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| Profile of Sekuru Kagubi, a.k.a
Gumboreshumba |
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| Because of Kaguvi’s Goromonzi connection, it is not
surprising that his message was acted upon quickly in the
area. In fact the commander of Chief Chikwaka's warriors,
one Zhanti, actually travelled to the Umfuli to receive
the message and returned to this place eager to act upon
it. The rebellion broke out on or about 16 June, 1896,
with the first killings being in the Umfuli / Hartley area
and in the Norton area. So it was that Kaguvi, who was a
emanciated looking 'man of about forty years of age',
who had previously specialized in providing 'medicine' to
ensure success in hunting; now he preached war to the
death. |
| There is a historical eyewitness account of some of the
events Kaguvi was involved in: |
| “Kaguvi and Dakwende arrayed themselves in striking
feather caps and fastened horns upon their heads ….
These two worthies would then rush into the centre of the
people….. then falling into trance, presumably
possessed, gave out orders as though coming from the
ancestors whom they all revered” |
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| By the end of 1896, the authorities had at last recognised
the importance of the 'spirit mediums' to the rebel cause.
Lord Earl Grey wrote to his wife, “Kaguvi is the
witch-doctor who is preventing the Mashona from surrendering. Whilst a Native commissioner in the
then Salisbury wrote, “If we capture Kaguvi the war
is over”. From then on the military began to exert
increasing pressure on the areas where Kaguvi and Mkwati
had set up their headquarters, but both men escaped when,
after three attempts, the stockaded kraal was stormed.
They took refuge in the Mazoe valley with Nehanda. |
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The prisoners, Nehanda and Kaguvi were perplexed by the white men's long processes of
the law which only ended in the March of 1898 with their
conviction; they were hanged seven weeks later. It is
necessary to read the account of Kaguvi last days, written
by a priest from Chishawasha Mission. He came to offer Nehanda and Kaguvi religious instruction and baptism, and,
although Kaguvi at first refused to listen to him, he came
to believe later that it might help him to avoid the
gallows; somewhat pathetically he even offered his
clerical visitor "10 head of cattle, his children,
etc., if only I could get his sentence changed'.
Nehanda on the other hand loudly and constantly rejected
the priest's services. Nehanda was hanged first, in the
view of Kaguvi.
“After which though very much frightened Kaguvi listened to me and repeated he would no longer refuse to
receive baptism. After he had made the necessary acts of
faith, repentance, etc., I baptised him, giving him the
name of the chief Dismas . . . Kaguvi did not give the
least trouble nor did he make any lamentation. He died. .
. quiet and resigned, and, as I hoped, in good
dispositions." |
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| He was hanged in 1898 at the same time as Nehanda, but
unlike Nehanda who remained proud and unrepentant to the
end, Kaguvi appeared to recant and shortly before his
execution. |
| It seems clear that despite
this somewhat abject ending, Kaguvi should be credited
with the spark which set alight the rebellion and yet
his spirit wife, Nehanda,
seems to have received more acclaim for this than he
has. Is it that the people remember and compare his lack
of courage at the end with the steadfastness of Nehanda or is it that his spirit was not as powerful as that of Nehanda? One hears of the Nehanda spirit being resurrected not only in the war that led to
the independence of Zimbabwe but also in other times of
crisis between the first and second Chimurenga wars.
Charles Bullock in a footnote in his book, The Mashona,
published in 1927, has this to say: |
| "It was no leading Mashona chief who fermented the rebellion in Mashonaland but Kaguvi. That false charlatan with his concertina and
paraffin tins deceived the people into believing that he
was the host of the God of Battles - the Lord of
Sabbath; and that his spirit power would blind the white
enemies or turn them into mountain hares. He was an
impostor to us - but even so to the natives eventually;
for the spirit he claimed as he did, did not rise again
in another. " |
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| A similar sentiment is
expressed by Native Commissioner Wiri Edwards which was
published in early editions of NADA. the quote goes as
follows: |
| “The Mondoro or Mwari
was no god of war, but a new priest or mouthpiece comes
upon a scene in Kaguvi alias Gumboreshumba. Kaguvi was a
ventriloquist of this Native Commissioners Campbell,
Kenney and myself were convinced by our investigations
and comparing notes after the rebellion. Through Kaguvi the Mondoro spoke from the trees and the rocks to the
people. According to Mwari the cause of all the trouble
that had come upon the land was the white man. They had
brought the locusts and the rinderpest, and to crown it
all, they, the owners of the cattle which had died, were
not allowed to eat the meat. The carcasses had to be
burned or buried. Mwari decreed that the white men were
to be driven from the country. They, the natives, had
nothing to fear, Mwari would turn the bullets of the
white man into water. Nehanda, the high priestess of
Mwari and the most influential in the northern and
central parts of Mashonaland, was not at first inclined
to follow Kaguvi's lead but was finally convinced on
hearing the trees and rocks give out the message from
the Mondoro” |
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| References:
Oliver
Ransford: The battle of Rhodesia
RH
Wood, Kagubi: Why is he forgotten?
A.S.
Chigwedere, From Mutapa to Rhodes.
Peter
Gibbs, The History of the BSAP.
W.
Edwards, Reminiscences in NADA.
P.S.
Garlake, The Mashona Rebellion east of Salisbury,
Rhodesiana No. 14, July 1966. A. S. Hickman,
Balleyhooley Hotel, Rhodesiana No. 17, December 1972.
D.N.
Beach, Kagubi and Fort Mhondoro, Rhodesiana No. 27,
December 1972 |
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