avenging spirit) to the Muzonzini family.
“The dead can fight their own battles. We are not saying something is going to happen, but traditionally, this is our belief… We are not looking forward to ngozi, but culturally these are things that we all know will happen in such circumstances,” he said.
