[Civsoc-mw] ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE

[cuthbertkachale]

Continued 2

-------- Original message --------
From: Paliani <palianic2011 at gmail.com> 
Date: 05/12/2017  12:20  (GMT+02:00) 
To: Cuthbert Kachale <cuthbertkachale at gmail.com> 
Subject: Your texts 5 Dec 2017 
 
Cuthbert Kachale wrote: 

I hope you have all by now read the article before this one in which  Zimdaily interviewed a Mugabe uncle. 

I have made a few observations which I need to share, though. 

To me that interview pauses more questions than answers.

Some issues require a broader perspective than narrowed down here.

1. The matter of surnames. For example the Mugabe surname is NOT unique to Zimbabwe. It stretches from Zimbabwe right all the way to Uganda. In Uganda they are called Mugabis. Some journalist told me that there is a trace of Mugabes among the people of Mzimba. He cited the Mlothas or Mlotchwas as among them. In the African culture there are surnames (Chiwongo) and totems (mfunda) and those who are chiefs have their chieftain names as well. However,  totems and surnames can be used interchangeably. 

For example l can call my Mlamu Marion Chibambo Hweaa or Dlamini.

So the name Mugabe or Mugabi has some trace elements. There was Banthu migration every which way. We Tumbuka people came from the Congo Basin. The Ngondes and Nyakyusas came from Mali. Some of the chieftain prefixes are,  "Mwene" as in Zimbabwe's Mwenemutapa,   Or Malawi's Mwenelupembe,  Mwene Mkhumba. 

In Burundi they are "Mwemi".

By practice some people use, or adopt names and surnames or totems appropriate to the society in which they live. The Russian based Jews adopted Russian names. Those in Germany,  France or Britain did the same to suit their new homes after dispersal into the diaspora. 

In Zimbabwe there are Bandas who go with the surnames of Sibanda,  Chibanda  or Shumba. They are the same people whose surnames all mean Lion.

Robert,  just like Kamuzu,  rarely talked about his father. However Bridget used to brag that their father came from Malawi. 

The story about a Mr Mugabe looking after Bona and her children presupposes that Bona had a long and adulterous relationship with that other Mugabe when Suzgo or Masuzgo was in Bulawayo. This claim is unlikely to be true for a number of reasons.

a) the portion of land that the missionaries gave to Suzgo could not have belonged to two different men,  both linked to Bona and the children as their own home. 

b) when Robert brought back his father to Kutama, together with the other family,  where was this other man. 

c) Did this other man give up his land to Bona and children and the wider family. 

d) all the children from Bulawayo,  the children of Suzgo and MaTchuma, all bore the surname,  Mugabe.  Were these adopted by the other man.  

2. According to the Sunday Mail interview quoted above,  Mugabe had no elder brother who was alive. Raphael  born in 1919 only lived for 6 months. Michael who was born in 1922  was poisoned and killed in 1934  when Robert was only 10.

3) MaTchuma never had a son called Stanley. Bona never had a son called Amon whom the author says was elder brother to Robert. 

What is interesting is that Suzgo tried to somehow 'balance' the names of his children with the two wives. Here we go:

a) with Bona: Robert,  Donato, Sabeena and Bridget 

b) wth MaTchuma: Albert,  Donald and Regina. 

I will make further comments as and when it becomes necessary.

Mzee. 
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