User:Kufandada

SHAVA Shava is the totem (identity animal) of the VaHera people,who are   descendants of Mbiru,who lived at Gombe Hill  in present  day Buhera,South of Zimbabwe.The Va Hera are of a tribe that speaks Shona, Ndebele (Mpofu) and other languages and claim that they came from Guruuswa,which has been identified as the area around Buhera in the south of Zimbabwe.Buhera is an English  corruption of the word Vahera,which means the Hera people.The ancestor of the Va Hera was called Mbiru who was identified by his totem Shava,(the Eland) and  which is also known as Nhuka or Mhofuyemukono and Mhukahuru.All  descendants of Mbiru  share the same totem of Shava,but some changed to other Chidawo (Praisename shown in brackets below) over time in order to disguise themselves from their enemies or to allow intermarriages. The Shava belt includes the following dynasties: Bocha,in the east,in the angle of the Odzi and Save; Marange (Shava Mukonde) in Buhera (also known as Vahera)on the south bank of the upper Save river,Nyashanu (Shava Museyamwa) dynasty, Mutekedza (Shava Masarirambi )dynasty  to the south of Buhera,Munyaradzi  (Shava Wakanonoka) dynasty. West of the watershed the shava dynasties stretched from the upper Munyati to the Munyati-Mupfure confluence.These incude the  Mushava  (Shava Musimuvi) dynasty,Nherera dynasty, and Rwizi  (Shava Mazarura) dynasty in the middle Mupfure River,The Chivero  (Shava Mwendamberi) Dynasty far to the west of Chivero,the Neuso (Shava Mhukahuru Murehwa) Dynasty,The Chireya (Also Shava Murehwa  Dynasty,The Njerere (Shava Mvuramavi)  Dynasty,Nemangwe Dynasty,Nenyanga Dynasty,Negonde Dynasty,Nyavira Dynasty,Neharava Dynasty,Seke Mutema  (Shava Mvuramavi) Dynasty,Hwata (Shava Mufakose)  Dynasty and  Chiweshe (Shava Mutenhesenwa) Dynasty in the north.

HWATA DYNASTY

Three brothers, Shayachimwe,Nyakudya and Gutsa who were of the Shava Museyamwa totem, migrated northwards  from Buhera  ( Va Hera)in the south of Zimbabwe in late eighteenth century.Between 1760 and 1780,the three brothers  were invited by a relative,Chief Seke who was also of the Shava totem, to settle  in the Harava area.Later Gutsa was introduced  by Seke to Chief  Mbare of the Shumba Gurundoro totem,who resided on the modern day city of Harare,as a useful iron-monger.Chief Mbare settled the three brothers on the Barapata hill. For a while,Shayachimwe,Gutsa and Nyakudya lived under  Chief Mbare,but friction developed .With the implicit backing of Chief Seke,the  Va Hera  brothers killed Chief  Mbare and took his lands, which stretched  to the south of  modern day Harare. These northern Va Hera did not form a single dynasty,but  instead formed  a confederacy of two units,Hwata  dynasty founded by Shayachimwe and Chiweshe dynasty founded by Nyakudya’s son Nyamangambiri.Hwata dynasty became more dominant  and stretched from present day Harare ,past the Mazoe dam to modern day Glendale and to the heads of the Mazoe ,Tateguru and Murowodzi valleys.Gutsa ,the youngest brother ,did not form a dynasty of his own Shayachimwe and Nyangambiri abandoned their praise name of Museyamwa.Hwata Shayachimwe assumed the new praise name of Mufakose while Chiweshe Nyangambiri assumed the praise name of Mutengesanwa.Hwata Shayachimwe established his capital at Barapata Hill on modern Mufakose suburb in Harare,which was named after his Chidawo (praise name).Hwata Chiripanyanga who became Chief Hwata in 1892 played a prominent role in the Mashona uprising against white settler rule between 1896 and 1897.He was captured and executed in 1897.

HWATA WARS 1860 - 1900 The first half of the nineteenth century saw a considerable rise in the prosperity of the Va Hera who settled in the area around present day Harare between 1760 and 1780.The Hwata dynasty took control of the Shawasha gold fields and a succession of Hwata rulers,the sons of Shayachimwe,dominated trade with Portugues from the East. This prosperity attracted attention,and the Va Hera were raided and defeated by the Ndebele from 1861 to 1864.Hwata Gwindi  was captured by King Lobengula in 1864, and when he was allowed to return,he became a tributary ruler under King Lobengula  of Matabeleland.The Hwata rulers remained subordinated to the Ndbele for over twenty years until the death of Hwata  Gwindi in 1887.Hwata Chiripanyanga ,son of Gubangombe and grandson of Shayachimwe assumed Hwata Chieftainship in 1892.In 1890 white settlers of British extraction hoisted their flag in the territory of Hwata ,in present day  Harare in Zimbabwe.Hwata Chiripanyanga was involved in the Shona and  Ndebele  uprising against the foreign  invaders between 1896 and 1897.Hwata Chiripanyanga and Charwe ( Ambuya Nehanda) led an uprising  at Mazoe where they captured and killed the resident Native Commissioner called Pollard  in 1896.Hwata was captured together with Charwe (Mbuya Nehanda)  and executed  by  the white colonial settlers in 1897. As a consequence of this defeat Hwata and Chiweshe lost all their lands,stretching from Harare to Nzvimbo.Their subjects were placed under the rule of other chiefs such as Negomo and Makope.A small section of the Hwata  family founded a dynasty at Dande in Guruve  in the Zambezi valley in 1961,but the majority of descendants of Hwata remain scattered in the Chiweshe communal lands.Some have moved away to find new homes elsewhere.A lot of young men and women from Hwata and Chiweshe areas joined others in the armed struggle against white rule in Zimbabwe between 1970 and 1980,which  ended with the independence of Zimbabwe on April 18 ,1980.

Source: Beach ,D.N.A Zimbabwe Past, Mambo Press,1994.