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Nqobile Tshili, nqobile.tshili.chronicle.co.zw

FOLLOWING the official commissioning of the magnified Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site by President Mnangagwa last week, there have been calls to roll out similar works at Gadade Battlefield in Mbembesi, Umguza District.

The Gadade Battle in November 1893 was a turning point in the country’s colonisation as King Lobengula’s warriors were defeated by British mercenaries but won the fight a month later at Pupu.

The whites had superior weapons including the newly manufactured Maxim gun (Isigwagwagwa), which was first used in battle against Ndebele warriors, according to historians.

So gallant were the Ndebele warriors that despite being decimated by the powerful Maxim guns, they fought until they captured one of the gun leading to serious casualties on both sides.

To date, the Gadade monument and Ndebele warriors’ mass graves are unsecured and locals have appealed to the Government to spruce it up.

As the Ndebele warriors were falling to the powerful Maxim gun, historians say, the overly confident Amabutho would say “vala ngebhetshu,” which, however, did not serve any purpose as they died in huge numbers.

Even the colonialists in their literature recognise the might of the Ndebele warriors and the monument, which the Rhodesian government erected details this.

“In a hillock 300 yards south of this pillar the Salisbury and Victoria columns British South Africa Company formed laager about midday on the first of November 1893. “During the halt they were heavily attacked by a large force of Matabele Imbizo, Ingubo, Isiziba, and Ihlathi regiments with Amavene, Iqobo and Insukamini regiments in reserve,” reads the inscription.

“The battle was hard and the Matabele charged with the greatest courage three times in the face of machine gun fire but after suffering very many casualties were compelled to withdraw. 

“This was a decisive battle for the Rhodesians and the Column marched on to Bulawayo, which was then occupied on the 4th of November.”

King Lobengula, upon learning that his powerful Imbizo, Insukamini and Ihlathi regiments had been defeated instructed one of his senior chiefs to burn the palace.

Speaking during the commissioning of Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site last Thursday, President Mnangagwa appealed to chiefs and other stakeholders to identify significant monuments similar to Pupu Battlefield for proper documentation, telling the undistorted history of Zimbabwe.

A Chronicle news crew yesterday visited Mbembesi where one of the villagers, narrated how important Gadade Battle was to the community and the need to preserve the area for future generations.

This adds to the calls to reconstruct the Gadade Battlefield National Monument so as to tell of the heroic tales of Ndebele warriors, who remained resolute despite being attacked using superior gunfire. 

Mr Townsend Ndlovu, a former freedom fighter and a villager from Mbembesi, said while a monument was erected by the colonial Government, it mainly glorified whites for their victory.

Mr Ndlovu took the news crew to a mass grave of the Ndebele warriors, where nothing is documented with just a small pillar, which does not even tell anything about the Ndebele warriors.

However, closer to the main road, whites erected a pillar that documents the triumph over the Ndebele warriors. 

“Growing up here we were told of how King Lobengula had his finest regiment Imbizo, Insukamini and Ihlathi fearlessly fight against the Pioneer Column,” he said. 

“This is a sacred place where the Ndebele warriors were defeated and died en-masse leading to King Lobengula to instruct one of his senior chiefs to burn the palace as he escaped.” 

He said despite the Ndebele warriors having died at Gadade there has not been deliberate efforts to properly situate the warriors within their heroic place in history of the country. 

“This is a mass grave but it can easily be overlooked yet warriors and heroes are here. We are hoping that this mass grave is reconstructed to honour the warriors who fought to defend the sovereignty of the Ndebele state.” 

“We hope it will be reconstructed just like the Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site. These are heroes as they signify resistance. While we had ZPRA and Zanla forces who fought and brought independence, the men who are lying here are heroes despite falling to superior firepower from the whites.” 

Mr Ndlovu said it is not just the Ndebele warriors who fell during the battlefield as even white commanders died in battle with one of them, Frederick Thompson, being buried just a stone’s throw away from the Ndebele warriors’ mass grave, which has no inscription.

He told the news crew that the name Gadade emerged after the Mbembesi Battle, saying oral tradition states that the word came from “scattered” in reference to bones of fallen warriors but because the Ndebele could not pronounce the word then they called it Gadade.

Historian Mr Methembe Hadebe, also said there is a need to revamp Gadade Battlefield National Monument to the status of Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site. 

“This is because you can’t speak of Pupu without speaking of Gadade. Both speak of the consistency and resilience of the Ndebele warriors in resisting white supremacy.”  

“Both battlefields show the Ndebele were strategic in fighting to drive out the invaders from the land that borders Zimbabwe. They are a lesson to Zimbabweans today that we need to consistently drive out foreigners who want to impose their ideas on us as a country while we develop homegrown solutions to develop the country,” said Mr Hadebe.

He stressed the need to revamp Gadade Battlefield National Monument the way Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site has been developed and urged educational tours to be done on site with proper documentation of history.

Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, whose ministry is in charge of resuscitation and documentation of national monuments and heritage sites, said the Government will be reconstructing and properly documenting the country’s distorted history and will not be ending at Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site. — @nqotshili