Nehanda Mbuya Nehanda a.k.a Charwe Nyakasikana (c. 1840-1898)
Charwe Nyakasikana was a Shona spirit medium also called Mbuya Nehanda, meaning grandmother Nehanda. She played an important role in mobilizing the Black masses against white rule in what is now popularly referred to as the First Chimurenga which took place between 1886 and 1897. Along with her messengers, Nehanda traveled from village to village encouraging the people to rise up and fight against the colonizers. While predicting that the people would not conquer the colonial masters at this time, she still called for a stand to be taken against the colonizers’ curtailment of rights and freedoms.
Upon realizing her influence, the colonial forces decided to take action against Nehanda. A death warrant issued against her states that during a criminal session of the High Court, held on March 2 1898, Nehanda was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. The warrant goes on to give the scheduled date of Nehanda’s execution as the 27th of April 1898. The execution is said to have taken place at the Gaol (Jail) of Salisbury.
It is claimed that it took three attempts before Nehanda eventually succumbed to her death. But before she did, she prophesied that her bones would rise again; a reference used by the guerrillas in resistance songs during the war for independence, commonly referred to as the Second Chimurenga. Some researchers state that the British forces immediately buried the bodies at an undisclosed site to avoid their being exhumed and reburied.
