Nehanda Nyakasikana (left) and Sekuru Kaguvi (right), after their 1897 capture
Sekuru Kaguvi[1] (Kagubi,[2]Kakubi), was a svikiro (medium), a nationalist leader in pre-colonial Zimbabwe, and a leader in the Shona rebellion of 1896-1897 against European rule, known as the First Chimurenga. The soubriquet "Kaguvi" was given to him because he was said to speak for the traditional Shona spirit Mwari. When the rebellion collapsed, he was charged with the murder of an African policeman called 'Charlie', whom he had accused of collaborating with the colonial authorities.[3] Kaguvi was found guilty and hanged in 1898.
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums." There are different types of mediumship, including spirit channeling and ouija.
The Shona are a Bantu ethnic group native to Zimbabwe and neighboring countries. The people are divided into five major clans and adjacent to other groups of very similar culture and languages. This name came into effect in the 19th century due to their skill of disappearing and hiding in caves when attacked. Hence Mzilikazi the great king called them amaShona meaning "those who just disappear." When the white settlers came to Mashonaland, they banned the Shona people from staying near caves and kopjes because of their hiding habits. This explanation is because there is no word called "Shona" in the Shona language vocabulary. There are various interpretations whom to subsume to the Shona proper and whom only to the Shona family.
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.
Some Ndebele historians say that the form "Kaguvi" is a bastardization of his name by Europeans,[citation needed] and that his real name was "Kakubi Ncube". They also claim that together with Nehenda, he ensured that the Shona would rise up at the same time as the Ndebele people in the First Chimurenga.
Chimurenga is a word in the Shona language, roughly meaning "revolutionary struggle". In specific historical terms, it also refers to the Ndebele and Shona insurrections against administration by the British South Africa Company during the late 1890s—the Second Matabele War, or First Chimurenga—and the war fought between African nationalist guerrillas and the predominantly white Rhodesian government during the 1960s and 1970s—the Rhodesian Bush War, or Second Chimurenga.
The name "Kaguvi" was also given to a man called Gumboreshumba (c1870-1898), who claimed to speak for the original Kaguvi's spirit. Gumboreshumba was one of the many people who claimed to be mediums of famous First Chimurenga personae during the so-called Second Chimurenga. Gumboreshumba (meaning: "lion's paw"), lived in Chikwaka's village by Goromonzi Hill, Zimbabwe. He had four wives, one of whom was Chief Mashonganyika's daughter. The other three wives were received from a headman named Gondo. It is alleged that Gumboreshumba Kaguvi was known as a source of good luck in hunting and that he was able to speak to trees and rocks. He was believed to be the spirit husband of the other great Shonasvikiro, Nehanda.
Goromonzi is a rural community in East Mashonaland, Zimbabwe, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of the country's capital city of Harare. The people are principally from the Shona tribe. The village serves as a trading centre for commercial, communal and co-operative farms. It is also the administrative centre for the Chinyika communal land and Goromonzi District. The community is located on a subsidiary road north of the A3 highway to Harare. Goromonzi Hill, at 1,581 metres (5,187 ft), is just southeast of the town.
Notes
↑ "The Trial of Mbuya Nehanda and other Chimurenga Revolutionaries". Zimbabwe News. 13 (1). 1982. p.14. as cited in Lyons, Tanya (2004). Guns and Guerilla Girls: Women in the Zimbabwean National Liberation Struggle. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. p.81. ISBN978-1-59221-167-8.
↑ The form Kagubi has a "b" being substituted for the "v", due to differences in pronunciation between Shona language and other Bantu languages.
↑ Charumbira, Ruramisai (2008). "Nehanda and Gender Victimhood in the Central Mashonaland 1896-97 Rebellions: Revisitingthe Evidence". History in Africa. 35: 101–131 (p. 120). JSTOR25483719.
Sources
Rasmussen, R.K., and Rubert, S.C., 1990. Historical Dictionary of Zimbabwe, Scarecrow Press.
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Svikiro is a spirit medium of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
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