Opinion By Farai Maguwu|Pastor Advocate Nelson Chamisa has blamed the Zimbabwe Bird for Zimbabwe’s problems. He associated the bird with institutional idolatry. In this piece I argue that claims that the Zimbabwe Bird was created for ritual purposes are purely unfounded and injurious to the history and historiography of Great Zimbabwe and the prehistoric Zimbabwean society in general.

No living person knows the exact idea behind the Zimbabwe Bird or its original purpose. However, it is very possible to deduce some material facts about its origin and potential purpose. Zimbabwe is a country with a very rich and dynamic history which any future leader must acknowledge and build on. It’s a nation of great achievements which even the colonial administration tried hard to conceal in order to dampen our spirits and create in us a defeated, self hating and submissive spirit.

First I seek to dispel the myth that the Zimbabwe Bird was a religious symbol used for idolatry. No living being, even the first archaeologists who worked at Great Zimbabwe ever had an interview with Nyastimba Mutota or any person who lived at Great Zimbabwe between 1100 and 1500 AD. Excavations at Great Zimbabwe took place during the late 19th century, about four hundred years since the abandonment of the majestic Great Zimbabwe City. The excavators then unearthed the 8 soapstone-made, bird-shaped sculptures, now popularly referred to as the Zimbabwe Bird. All the claims of the spirituality of those artefacts are mere interpretations of historians, archaeologists and politicians and they could all be WRONG.

What we know from Portuguese records is Great Zimbabwe was a great medieval city that thrived on agriculture, mining and trade. We also know that the Zimbabwe Bird resembles the bateleur eagle (Chapungu) which is a rare species of eagles that are commonly found in Southern Africa particularly South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and northern and eastern Namibia. It thrives in the tropical savanna. It is well known for its distinctive aerial acrobatics, red skin around its eyes and a very strong physique. There is no doubt such unique features could have inspired the sculptors. The majestic character of the bateleur eagle means subjects would likely ascribe its characteristics to their Kings or royal dynasties the same way they would call some of their kings ‘The Lion’ – Shumba.

Any history and archaeology enthusiast would quickly recall that throughout Sub Saharan Africa, there are rock paintings of hunters in action which show the type of animals hunted in particular regions and the weapons used by the hunters. Majority of the paintings were done in places less prone to the elements of weather. Were they doing it for themselves? Absolutely not. They had future generations in mind. It was a way of preserving history which some now associate with demons. These antiquity tell us stories about the past. Nature has immaculately preserved these to teach us about life and society we inherited from the past. Whilst our ancestors did not write history, they left artefacts which tell us about how they interacted with their world. These are not evil, but historical pointers to our ancestral identity and how life has been preserved to this day. These are treasures that must bring joy and excitement to those who find them

Now, on Great Zimbabwe we learn that warrior prince Nyastimba Mutota was sent from Great Zimbabwe to the Dande region to search for salt and whilst there he defeated the Tonga and established the Mutapa State. Thereafter Great Zimbabwe declined and was completely deserted by 1480. Nyatsimba Mutota and whoever temporarily remained King at Great Zimbabwe both left the Zimbabwe Birds at the Great Zimbabwe Ruins until they were exhumed in the late 19th century. This means the birds were NOT of ritual or spiritual purposes, otherwise if they were part of the spiritual paraphernalia of Nyatsimba Mutota, he would have moved with them to Dande or the remaining King would have migrated with to Khami where he established a New State. Certainly if these had powerful spiritual significance they would been needed even more when establishing a new State where kings had to be subdued. Yes, if indeed these were spiritual objects they would have been carefully preserved and carried along just as the Israelis carried the Ark of the Covenant from Egypt to the Promised Land.

It would have been debatable had Dzimbahwe / Zimbabwe kingdom survived till the colonial epoch. Then we could argue that they were defeated and destroyed by the colonial forces hence the artefacts remained in the stone walls because the owners were dead. However Great Zimbabwe was abandoned voluntarily or rather due to environmental and economic reasons which remain unclear to this day. What is clear is that the stone walls and the birds were left in immaculate shape, otherwise they could have been set on fire if they were abandoned due to war. Till this day, one of the most powerful ways of destroying a people is to annihilate their cultural sites and historical artefacts as has been happening in Syria and Iraq recently.

The Rhodesian government, not ZANU PF, was the first to adopt the Zimbabwe bird as a national emblem. The British, by whatever means, created the modern day Zimbabwe State when they colonized Zimbabwe in 1890. They tried to create a national identity and to them the soapstone-made Zimbabwe bird was the greatest piece of antiquity they could find between Limpopo and the Zambezi Rivers. From nothing the British created systems and institutions on which a great economy was built. When sanctions were imposed on Rhodesia by the UN in 1965, Rhodesia diversified and went into value addition and beneficiation. The economy grew in leaps and bounds during UDI (1965-1979) with the Zimbabwe bird emblazoned on the Rhodesia flag, bank notes and coins and the coat of arms.

At independence in 1980 the Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than the U.S. dollar, with ZWD 1 = USD 1.47 and 2 ZWD to 1 sterling pound.

Thus the Zimbabwe Bird inspired our nationhood and economic development for 90 years (1890 – 1980). How did it suddenly become the source of our problems once blacks, to whom it was bequeathed by their forefathers, took over power in 1980. If the Zimbabwe Bird changed its mind and started afflicting the economy the moment blacks took over then it must be charged for racism!

Its Economic Mismanagement – Stupid!

The economy of Zimbabwe started collapsing immediately after the attainment of independence in 1980 due to economic mismanagement. Because the British had built an incredibly strong and self-sustaining economy, it too more than 2 decades for the economy to start curving in under Mugabe’s ruinous policies. Part of the problem was inexperience. The country was handed over to people who had no experience in management. Their only experience was war, hence Mugabe ruled with an iron fist and a high degree of intolerance to dissent. Consequently people with brains had no place in his government and if he appointed them he did not create room for them to use their expertise.

The country was rocked by one corruption scandal after another and yet no one was arrested until corruption became the most thriving business in the country, particularly in government. First there was the 1982 Paweni grain scandal that involved several senior government officials who conspired to fraudulently award the drought relief tender to Paweni in exchange for bribes. More than $6 million was lost, which could amount to hundreds of millions in today’s terms. Paweni was arrested and jailed for 15 years that was later reduced to 10 but all the other government officials were protected by Mugabe.

Then came the Willowgate scandal which involved Mugabe’s wife Sally and several cabinet ministers followed by the 1994 war victims compensation fund looted by politicians with some claiming 100% disability whilst still serving as cabinet ministers, the 1997 un-budgeted for DRC War, the 1997 war veterans payouts, the 2000 attacks on white farmers and disruption of agriculture by ZANU PF characterised by multiple farm ownership whereby majority of the farms remain idle to this day, question of political legitimacy since 2000, authoritarianism by ZANU PF and militarization of the State and the economy.

I can tell you the magnificent Zimbabwe Bird has nothing to do with these man-made ills. Zimbabwe’s problems are entirely a product of wrong decisions made by self-serving politicians. Even if we remove the Zimbabwe Bird as a national emblem – if we don’t change how we govern, if we don’t create strong institutions and appoint capable leaders to the right positions, if we have army generals using their military might to grab political power, with no idea whatsoever about governance – we will remain in a poor state, the wretched of the earth. Economic development is a product of progressive decisions, fiscal discipline and hard work. It has nothing to do with antiquity. Please lets leave the Zimbabwe bird out of this political and economic higi-haga cum crinkum crankum that is purely of human making. It is NOT the Zimbabwe bird which instructed ZANU PF and military officials to plunder Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth, most notably Marange diamonds from 2009 to the present.What do we need

To get Zimbabwe out of this socio-economic bermuda triangle it needs leadership, which we don’t have currently. Under the current political harakiri by ZANU PF, forget about reviving the economy. We need a serious leader with a clear vision. That leader has to play ball and decisively deal with corruption which is by far hurting the economy more than the so called sanctions. But how do we get to that leadership. Its sad to say this but Zimbabweans must be prepared to die and loose much in order to liberate themselves. Without sacrificing their comfort, Zimbabweans shall remain slaves in their own country and wherever they go to seek refuge in the world. The solution is for Zimbabweans to unite and confront the situation head on. Once the political hurdle is cleared, the wheels of the economy will start turning.