the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Mutapa, or Mwane Mutapa Empire was founded in the early 15th century and centred largely around the Karanga division of the Mashona language group (modern Mashona historian reject the use of the term ‘tribe’ or ‘clan’ leaving little scope to describe the sub-divisions other than as sub-divisions). The Empire of the Mutapa at its pinnacle controlled territory covering most of modern day Zimbabwe and Mozambique more or less between the Zambezi and Sabi (Save) Rivers. It was the first major civilisation to become established in the territory, and the great wealth and sophistication achieved by its leaders and aristocrats came as a consequence of trade in gold, ivory and other primary materials with Arab/Swahili traders at the coast, and later the Portuguese.
In about 1490 the empire split into two parts with the Changamire dynasty ruling in the south and the Mwane Mutapa holding sway in the north. Great wealth from trade with the coast was circulating within both economies, centred in the south on the city of Great Zimbabwe. However after 1500 the power of these entities peaked and began to decline until by the mid 18th century the ‘empire’ was largely controlled by the Portuguese. The movement north of the Nguni armies of the Shangaan and the Ngoni that had sheared off their parents groups as a consequence of the rise of Zulu, introduced a level of violence onto the central plateau that had hitherto never been seen. First came the Ngoni on their turbulent march north, followed later by the Shangaan who settled on east side of the highland escarpment, occupying territory from eastern Zimbabwe almost to the outskirts of present day Maputo. By the time the amaNdebele made their claim to the territory there was little apparent glory left among the Mashona, and certainly there seemed no reason to expect any resistance as the amaNdebele began to organise their new home. The initial attacks mounted against the Mashona villages and settles took on the by now familiar pattern.
As might be expected the Ndebele found little in Mashona life and culture that was worth preserving, and they heaped the usual derision on those they intended to use as severely as was their custom. An exception to this was in the matter of spirituality, which is an area in which the Mashona had always been extremely strong, and which even today embellishes and clouds their contemporary responses and their interpretations of any event. It was perhaps simply pragmatic that Mzilikazi, a superstitious man himself, should treat with caution anything verging on the supernatural, and at the same time see merit in seconding the powerful Mwari theocracy to himself as an additional weapon in his arsenal of government.
Mashona traditional spiritual custom is in essence a kind of agnosticism, with a general adherence to the principal of a supreme being, but with a sense also that God, or Mwari, lives in such a state of removal from the day-to-day affairs of men, and so far beyond common understanding, that routine observance is applied to spiritual entities much closer to home. These are usually tribal progenitors who are revealed to the living through oracles and mediums.
In common with cults and religions the world over certain geographic locations possess special spiritual significance. In the case of what has come to be known as the Cult of Mwari such a place is the Matopo hills situated some 20 miles south of Bulawayo. The region is an area of broken granitite kopjes and interlocking valleys of extraordinary complexity and beauty, covering some 1800 square miles, and a landscape that has held special significance to human populations far predating the relatively recent arrival of the Bantu. The vitality of an esoteric form of this cult survives to this day, in particular with regards to the Njelele Cave, which was one of several oracular caves from which the voice of ‘God’ was reputed to emanate. The word of Mwari was and is spoken through either disembodied communication or via an adept or priest going by the name of a M