Located 80 Kilometres from Gweru along the Bulawayo-Shangani highway, the restoration project was funded last year to the tune of $64,000 by the United States. The site had been desecrated by illegal gold panners over the years.
The work to restore the ruins has seen an influx of archaeologists and students from various universities in the SADC region. The monument covers 4,000 square meters. The main enclosure is erected on a small hill 1,400 meters above sea level.
Nobert Nhutsve, a local historian, said the name Nalatale is thought to have been derived from the Shona idiophone “Tare” which means lines that are straight and continuous.
“The other interpretation was that its name was originally “Nhandare” (Playing Ground). We have some Shona books of the Moyo clan who claimed ownership of the site. So the names are thought to relate to this site,” he said.
“Stone-building culture is thought to have originated from Mapungugwe, in South Africa, at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers. This began sometime around 1050 to 1100 and gave birth to the Great Zimbabwe structures.
One group went south-westwards and settled at Khami in Matabeleland and later moved to Nalatale.
“This is thought to have been the royal retreat where the king would come after the rigours of administration in other area, to relax with his wives. But it is also thought that because of the beauty of the site, the king would come and confer with his sub-chiefs.”
US Ambassador Bruce Wharton, told The Zimbabwean that his government had facilitated the restoration of the ruins in order to preserve Zimbabwe’s heritage and he would personally excite American tourists to visit.
“We believe that Zimbabwe has an extra-ordinarily rich culture that is a deep source of pride. The project of restoration is also in line with the World Tourism Organisation’s theme for this year which is tourism and development. I will therefore personally excite tourists from America to come here in their numbers so that the local community can also benefit from the few dollars they will leave behind,” he said.
Nyasha Gurira, a student at Midlands State University embarking on a Masters’ Degree in Cultural Heritage Site Management, said Zimbabweans should nominate the place to the UNWTO so that is declared a World Heritage Site. “That way more tourists would visit the site and benefit the economy,” she said.
Deputy Tourism Minister Walter Kanhanga concurred that government ought to do more to market the ruins to the outside world.
“There are people like me who did not even know we had a heritage site like this one, which is rich in the history of Zimbabweans. I will therefore fight so that the site is put on the map and if that is done, we will also benefit the local people because they benefit accordingly,” he said.
Post published in: News
This Norbert Nhutsve as a Historian, should know that during the historical epoch he is referring to, a people known collectively as the Shona never existed. This is a term that came into local lexicon in the 1930s as a result of the Missionaries standardising the different dialects/languages spoken by the clans that now all fall under the definition, Shona. This standardisation was done based on the Zezuru dialect. It is important to properly inform the reading public as to who of these people he is referring to. It has to be mentioned again that, it may be disputed that the name Nalatale could have originated from the clans associated with the people now defined as the Shona. If you go to the Venda region in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, there is a place called MUTALE – think about it. Its not Mutare, as in Mutare in Zimbabwe, but its Mutale. Now, with the “tale”in this name; it might very well be that NALATALE could have originated from the Venda of Mapungubwe. Historians/Academics of Zimbabwe should try not to be parochial in their approach to history, but be broad in their research of our historical past and leave Zimbabwe’s present political dynamics aside. Seeing that the Bantu communities were so interlinked, and this was one large mass of land with no borders, surely it cannot be that everything in the past within the land between the two rivers could have revolved around the people we now call Shona!!