HERITAGE

NDEBELE

The Ndebele are a group of Southern African Bantu people who are divided into two groups. Northern Ndebele’s are from Zimbabwe, and Southern Ndebele’s make up about 2/3 of South Africa’s population. Though their languages are easily understood by each other, there are clear distinctions such as the Zulu influence on Northern Ndebele. Southern Ndebele people traditionally adorn themselves with a variety of ornaments, each symbolising his or her status in society. After marriage, dresses became increasingly elaborate and spectacular. Ndebele wives wear copper and brass rings around their arms, legs and neck, symbolising their bond and faithfulness to their husbands, but only once he has built them a home. The rings worn are believed to have strong ritual powers. The richer the husband, the more rings the wife would wear. Although the the Ndebele people are associated with the beautiful artwork on their homes, traditionally only the women decorate the houses. The more intricate and colourful the art is, the higher status and admiration you’re given. As a result, Ndebele women take great pride in their artwork.

I wanted the spirit, Dauria, to look regal or rather like a wealthy Ndebele woman. I loved the fact that the more decorated their clothes and body are, the more wealthy and higher status it means they have. Dauria acts as my alter ego so it is fitting that she be the more opulently regal of the three. Its all about her outside appearance and status. We considered the geometric designs on the houses, when deciding the colours displayed on her face painting and dress. We gave her robes rather than blankets. She is meant to be the spirit that is ready to meet her audience. Always.

BASOTHO

The Sotho people, or Basotho, are a Bantu ethnic group of Southern Africa, native to modern Lesotho and South Africa. Lesotho is a sovereign state that is a member of the United Nations, and the Common Wealth. The name Lesotho roughly translates to "the land of the people who speak Sesotho. The Basotho have inhabited that region since around the fifth century and so are closely related to other Bantu peoples of the region. There are two major branches, the southern Sotho and the northern Sotho (also called the Pedi). Southern Sotho people make up about 99 percent of the population of Lesotho. The southern Sotho and the northern Sotho taken together are the second largest ethnic group in South Africa. Sotho society was traditionally organised in villages ruled by chiefs. The economy was based on the rearing of cattle and the cultivation of grains such as sorghum. In the early nineteenth century, several kingdoms developed as a result of a series of wars that engulfed much of Southern Africa. During this period, southern Sotho people as well as other ethnic groups, sought refuge in the mountainous terrain of what is now Lesotho. In 1884, Lesotho became a British protectorate. Lesotho was not incorporated into South Africa and became an independent country in 1966, though it is completely surrounded by South Africa whose former system of apartheid, racial segregation and discrimination, hindered Lesotho's development as a nation. My Mother and her siblings had distinctly light complexions and non Bantu features that are the results of intermarriage of the San people with the Sotho and other Bantu speaking people.

SHONA

The Shona are a group of Bantu people native to Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries. The main part of them is divided into five major clans and adjacent to some people of very similar culture and languages. As there is no word called "Shona" in the Shona language vocabulary, it is believed that this name came into effect in the 19th century due to their skill of disappearing and hiding in caves when attacked. King Mzilikazi, the great Ndebele king, called them AmaShona meaning "those who just disappear". The Shona unlike their country folk the Ndebele, are not a warring nation. When the white settlers came to Mashonaland, they banned the Shona people from staying near caves because of their hiding habits. Shona people have a strong belief in Traditional medicines. It is the source of primary care for Shona people. N'angas (traditional healers), are consulted for their political, religious, and healing powers. The role of the N'angas is so important, that The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association is officially recognised by the government and has a constitution along with departments of education and research. Most N'angas say they are possessed by a healing spirit which they invoke while treating the patient.

I was told that it was a N'anga that gave me my facial scarification (nyora). 

khoiSAN

The Khoisan, or San People,  also known as the Bushmen, are members of various Khoisan indigenous hunter-gatherer groups. Their territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa. The San are the earliest known original inhabitants of Southern Africa, followed later by the pastoral Khoi (Hottentot) people, thousands of years ago. They are the oldest known ancestral tribes from which all modern humans are meant to descend from. Though the Khoi and San shared physical characteristics not commonly considered African, such as their yellow complexion and East Asian facial traits, the San are distinctly smaller in stature growing no taller than about four foot nine. In modern times, the Khoikhoi people have become extinct as an identifiable nation, assimilating into other tribes primarily with the San. This resulted in the words "Khoi" and "San" combining into "Khoisan". The Khoisan remain under constant threats from social prejudice, poverty, dispersal and further assimilation into other cultures.  

Many historians, explorers and writers have speculated after discovering these tribes in Africa, whether they were related to the Chinese. Though there are many cultural similarities with the Asian nation, and it is true that the Chinese had a long maritime history going as far back as 2nd Century BC, this popular theory has been disproven.

Giva's face was brought to life by the amazing face painting artistic work of my friend, Snezana, and was influenced by my research into San face characteristics. As well as this, Chinese Opera, Japanese Kabuki Theatre, and The Japanese Dance of Darkness, Butoh were also key influences. There is a certain youthfulness to her look which was inspired also by Bjork, whose voice I have always loved and imagined Giva having. We explored many different faces for her but decided that the one we loved the most was the one that was a combination of Japanese and African Masks.

European: DUTCH / British/Portuguese/greek

The first Europeans in Southern Africa were the Portuguese in 1487. Over the next 200 years, increasing numbers of Portuguese traders and their Dutch and British competitors, began to make the journey to the region. In Zimbabwe, the European descendants are said to consist of British, Irish, Greek, Portuguese and the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Afrikaners from South Africa. Afrikaans is a Germanic/Dutch language spoken in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe by Dutch descendants and Mixed (Coloured) people of Southern Africa. It includes German and Khoisan Language words.

I am told that we have European heritage on both sides of my family but from where exactly, is yet to be clear. My Paternal Grandmother and I share a German name, and she and her brothers had green eyes, as well as physically resembling the biracial Khoisan “Coloured” Population of South Africa. My Mother and her siblings also had similar physical attributes which I am told come from her own Sotho and San heritage.

MOTHER AND FATHER

MARTHA

My Mother Martha, was part of a group of Black and Coloured South Africans who made the exodus to neighbouring countries, trying to escape the realities of apartheid. Martha’s Mother was from Lesotho but lived in South Africa’s Limpopo region and her Father was Zambian man from the Chewa region. After her Fathers death, her Mother married a Rhodesian man, who helped her move her three young children to Southern Rhodesia in hopes of a better life.  Unfortunately the unilateral take over by White Rhodesians, meant that they were welcomed instead into a country which itself was falling apart. 

My Grandmother found a room in the oldest African township in the country known today as Mbare. Originally, the area was named Harare, like the present day Capital city of Zimbabwe. Mbare, largely viewed as a haven for criminals, was located near the city cemetery and sewage works. It was populated by migrant workers who would travel from their villages and come to the city seasonally. In the 1940s, the council built Matapi flats and hostels to accommodate local male workers, but over time many families came to live there. Soon Mbare became a mass squatter camp where at times there would be up to 15 people per hostel room. Surrounding the hostels were makeshift tents and other dilapidated properties painting a grim picture of life. 

Growing up in the slums of Mbare, Martha’s family were natural supporters of the Black Nationalists guerrilla fighters, so falling in love with a Black Troups (BTS) soldier, was not the wisest.  After my Father was killed, my maternal Grandmother saw a financial opportunity. Knowing that my Fathers Family were wealthy, she used me to as a bartering tool and asked for the traditional dowry to be paid for my Mothers hand in marriage. Unfortunately, her actions resulted in my Mother losing custody of me simply by the fact that my relatives could afford to pay authorities to keep me. Martha eventually died of AIDS complications in 2001 having only seen me twice before the age of ten. 

KENNETH VEREMU

My Father, Kenneth Veremu, was born like myself in Salisbury, South Rhodesia. He was the third youngest of 11 children until my Grandparents split up and my Grandfather had several other children with someone else. He was born while Rhodesia was still under British rule, but he would have most likely remembered the grown-ups discussing the changes that occurred in 1965 after the Rhodesian Front (RF) claimed unilateral Declaration of independence from the British Empire. The RF government, which mostly comprised members of the country’s white minority of about 5% disagreed with the current international climate for decolonisation of Africa. Refusing to hand over power to the black nationalists, their actions manifesting in a trade embargo imposed by the UK and massive racial tension.

My Grandfather, being a decorated soldier in the British Kings 1st African Rifles Battalion in WW1, felt that it would be in our family's best interest for his sons to enlist in the Rhodesia Governments “Black Troops”. The Black Troops were comprised of a small minority of Black Men who joined for revenge for family members killed by the Black Nationalists forces, or they were forced to join to avoid incarceration for crimes like theft. There were however a minorty of Black people, like my family, fighting against their own purely for money and securing their future. Brothers against brothers, sisters against sisters and in the middle, were the innocent people who just wanted to go back to their lands, brutally ripped from them by British Colonialism and turned into battle fodder by both the RF government and Black nationalists. Though respectful and loyal to my grandfather, my Father felt the weight of being a Black Man fighting for the Whites, and the danger it posed to his family as they would be considered traitors to their own people.

Unfortunately, the danger came from those he had chosen to align himself with. Misinformation within his ranks led to a massacre by the Rhodesian Army at my Grandparents home. My Father and his brothers who had been out on patrol, returned home immediately on hearing the tragic news. Devastated and angry, they snuck away in the dead of the night to join the Guerrilla fighters. My Father made several trips home under cloak and dagger, but there are varying stories depending who tells it as to how he was captured and allegedly killed. The most repeated one is that he was killed as he made his way home to visit us one night. A fact that had his family believing that someone within his trusted circle sold him out. My Mother, unfortunately, was their biggest suspect and they never managed to resolve this issue. This belief was one of the catalysts to my being kept away from my Mother for most of my life.