Title: Sworn to the Depth of Inyangani Author: Lindiwe Dhlakama Etal Publisher: Collabowriters (2018) ISBN: 978 0 7974 9147 2
LITERARY collaborations have not been that frequent in African novel, leaving that burden more to short story and poetry anthologies, screenplays as well as plays.
Between the Lines: Beniah Munengwa
Collabowriters, however, seek to “connect writers of different backgrounds to collaborate in writing creative fiction.” And to their credit, they have just done that with funding from the British Council, the Zimbabwe German Society and Media Box.
However, it is through this initiative that this book is birthed, coming from two Harare and two Bulawayo writers — Lindiwe Dhlakama, Takatso Sibanda, Rejoice Moyo and Banabas Karuma.
Sworn to the Depth of Inyangani explores the ‘mythical’ existence of esoteric powers around the Mt Inyangani area and others where mermaids are believed to exist. Elisha, though a Catholic, finds himself making an inquiry into what really happens around Mt Inyangani. He and his family set out on a journey to undo whatever force was causing people’s disappearances in the mountain.
Their journey is riveting and unearths virtues of courage and selflessness. It is a journey that, if taken in the real sense, can help in putting to a stop that which angers or has angered the majestic mountain and making it a one place people can explore and joke with without fearing for the unknown.
The njuzu (mermaid) spirit is portrayed as a guardian angel with the responsibility of correcting the wrongs of the earth, as its violent rebuttals and escorting many souls into disappearing is as a result of her anger over Chief Hekima’s unjust rule.
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“There are laws,” the water seemed to whisper, “That cannot be changed and which the gods must keep sovereign. There are consequences to the action of man; his selfishness and greed which further feed the darkness that creeps to swallow the earth. You must come and relearn the laws of the land that were set by the gods so long ago. Relearn the laws and lore, and guide man back to wisdom and sincerity.”
What emerges from this is that nature mostly turns violent against man only when his means go out of hand. At face value, when reading through the book, it confirms that the different chapters were written by different people. While that could have been solved through powerful synthetics on the editor’s part, Kudzai Chikomo, the project’s relay coordinator argued that the disparity is also an enrichment, as it brings the author’s varying views to issues and their unique personal touch.
In this case, exploration of the myth of the Inyangani Mountain and its surroundings cause hair-raising incidences of disappearances, including that destruction takes shape through multiple cultural orientations and viewpoints.
Each writer takes claim to their chapter as they write. Part of the reason for that is that each writer takes ownership of his copyright and can lift up that chapter to formulate a new project of their own.
Survivors of mermaid onslaughts are typically treated by society with great skepticism, given the powers society believes are bestowed upon them after such encounters. These people, like MaNcube, find it hard to fit back into society as they possess some marine forces which are deemed dark by many, yet they can possibly be used for the betterment of society.
Collabowriters’ initiative is commendable in that it takes one of the steps required for the literary sector to grow towards the recognition and building of confidence in young voices whose experimental inclination is not accommodated by traditional publishing outlets whose slant is currently and mostly biased towards curriculum-based products.
Mt. Inyangani, now popularly known as Mt, Nyangani, and is the longest mountain in Zimbabwe, measuring 2 592 metres and is a popular tourist spot in Zimbabwe, has been marred with multiple occurrences of inexplicable incidences, including disappearances of people, some who have returned and others who, unfortunately, were never seen again.
Though an exciting project, more could have been done to enhance it, including tightening the spacing inconsistencies and cleaning up grammatical slips. These are loopholes to be addressed in the long run, but a commendable project all the same.
Beniah Munengwa writes in his own capacity. He can be contacted on [email protected]
