EP 10 Mbuya Nehanda: The Spirit That Would Not Die I Women And Resistance 🌍

This week's conversation, featuring Aya Fubara Eneli Esq. and Adesoji Iginla,  delves into the life and legacy of Mbuya Nehanda, a significant figure in the history of Zimbabwe and the Shona people. 

The discussion explores her role as a revolutionary leader and medium, the impact of colonialism on her people, and the ongoing struggle for land and identity. 

Through a rich narrative, the speakers reflect on the historical context of the Shona resistance against colonial forces, the spiritual significance of Nehanda, and the lessons learned from her legacy.

Takeaways

*Mbuya Nehanda is a symbol of resistance for the Shona people.
*Colonialism disrupted the traditional ways of life for the Shona.
*The Ndebele and Shona had complex relationships during colonial times.
*Spirituality played a crucial role in the resistance against colonialism.
*The execution of Nehanda was a pivotal moment in the struggle for independence.
*The legacy of Nehanda continues to inspire current movements for land rights.
*Understanding history is essential for reclaiming identity and autonomy.
*The fight for land is ongoing and deeply rooted in historical injustices.
*The stories of resistance must be preserved and shared.
*The spirit of Nehanda lives on in the fight for justice and equality.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mbuya Nehanda
01:49 The Historical Context of the Shona People
03:46 Colonial Encounters and Resistance
05:30 The Role of Mbuya Nehanda as a Medium
06:23 The Spiritual Legacy of Mbuya Nehanda
07:34 The First Chimurenga War
09:26 The Impact of Colonialism on Shona Society
11:02 The Fight for Land and Autonomy
12:00 The Execution of Mbuya Nehanda
14:00 The Aftermath of the Rebellion
15:28 The Continuing Struggle for Identity
17:36 The Legacy of Mbuya Nehanda
19:32 Conclusion and Reflection

Welcome  to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

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Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:01.868)
Yes, greetings, greetings and welcome to another episode of Women and Resistance. And tonight, I am your host, Adesuji Ginla as we go on. But before we start, we're looking at the life and times of Umbuya Nehanda. And we would delve more into it as we go along. But before that, I would like to

Welcome my sister from another mother, Aya Fubara and Elie Esquire, before she goes into a medium. Sister, welcome.

Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (00:47.062)
Umbuya, a leader, a medium, a revolutionary. Her life continues to haunt the conscience of a nation or that of a people and continues to challenge our ideas of liberation. That is what we hope to delve into tonight. So without further ado, we have Umbuya Nehada.

being someone from the ancestral lands. And welcome.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:26.054)
Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (01:29.4)
So who is Umbuya?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:44.942)
I am the grandmother of-

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:51.11)
the nation of a people known as the Shona.

Aya Fubara Eneli (02:03.032)
A people who reside in a place now known as Zimbabwe. A people who understand their connection to the land, to the water.

to the animals, to the minerals, a people who understand their connection to one another, to their brothers and sisters, the African brothers and sisters all across the land, even the people of Ndebele, who at one point...

Aya Fubara Eneli (02:52.592)
Harassed us so much.

that we temporarily saw the white man who came calling themselves the South African, what did they call themselves?

Adesoji Iginla (03:12.514)
divorce.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:15.824)
the organization that Cecil John Rhodes created.

Adesoji Iginla (03:22.616)
So that's the British South African Company.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:38.032)
the Portuguese that we had been trading with for a very long time.

Adesoji Iginla (03:42.04)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (03:45.324)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:46.471)
They would come not to stay, but to trade and to leave. But we saw their presence as...

a form of protection from our brothers and sisters Dendebele. You know Dendebele. They migrated from the area now called South Africa. In fact, their leader was one of the leaders under Shakazulu. They came

Aya Fubara Eneli (04:34.352)
They came with a warring spirit. That is how they moved up from where they were in the southern part of the deep southern part of Africa and then moved and they moved into different countries before they now settled in the region that collectively now is known as Zimbabwe. And my people, we were.

Adesoji Iginla (05:08.174)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (05:16.26)
and we operated more with a long spare when it came to defending ourselves or fighting. So it's a long spare, we long stick with the spare tip. And so in battle, you throw it. But then even after it hits your opponent, you have to go and retrieve it so that you have it to throw again. But then debilly.

They had big shields and then they had smaller hand held swords much shorter and so they came in close and then they will hit but they still had their weapon but they're shielding themselves with their shield so was very effective and they were they very much had the upper hand

Adesoji Iginla (05:58.36)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (06:05.454)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (06:21.96)
And so when the white man, John Cecil Rhodes type of white man, the British, when they came.

Aya Fubara Eneli (07:04.282)
You might not understand how one hand is helping to meet your need, but the other hand is getting ready to kill you. That that thing that is given to meet your need might be the thing that is going to weaken you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (07:31.037)
And so when they came, we did not initially resist them because we saw them as somewhat of protection from the Ndebele because they had even more superior weapons. Weapons that we should have realized would one day be turned on us.

Aya Fubara Eneli (08:07.886)
you have one of our other brothers who like a son to me but from a different part of Africa he said quoting our people not necessarily that he came up with it but quoting our people he said when a handshake passes the elbow do you know that do you know that that proverb

Adesoji Iginla (08:31.117)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (08:35.234)
When the handshake passes the elbow, it becomes more of a threat to the extended hand.

Aya Fubara Eneli (08:44.604)
So we were shaking hands and at a point we realized the handshake had passed the elbow.

Adesoji Iginla (08:54.126)
available yet.

Aya Fubara Eneli (09:00.848)
these they call in their books they call themselves colonists no they don't even say colonists they just say the colonists right they just it's a very kind of

Adesoji Iginla (09:10.168)
colonizers.

Adesoji Iginla (09:20.512)
a more semantical way of saying it.

Aya Fubara Eneli (09:21.766)
Yes, just a, not a, some people will even just gloss over it. But what they were was a marauding, murderous, greedy, disrespectful.

Adesoji Iginla (09:39.468)
Hmm. Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:00.58)
We'll have to start the story at an earlier time.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:24.716)
I did marry and I had children.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:38.16)
but I was chosen.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:43.482)
and I became a medium for the spirit of Umbuya Med Mea.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:59.054)
Nbuyannehanda That spirit

Aya Fubara Eneli (11:17.466)
when I

Aya Fubara Eneli (11:46.428)
the spirit of Umbuya Nehanda for even 500 years before I was born.

Aya Fubara Eneli (11:56.753)
would choose who it will come through in each generation.

Aya Fubara Eneli (12:12.678)
when that spirit chooses you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (12:19.578)
You remain in your physical body, but you are able to see.

Adesoji Iginla (13:33.133)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (13:37.948)
So stories have been written. Oral tradition tells the stories of Mbuya Nehanda.

Aya Fubara Eneli (13:53.984)
One version.

that these more rodent rapist and murderers like to put forth and you you must notice how they narrate our stories versus theirs so when they write their bible

Adesoji Iginla (14:16.886)
Yeah, true.

Aya Fubara Eneli (14:26.426)
and they tell their story. And it's just brothers and sisters, but somehow brothers and sisters have more children that populate the world. They do not say anything about ritual of incest.

Adesoji Iginla (14:48.014)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (14:49.062)
But when it came to telling the story of Mbuya Nehanda, they now tell the story of how the original Mbuya Nehanda

Aya Fubara Eneli (15:10.278)
the daughter.

Aya Fubara Eneli (15:14.358)
of the son who found it.

a particular dynasty. And then he had a son who was now the half-brother to that daughter. And how the father wanted to make sure that the lineage was even stronger. And so he made his son.

commit a ritual of incest with his half-sister.

Adesoji Iginla (15:49.23)
This is just.

Aya Fubara Eneli (15:52.91)
And that's soon, eventually.

gave some of his kingdom to his sister Mbuyanehanda and because of her spiritual gifts she became so powerful.

Aya Fubara Eneli (16:15.58)
So this foundational story that they tell and they now put in Ritual of Incest that they never tell in their own stories, if we're not careful, we hear it a certain way and we have...

unpleasant feelings towards our own stories, our own spirituality.

Aya Fubara Eneli (16:51.952)
the original Nihanda through whom comes through me.

was described by many and in our folklore as like a semi-mythical kind of ancestor.

She was a sister of Zezuru, who was the founding ancestor, Channunuka. And as the daughter of Mutota, who was the historical founder of the 16th and 17th century trading empire, we had been trading. We had been conducting our affairs. We did not need the white man. We did not ask for the white man.

Adesoji Iginla (17:42.318)
All right.

Aya Fubara Eneli (17:47.92)
That empire was known as Monomuta'a.

Aya Fubara Eneli (17:57.455)
And so, if you read even a book like Terence Ranger's, well, it's not quite a book, but he wrote a monograph in the revolt in Southern Rhodesia. Imagine that we're calling our own land.

Adesoji Iginla (18:11.7)
Sure.

Aya Fubara Eneli (18:20.54)
You know where that name came from?

Adesoji Iginla (18:20.845)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (18:26.218)
after a settler named Sassoud Rhodes.

Aya Fubara Eneli (18:28.524)
No, it's not a settler. You cannot call him a settler. Ask my question again. You know where that name came from.

Adesoji Iginla (18:39.232)
Okay, it came from an imperialist named César Ous.

Aya Fubara Eneli (18:42.7)
No, imperialists do not answer the question. Do you know where that name came from? You have to call the thing what it is so that the future generations will know. What was that thing called a man whose name was Cecil John Rhodes? What was he?

Adesoji Iginla (19:07.596)
It was a killer, plunderer, rapist, and a speculator.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:16.368)
the evil that that man did on the face of the earth.

Adesoji Iginla (19:36.174)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:37.892)
These are murderers in a very unique category. We cannot just say imperialist.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:54.557)
In your culture, you people have something you call zombie. What is a zombie?

Adesoji Iginla (20:01.538)
zombies.

Adesoji Iginla (20:06.222)
There's an evil spirit which has been captured and goes around, marauding. Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (20:13.34)
and never stops. Justice is dead. No humanity, no heart.

Adesoji Iginla (20:17.486)
It's insatiable.

Aya Fubara Eneli (21:24.348)
to their Creator, anything that could allow them to feel and sense pain from other people.

because they could not stop killing, could not stop raping. The more pain they inflicted, the happier they got. But there was no end. We cannot just call them imperialists. One of my daughters from across the ocean, does she not research the concept of Yorugu?

Adesoji Iginla (22:09.186)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (22:14.766)
is shrunken kind of.

Aya Fubara Eneli (22:24.902)
But let me go back to the story.

Aya Fubara Eneli (22:49.596)
because the physical body comes and goes but her spirit continued and continues to live in the land.

Aya Fubara Eneli (23:10.52)
and so me born they say around 1840.

Aya Fubara Eneli (23:52.964)
You are first and foremost a...

manifestation of that spirit more than a wife, more than a mother, more than a daughter and people are called you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (24:41.244)
do you take the very livelihood of a people? Using their superior guns, they took a cattle. They gave each of themselves, counted one, not one, not two, but 3,000 acres of land each.

Did not human beings live on that land?

Aya Fubara Eneli (25:17.5)
and they are now using their weapons. They are very tools of the zombie.

forced people who owned their lands who were self-sufficient. cut off the trade with the Portuguese and with anybody else. And they forced those people, they take your land and force you to work the land for them for no compensation.

but at the same time they are taxing you.

one time they called it a hot tax and they will now ask you how many cows how many goats how many chicken everything that you had and based on that they will now levy a tax against you which since you had no money

Adesoji Iginla (26:07.401)
X, yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (26:32.688)
You can't trade. They're not paying you for your labor. You had to pay in your livestock. You had to pay with your free labor. And that is how. Do you know that just from the Ndebele people, they got three

120,000 cattle.

Aya Fubara Eneli (27:20.836)
and then from the Shona people.

They got three times that amount.

Aya Fubara Eneli (27:36.193)
but the story gets worse. Do you know that our creator, our ancestors made sure to provide for all of our needs? Our land had everything we needed. We were people who also operated an iron ore.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:04.602)
We knew how to extract the iron ore, make metal.

fashion, different items that we needed and some that we sold.

These zombies, these heartless spirits, these inhabiting human beings, these Yorugu.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:43.184)
They worked us as though we were less than beasts of burden.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:58.492)
How do you stay on your own land and sit quiet while your entire humanity is stripped from you?

Adesoji Iginla (29:14.776)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:19.246)
and so on.

in June 1896. The Ndebele people.

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:31.76)
had had enough.

and they initiate it.

Adesoji Iginla (29:42.998)
Ditchy Murenga.

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:46.886)
The first one.

Adesoji Iginla (29:49.474)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:51.997)
They began it around March of 1986 because it became crystal clear. 1896. It became crystal clear to us. There is no...

Adesoji Iginla (29:52.344)
the resistance.

Adesoji Iginla (30:01.358)
1896.

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:13.788)
In your movies that you watch, have you ever seen where the people were able to call a meeting with the zombies?

and explain to the zombies here is food you can eat with self we can eat we can coexist have you seen that

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:47.177)
Shebi is them that put the movie together. So they are telling you who they are.

Adesoji Iginla (30:55.416)
true.

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:56.806)
So all of you still trying to negotiate. If I show them love, if I talk to them, if I talk like them, if I wear my hair like them, if I sing like them, they will now say, all this time we didn't know. We have won. Let us work together.

Aya Fubara Eneli (31:27.981)
I believe.

Adesoji Iginla (31:29.965)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (31:32.282)
that just like the spirit of Umbuya Nehanda can choose and choose a medium.

Aya Fubara Eneli (31:47.451)
that even evil spirits can also overpower. Mbuyanehanda, she doesn't overpower. If she come, you don't want. She move on. But of course, she's very astute in who she chooses to be her media. But I believe that these evil spirits

Adesoji Iginla (32:06.594)
Yeah

Aya Fubara Eneli (32:11.782)
they just go from person to person and it is quite possible that they now infect even the people that look like you and me. Do you know that there is a man called Mashi?

Adesoji Iginla (32:25.569)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (32:33.166)
and he was a police officer working with the zombies. But he was one of us. And at a time when the rebellion, what they call rebellion, rebellion, you mean a people fighting for their own.

Adesoji Iginla (32:56.384)
existence.

Aya Fubara Eneli (32:58.46)
Please

Aya Fubara Eneli (33:05.596)
as though he had shifted allegiance and he came over to our side and said I can give you information and he said he was fighting with us but everything eventually comes to light ask me what happened to him later and so even though

Adesoji Iginla (33:18.67)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (33:33.678)
We had had issues with our brothers and sisters in Debeni. You know, both their women and their men fought.

Adesoji Iginla (33:43.022)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (33:46.747)
We understood that our enemy was one and the same. This was not the time to hold past grievances against them.

Adesoji Iginla (34:01.026)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (34:02.778)
So they started fighting back in March. By June.

Nbuyanehanda spoke to me and I gave the okay to my people. It is time to join this fight for our freedom, for our autonomy, for us to live on a land that is governed by our own spirituality.

Adesoji Iginla (34:11.05)
My shoulder.

Aya Fubara Eneli (34:39.26)
for us to live like human beings, not like mere dogs. For the zombies who at any rate will eat and kill us at any time.

Adesoji Iginla (34:45.358)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (34:59.076)
and the battle raged on.

But let me tell you about these zombies.

as crazy and disjointed as they look in your movies. Do you see how they work in tandem? They still have the mental capacity. this house. There are some people in it. Some will climb here, some will climb there, some will break the door, some will attack the window. Everywhere you're surrounded by this people.

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:45.06)
and we.

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:52.485)
It came to a point where with their superior weapons, they were able to now capture some of the people that they considered the head of.

Aya Fubara Eneli (36:16.528)
there what they called rebellion. Initially they were very surprised because they met us as a welcoming kind people and they misdemeaned for this is all they can be. So it was 14 June 1896 the first killing happened in Moshona land.

Adesoji Iginla (36:26.274)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (36:41.862)
The uprising began with the deaths of several Europeans. I don't call them Europeans. I call them Yorugu zombies, killers, murderers, rapists. They use our women as a thing of pleasure to be discarded at any point.

Aya Fubara Eneli (37:13.957)
and so

near the Ntuksho River the following day the native commissioner called David he was killed and what these zombies don't like is they don't like for any of them to be killed David Mooney was killed because their concern is if these people realize

that we are possessed but we are human. It will embolden them. They will no longer believe in what are all the things that they teach people? Manifest destiny. They were chosen by God and so on and so forth.

Adesoji Iginla (38:04.398)
It's in exceptionalism.

Aya Fubara Eneli (38:12.284)
So by June 17th, the Mazowave outbreak took place. The Alice Mine attack. The miners rose up in opposition.

Aya Fubara Eneli (38:29.166)
and they say that it is me.

Adesoji Iginla (38:37.812)
was the instigator.

Aya Fubara Eneli (38:40.59)
as the medium for Nbuyanehanda that inspired the fighters because see we have always been a spiritual people and our enemies have done well to observe us that is why they came with their religion they corrupted the original African Christianity switched it around came with their religion

They know that we believe that a human being cannot live in a spiritual vacuum. That will make you a zombie. And so they were able to turn our head, some of us, from the spirituality of our people to embrace their own. Now once you are possessed,

Adesoji Iginla (39:22.498)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (39:38.544)
by their own form of spirituality, you can see how you turn on your own.

So they said, these people are spiritual people. They will not go to war. They will not rise up against us unless they're spiritual leaders.

told them this would be a favorable outcome.

Adesoji Iginla (40:08.3)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (40:10.214)
So if you study how these zombies moved across the continent of Africa.

There's a playbook. That playbook includes identifying the spiritual leaders and not just killing them.

Adesoji Iginla (40:32.672)
decapitating them.

Aya Fubara Eneli (40:33.628)
killing them in a very undignified manner killing them in a way that their goal is to once and for all stop the power of the spirit

Aya Fubara Eneli (40:50.35)
and then they infuse their own spirit. So African people up and down, up and down, up and down, you go to their house. Do you know the picture of who you see?

Aya Fubara Eneli (41:08.46)
If it's the Jesus that does not look anything like them, they are talking Muhammad, they are talking Buddha, they are talking everything but their own. Possessed people.

Aya Fubara Eneli (41:31.164)
by late June 1896. A very

Aya Fubara Eneli (41:39.916)
wretched zombie even more wretched than the regular zombie called Henry Hawken Pollard who calling their child hawken

Adesoji Iginla (41:56.5)
Orchids.

Aya Fubara Eneli (41:59.931)
He was, they said, ambushed and killed near Manzowhe. We say he was killed in battle.

Aya Fubara Eneli (42:12.366)
The colonial zombies now said that it is me Mbuya Nehanda.

Aya Fubara Eneli (42:24.858)
that ordered his execution.

Aya Fubara Eneli (42:34.48)
One witness.

our own people now possessed by the zombie. You see how the zombies operate. If they bite you, you become like them.

Adesoji Iginla (42:49.762)
you become them.

Aya Fubara Eneli (42:54.254)
So one of the witnesses now said.

Listen carefully to these words. This is a thing that is still an issue across the continent of Africa and wherever Black people are around the world. You tell me whether you don't see this way you are. This

Adesoji Iginla (43:16.558)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:22.478)
African Zombie now said and I quote, was a native messenger. Have you no shame, my son? How do you as a grown man become a messenger for people who are here to kill your people? Are you well in the head? No, you're not well in the head. You have been bitten. You are a zombie.

He said, I went with Pollard. Pollard now being the one standing in for the white Jesus he has been told is his spirit guide.

He said, I went with Pollard. Guazi was told to catch hold of Pollard. So they took him to Nehanda.

heard Nahanda say to Watha, kill Pollard but take him some way off to the river or he will stink. Watha said, Nahanda sent me. Then he took his axe and chopped him behind the head. This is what a corrupted African said against me.

because his allegiance is now to the zombie spirit in him and no longer the spirit of his people that we used to respect and revere.

Adesoji Iginla (44:57.624)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:06.428)
From August to September 1896, we now have, the rapists, the murderers, the zombies, this Yorugu, their eyes shining red. We must not allow these people to defeat us because if the story gets out that these people defeated us,

The whole of Africa where they were injecting their spirit will wake up and rise up.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:52.669)
So these murderers now besieged, they ascended, they called in more troops. When these people say, we didn't resist.

Aya Fubara Eneli (46:10.596)
When you are a peaceful people just trying to live on your land and somebody comes already they have been planning for you.

and all their mind they use not to create good in the world but they use to create more and more instruments to carry out death and destruction. Does not that tell you that an evil spirit is a monk?

Adesoji Iginla (46:41.038)
destruction, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (46:48.174)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (46:49.73)
If you can take something, I believe the Chinese found gunpowder. What did they use it for?

Adesoji Iginla (46:55.734)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (46:59.8)
fireworks

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:00.518)
Celebration!

and then these people come and they look at it, this evil spirit.

Adesoji Iginla (47:08.529)
This is the worst.

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:17.956)
and their whole mind is let us use to destroy.

Adesoji Iginla (47:21.71)
Just destroy

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:26.556)
And no matter how much we destroy, it's not enough. must destroy more and more.

Adesoji Iginla (47:30.687)
Draw some more, yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:34.022)
So they now attacked Chief Makoni in his own area where he was strong. And by September 4th, they had captured him of 1896. Do you know what they did with the leader of his people?

Adesoji Iginla (47:47.566)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (47:54.83)
Just still.

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:57.499)
They executed him by firing squad.

You know why you don't just kill somebody quietly.

it does not put enough fear in people because people can still tell stories maybe something else happened maybe a snake bit him maybe something but when you use it

as what do you people call it today, entertainment. When you put it on public display, your goal is not just to kill the person, you could have killed them anytime. Your goal is to what?

Adesoji Iginla (48:28.684)
Yeah.

display.

Adesoji Iginla (48:40.439)
Send a message.

Aya Fubara Eneli (48:42.588)
And then when people see that what they think is superior power

our chief our chief we thought invincible look at him helpless tied killed like a ragdoll worse than you know we don't even kill animals like that

Adesoji Iginla (48:55.19)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (49:08.294)
Then that spirit.

fear like a virus

Adesoji Iginla (49:17.006)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (49:19.758)
It just spreads through the people. People be whispering, telling their children. Pregnant women feeling fear. The children have already come out afraid.

Adesoji Iginla (49:28.994)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (49:32.902)
So.

We continued with the resistance because what we're fighting for is the ability to live. How can you live as a human being?

And some other human being, some evil spirit will tell you where you can live, what you can eat. Now we don't even have our animals anymore. They keep finding a reason to take it. And the laws of our land mean nothing to them. Because our land belongs to the people and the future generations. You can't sell it.

Adesoji Iginla (49:56.728)
how you can eat.

Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (50:15.704)
in you people's culture today in your law class, in your court.

Before you can sell a land, have to show you own it. If you don't own it, you can't sell it. In our culture, you can't sell the land. It's not yours to sell. But these people disregard everything. 3,000 acres per white man. Can you imagine these very useless spirits who were eating themselves in their place?

Adesoji Iginla (50:36.195)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (50:52.95)
Now it's advertised. Come here.

You can attack any of the women anytime you like.

and you get 3,000 acres of land. And you don't have to work the land yourself because the people you have conquered will work it for you. Then you sell the goods and services and everything and you make your money and now you become a respected person in your land. Yorugu.

Adesoji Iginla (51:30.382)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (51:33.712)
So we fought. And my job as Mbuyanahanda's medium was to hear and to instruct. But I was also aware we were up against a virus, a spirit of fear. Some of us were fighting valiantly. Some of us...

Adesoji Iginla (51:51.726)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (51:59.719)
Some of us were infected.

Aya Fubara Eneli (52:07.844)
After more than a year of resistance, when these white people, these Yorugu, these zombies, these murderers, these rapists, these thieves, when they realized, just fighting the people is not working.

I believe one of us told them, you must cut off the head.

of the spiritual leaders because if they have no spiritual guidance they will scatter.

Aya Fubara Eneli (52:55.548)
I'm thinking maybe I'm right. Maybe I'm wrong. You tell me if you have a beehive

with the one Queen Mother be.

If you kill that queen mother bee, what happens to the beehive?

Adesoji Iginla (53:18.754)
you have days.

Aya Fubara Eneli (53:25.916)
Every answer we're looking for is in nature.

So these people set up that they must capture.

Me, Mbuya Nehanda, a woman, look at me. Do I have any weapon in my hand? Do I have any spare?

Adesoji Iginla (53:48.29)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (53:58.981)
They came after me and they came after Sekuru Kagubi because they said he too is a spiritual leader of his people.

Adesoji Iginla (54:09.016)
Boutique.

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:17.166)
and they captured us in an area that these people we have been living on the land we have names for our land

This is for Kim. it's in Rhodesia.

then the air place where they captured me they now called it Salisbury. These are names it's not even named that we can come off our tongue but this is how

Adesoji Iginla (54:41.271)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:51.63)
this zombie spirit must take over everything. erase everything. cut off the head of your spiritual guides. kill off your griots, your jallies. the people who are the keepers of your history and your culture, they kill them off immediately. now

Adesoji Iginla (55:12.557)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:16.846)
It's like if you say you are going to climb Mount Everest and you have a seasoned guide teaching you how to climb.

Adesoji Iginla (55:28.867)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:30.894)
all somebody has to do to ensure your death.

Adesoji Iginla (55:36.606)
Remove the guide.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:36.728)
is to eliminate your diet.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:44.39)
We are now in a state of confusion. My people are still in a state of confusion.

Adesoji Iginla (55:51.342)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:53.797)
And when I say, mafupa angu acha muka, my bones will rise again. My people are hitting that call. They hit that call when they started the second.

Adesoji Iginla (56:10.421)
Moringa.

Aya Fubara Eneli (56:12.794)
But that call continues. I will tell you why.

So these people, these zombies, they look like people. No spirit in them except evil. They now, because they still want...

the world to be fooled by their humanity to be fooled by they have the spirit of God yes you do the God of evil they now had what they called a trial do you know how many African leaders they did this now the people you are talking to

Adesoji Iginla (57:01.752)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (57:06.812)
Who are going to make the decision at this trial?

They don't speak your language. They don't know your culture. You don't speak their language. They are not using the laws of your land. They are bringing in their own laws that you don't know.

Adesoji Iginla (57:14.444)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (57:28.919)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (57:31.366)
Tell me, how is that going to work out?

Adesoji Iginla (57:37.934)
free determined of course.

Aya Fubara Eneli (57:41.446)
So they tried us under what they called martial law. When they are killing us. No law.

because it's their right as zombies to attack and eat and kill. So when they are killing us, no,

No... No, no.

But then they now convicted me and my brother.

They convicted us and sentenced us to death for our supposed roles in the killing of one man.

Aya Fubara Eneli (58:38.024)
H.H. Pollard. Probably a human being that would have amounted to nothing in his own country. But can now come to our land and eat to his heart content as a zombie.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:05.752)
They claim that my brother Kagubi, to save himself, had said that they should blame Mbuya Nehanda, Goronga, and Waponga. There was another one person who was also captured with us. That's a Mashee person, I'm telling you. But he was not convicted. Ha!

lessons to be learned. When someone looks like they are in it with you but when the punishment comes somehow their name is not there you must ask yourself and you must learn for the future.

Adesoji Iginla (59:42.158)
you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:56.558)
on April 28th.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:00:02.492)
Some of their books say they hung us. Some of their books say they were so concerned about my spirit. At first they shot me.

before they put me on public display in front of the people to kill me because I think they were concerned if they tried to put me on public display and the spirit rose up and did something else how that would embolden the people so according to some of them they shot me first then put me up there for display so and then hung me

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:42.702)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:00:47.814)
but they were not done.

Their district surgeon had to now write a report and he said, I certify that I have examined the body of Nehanda. See, when they talk, no spirit in their talk.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:07.266)
Bye.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:01:10.166)
exam okay upon whom sentence of death had been executed and that life is extinct look at all the big language to say we have killed her we have murdered her we did if you don't know their language you are reading the thing is even after you have studied their language and life is extinct

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:23.96)
Good.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:37.902)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:01:40.633)
but the one thing they did report is that when they convicted me and they were trying to get me to convert even then even after their zombie self decided they're going to kill me they still had one more act because they needed to for their spirit to infect even more of our people and the way to do it

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:51.63)
to Christianity.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:09.752)
Is who say, hey!

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:12.16)
even your medium.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:14.402)
Even Nimbuya Nehanda has bowed down.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:24.028)
And I said, do you know what these people did?

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:33.518)
I

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:37.788)
Can you imagine a people who have attempted at great cost to convince the world and the people that they have killed and murdered and raped and stolen their land and stolen their resources and impoverished all over Africa today, poverty. You think that just happened?

Can you imagine that these people who say that they are civilizers, these people who say they are like God, that they...

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:03:22.17)
that my remains till today are not on my land. A people are nothing without their land. have taken... Can you imagine that when my children rose up after the second Jamaranga war that led to our quote unquote independent... Do you know what year that was? This independence we're talking about.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:49.39)
1980.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:03:51.654)
Think about it.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:03:57.437)
from 1898 when they executed me.

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:00.334)
See you next time.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:04:05.402)
We are agitating, agitating and do not.

even in name get back out land

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:04:20.036)
Let me rephrase. No, we didn't get back our land. Position ourselves to be able to get back our land until 1980. What is that? How many years is that? Is that not 88 something years?

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:32.077)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:04:34.84)
And then even when they signed the paper and said okay this is now your land. How is it that

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:04:51.852)
All of these Yorugu have paper still keeping the 3000 plus acres and all the other acres that they now acquired generation after generation. So we are independent but no land. How do you live?

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:09.335)
Mmm.

Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:05:14.181)
And then...

they find people who look like us who have been infected by the virus who have been bitten by the zombie because they took some of us they took us to their zombie land and made sure

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:05:35.78)
that that evil spirit against ourselves was now in them, then those people return to lead us.

And that spirit, that evil spirit is still roaming. But I rise. So by 2020, my people said, you must return.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:58.168)
learned.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:06:00.017)
Well, we fought for the land. We're still fighting for the land, but we now fought for the bones.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:06:09.496)
of our heroes that these people, these so civilized people took our bones. They took a bag and put all of my spiritual items. They could not leave it in the land. They were concerned that the spirit of Mbuya, Nehanda will now choose someone else. They took even all my spiritual tools.

with my remains and took it to their place. Can you imagine talking to some people and they admit to you that they have over 20,000 human remains? They call it remains. Are you going to call your ancestors remains? You see how they use language?

We believe you came from the earth, you returned to the earth and when you take that and you put us in a cardboard box, you put us in a drawer, you say, we don't even know, we have like 20,000, we don't know where it came from. Which type of people?

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:11.82)
unto the after.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:27.022)
collect bones.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:07:34.407)
They want to capture our spirit. It's the same reason they wanted that Ashanti tool, no matter what they wanted that Ashanti tool. Can you imagine that they returned some of the artifacts that they stole from Ashanti people? And they now told the Ghanaian government that they are giving it to them on loan for six years.

Hey!

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:10.306)
You come to my house with your evil spirits. You break into my house. You take my things. You agree it is my thing. I tell you it is my thing. There's no argument that it is mine because what you took you can never show that you made yourself. So you had to admit that you stole it and then you now say, I will charge you money to see the thing. And after I've made all this money, okay.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:28.11)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:40.046)
I will let you borrow it.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:42.936)
You

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:46.844)
Tell me that is not an evil spirit. No, tell me. Tell me it's not an evil spirit. Tell me that a person with a heart, a human being connected to the true God, tell me that they can even conceive of such a thing. And have no shame.

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:06.808)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:12.046)
Sure.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:09:12.216)
very proud about it.

And so as of this year,

they are in the process of returning.

In their words, they remain.

In our words, we are returning our people to our land. That disconnection is not a good thing for us. We need to continue the cycle unbroken. And they know this because they study us. But they are set to return 13.

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:43.95)
you

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:09:58.109)
quote unquote remains. Although they now say they're not absolutely certain whether they can identify any of them as my bones. But I tell you.

just like we rose up in the first Chimuranga war, we rose up in the second Chimuranga war, we got at least on paper independence. I am still, my bones are still rising. My spirit is still moving and we're going to eradicate the zombies amongst us. We are going to reclaim our land for ourselves and for our future.

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:21.048)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:37.933)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:45.326)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:10:49.636)
There are so many people now who are rediscovering me.

rediscovering the power of being in medium. Even that word is their own word. The Spirit come upon you and you work for the Spirit.

Adesoji Iginla (01:11:07.074)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:11:12.806)
So now, there are songs, they're singing about me, but the thing that almost made me, even in my spiritual state.

Not almost, it made me sit down and...

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:11:32.504)
as to be funny, rattle my bones.

is I saw a group of the offspring of the Yorugu, therefore Yorugu themselves, now putting on a very elaborate performance with music, with my name. And then I now saw my children, the ones infected by the zombies.

Adesoji Iginla (01:11:48.782)
See you.

Adesoji Iginla (01:11:52.398)
play.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:12:06.156)
in the thing you people call the chat and in it this is the zimbabwe i want to see look at because white people are calling my name do you think they are calling my name for good

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:12:23.696)
So some things for those of you who want to look at, can go to the UNESCO Memory of the World program. You will see the judgment dockets of Nehanda and Kagubi. This is not a made up story. I lived. My spirit still lives.

You can go to the Zimbabwe Field Guide. You'll see the Nehanda and Kagubi trials. They are cowbell summaries and testimonies. I already told you about the revolt in southern Rhodesia from 1896 to 97, a study in African resistance written by Ranger Terence, published by Heinemann.

Adesoji Iginla (01:12:55.319)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:13:04.098)
Mm-hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:13:09.538)
evil spirits, zombies, yurugus all around kill me and then benefit from telling stories about me. You will see it in a book written by Stan Lake Samkange, The Story of Nehanda and there are many more many more that you can find information about me.

Adesoji Iginla (01:13:18.318)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:13:29.442)
Yeah.

You can even get the general history of Africa, Africa under colonial domination. It's the Chimurenga is there, the first and second Chimurenga.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:13:44.72)
But I want to ask you people.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:13:50.62)
How do you know what type of tree you're looking at? Is it not by its fruit?

Adesoji Iginla (01:13:56.878)
Hmm. Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:14:01.785)
Will you see orange tree and call it mango? Is that helpful for you?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:14:13.304)
You must look at the fruit of these people.

I call them people because I have a generosity of spirit. And at one time, maybe a long time ago, when they were first Africans who migrated, I think, yes, they were human, but from their fruit right now, not me saying it, you are asking you from their fruit right now. If you look at the tree, all the fruit under the tree is labeled death.

pollution, destruction, ego, rape.

Stealing. Genocide.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:06.458)
disease. If the tree you see all the fruit, will you not, do you have to bite into it to confirm his death?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:19.45)
My people, my spirit still lives.

But the spirit can only work through those who will allow the spirit to work through them. And you must open your eyes to see what is being revealed to you.

Adesoji Iginla (01:15:34.723)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:47.335)
Conduct yourself differently. But whether you choose to or not, this I guarantee you. My bones will rise again. And not just my bones, the bones of all of our ancestors.

Adesoji Iginla (01:16:02.445)
again.

Adesoji Iginla (01:16:19.874)
No, thank you, thank you. Thank you in underscoring the point that women have always been at the forefront of resistance when it come to imperialism, colonial domination and what have you. And the fact that this Cecil John Rhodes was the head of a charter company that was sent into

South Africa, Southern Africa to grab land, grab resources on behalf of the crown. Even though people would put the story down to him, but he still did it on behalf of the crown. Because when he went into Mashona land and in the Matambele land, he didn't do it on the back of himself. He did it in the name of the crown. So.

It's like you said, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. It is what it is. The faster we confront what we are looking at and call it what it is, the better the world, you know, survives. And yes, thank you for coming through. Yes, with that, we've come to the end of another episode of Women and Resistance. Next week, we'll be looking at

The Life and Times of Shirley Chisholm. I'm sure people will be familiar with that name, but then there might be some other thing that you don't quite know about Shirley Chisholm. So you could join us next week as we sit and listen to her tell her story. And of course, I must thank you all for coming through as usual.

and do like share subscribe do all the good stuff and also to inform you that the audio version of this will be available tomorrow that you can download and listen and share whenever you can if you've missed anything but it is again it's been a a label of love

Adesoji Iginla (01:18:47.754)
because we're talking about our stories. When you started earlier, you said it is important that we tell our stories and we cannot underscore that more as it is even more pertinent now in the times we live in. Artificial intelligence has watered down everything that the real stories have to find a way of germinating.

in the ears and the hearts of our people. So thank you very much for coming through.

And from me, it's our honor. It's our pleasure, our honor. And from me, it is good night and God bless. until next week, like I said, it will be the turn of chaliceism. And speak and good night.