Tendai Ruben Mbofana
- Let us never tire of dismantling the bastardization of our history.
The ongoing political debate in Zimbabwe has sparked a quiet revision of the nation’s pre-colonial past.
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This recently culminated in the government declaring today, September 15, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s birthday, as ‘Munhumutapa Day’.
By attempting to weave presidential authority into the tapestry of the ancient Mutapa Empire, political orchestrators seek to invoke royal legitimacy.
To frame President Mnangagwa as a contemporary embodiment or heir of Munhumutapa is a profound distortion of pre-colonial governance.
However, applying basic pre-colonial political traditions quickly exposes the profound flaws in this narrative.
Historically, succession in the Mutapa state followed a strict collateral system rather than lineal father-to-son inheritance.
Rulership rotated strictly between the recognized founding houses descended from Nyatsimba Mutota and his son Matope Nyanhehwe.
Title passed through senior royal lineages, moving horizontally across brothers and uncles before returning to subsequent generations.
Can President Mnangagwa’s lineage genuinely be traced back to the royal houses of Mutota or Nyanhehwe?
Historical records offer no such connection.
Furthermore, a true Munhumutapa required divine sanction.
Spirit mediums (mhondoro) served as the indispensable supreme arbiters of royal authority.
Because the king was a sacred intercessor between the living, the royal ancestors, and Mwari, no individual could claim the throne without explicit ritual legitimation from the relevant mhondoro.
Which established spirit mediums of the historic Mutapa realm have surfaced to declare that the ancestors have chosen President Mnangagwa as the new Munhumutapa?
None.
Beyond succession rules and spiritual endorsement, totems (mitupo) formed the bedrock of royal eligibility.
The supreme ruling line of the Mutapa Empire belonged exclusively to the Nzou (Elephant) totem—specifically the Nzou Samanyanga or Nzou Mukotami clan branches that traced their roots directly to Nyatsimba Mutota.
Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa belongs to the Shumba Murambwi totem.
Tongue in cheek, as a Nzou Samanyanga myself, even without a direct verifiable paper trail to Mutota, my totem alone gives me a far stronger historical pretext to eye the Munhumutapa throne than the current head of state.
Geography further dismantles this state-crafted myth.
The Mutapa Empire was anchored in northern Zimbabwe, stretching across the Dande, the lower Zambezi Valley, and into present-day Mozambique.
It was decidedly not centered in Masvingo, as some ill-informed observers claim when mistakenly conflating the Mutapa state with the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom.
If we were to indulge in finding a modern, culturally authentic candidate from that northern domain, the late music icon Oliver Mtukudzi—a proud Nzou Samanyanga who hailed directly from Dande—would have carried vastly more traditional legitimacy for a revived throne than any Shumba Murambwi.
To be sure, other totems did hold power within the empire, but strictly within localized parameters.
Allied lines like the Barwe dynasty (under prince Makombe) used Nzou Mukotami, Humba, or Tembo/Mbizi totems as regional leaders.
Historical accounts record that clans bearing totems such as Shumba, Moyo, Shoko, Shava, and Gumbo served primarily as provincial governors, territorial chiefs, or strategic advisers to the court.
Within a genuine Mutapa governance matrix, the absolute peak of ambition for a Shumba Murambwi would be to govern a province like Midlands or Masvingo, or perhaps serve as a key political adviser to the king.
Resurrecting ancient royal titles for modern political expediency is a misguided endeavor.
Distorting pre-colonial history to build personal cults does nothing to solve the severe economic challenges facing ordinary citizens today.
Rather than seeking royal mythology, the president and his administration should direct all their energy toward lifting over 90 percent of Zimbabweans out of poverty and building a prosperous nation.
The true test of leadership lies in serving the living, not inventing royal ancestors.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com