Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana also known as Mbuya Nehanda (c. 1840–1898) was a svikiro, or spirit medium of the Zezuru Shona people. She was a medium of Nehanda, a female Shona mhondoro.(powerful and respected ancestral spirit) As one of the spiritual leaders of the Shona, she was one of the leaders of a revolt, the Chimurenga, against the British South Africa Company's colonisation of Zimbabwe led by Cecil John Rhodes in 1889. She was a Hera of the Hwata Mufakose Dynasty. She and her ally who some historians claim was her husband, Sekuru Kaguvi were eventually captured and executed by the British. She has been commemorated by Zimbabweans through the building of statues in her name, street names, hospitals, songs, novels, and poems. The legacy of the medium continued to be linked to the theme of resistance, particularly the guerrilla war that began in 1972. Her name became of increasing importance to the nationalist movements in Zimbabwe.
Born |
1840
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Died |
1898 (aged 57)
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