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chief at a traditional ceremony held in line with the Vapfumbi traditions.
The ceremony was held at Makothe Village, 80km east of Beitbridge town on Thursday last week.
Eilsh (43) will undergo the full initiation processes in the next three weeks and will be formally installed chief at a later date.
He replaces his father who passed on at the age of 67 on May 10 last year.
The late Chichewo is survived by wife Maria, nine children and several grandchildren. Since then, Beitbridge district has been operating without a chief following the death of Pariti Stauze of Beitbridge West and Matibe of Beitbridge East.
There is also a long-standing dispute in the Stauze clan over the rightful heir to the throne.
According to the Vapfumbi culture, the chief is kept in his bedroom hut for a year until his burial after 12 months.
Scores of mourners from all over Beitbridge gathered at the Matibe homestead on Tuesday to witness the formal burial of the chief and the initiation of his heir.
The burial programme was conducted between 4 and 6am on Tuesday. In an interview, the late chief’s brother Joseph Matibe said Eilsh beat 16 contenders to the throne.
“We have formally buried the late chief and in our tradition we don’t just appoint the new heir, but we make his children queue and push the door to the bedroom hut where he had been lying in the last 12 months.
“Whoever manages to open the door will be initiated as the new chief.
“After which we take the chief’s remains and bury them in line with our tradition at our shrine at Malungudzi Mountains.
“However, no strangers are allowed there while we carry out the initiation and burial process.
“We will formally install Eilsh as chief after we have notified our ancestors at Matopo and that will be carried out in the next three weeks, but members of the public will be notified in due course”, he said.