CHIEFS are set to abandon their colonial regalia as it does not reflect Zimbabwe’s traditional heritage and cultural values but cements colonial dominancy.
The red and purple gown and round shaped hat has been part
of the chiefs’ identity pre and post independence, but the traditional leaders
no longer want to have anything to do with it.
They said the regalia reflects a ‘bastardised’ traditional
leaders’ identity which in essence is a symbol of dominance by colonialists.
They said after 40 years of independence, they can no
longer be portrayed in the way the settler government wanted them to be seen.
Some of the institutions that remain stuck with colonial
regalia include the judiciary as judges are expected to wear wigs before
presiding over court cases.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has previously been
criticised for spending limited foreign currency importing wigs for judges.
For instance in 2019, it is said more than US$170 000 was
spent importing wigs for 64 local judges from the United Kingdom.
In local authorities, town clerks also wear wigs in some of
the council official business while mayors also wear robes which reflect
coloniality.
Before the country was colonised, chiefs used to put on
animal skin regalia associated with royalty which colonialists changed when
they enforced their dominance on Africans.
The chiefs said a new traditional leaders’ dress should not
take them to the Stone Age but reflect Zimbabwe’s diverse cultures.
National Council of Chiefs president Chief Fortune
Charumbira said funds permitting they will be inviting a national competition
for designers to come up with chiefs’ regalia which reflects Zimbabwean
culture.
He said chiefs were slowly abandoning the regalia as they
no longer wear it at most official gatherings.
Some of the traditional leaders opt only to pin shields
onto their shirts that identify them as chiefs as opposed to wearing the whole
regalia. “The whole chiefs’ regalia from the head and all the other pins that
we put on as chiefs were designed during colonial times for a purpose. The
messages in that regalia can never be the same messages of an independent
Zimbabwe.
They do not reflect in any way our core values and
cultures. For example we want to celebrate as a people where we come from. We
want to celebrate that we have artifacts like Great Zimbabwe,” said Chief
Charumbira.
“We want to celebrate that we are people that have
liberated ourselves, that we’re agricultural people, that we are hardworking
people, that we have ubuntu and other values. All these are not reflected in
the regalia. It has all to do with what whites thought of us, it was meant to
please whites.”
He said for instance the round shaped hat is the core of
colonial supremacy as it is a product of the British South Africa Company and
its officials gave it to those who directly reported to it like messengers and
police who would spy on Africans.
Chief Charumbira said they want a chiefs’ regalia they can
relate to and be proud of.
“So we are in the process of inviting competition to design
the regalia for chiefs. This will reflect our own values, histories, symbols,
artifacts as Africans, not regalia which depicts the ethos and the philosophies
of the past colonial government,” said Chief Charumbira.
“There is a budgetary issue, we will see what we are given
this time around by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in the
2021 budget. We will see if we have enough resources to do that (set up the
competition). The themes in that national regalia should project the diversity
of our people. A good designer should ensure all these key elements come out
and should tell a story of who we are.”
He said other institutions that are stuck with colonial
regalia should also be moving towards changing them.
Chief Charumbira said mental enslavement remains an issue
even in independent Zimbabwe, something that should change.
“Go to the Judiciary, Parliament, the dressing is still
much of the colonial past. The restraining factor in behaviour has also to do
with the culture and values. Culture and values is in symbols, is in what we
eat what we wear. How we appear is still more British than African and that’s
why we are talking about a disintegrating social fabric, because we don’t have
our own fabric. Ours is still very much weakened, diluted, bastardised by the
colonial past. We don’t have a standard to follow or a compass because those
symbols at the end of the day are the compass that should guide us to the true
north,” said Chief Charumbira.
He said it was important for chiefs to be deliberating on
their new regalia at a time when a national dress is in the national discourse
as well.
“You want to do these things simultaneously. They cannot be
separate from each other. They both are carrying the message of national
appearance, national posture and national projection.
“You would want to do them concurrently and you would want
to say which one should be for Parliament, Judiciary or Chiefs. You want them
in some areas to look distinct for example the one for chiefs we want it to be
distinct from others,” said Chief Charumbira.
Tsholotsho traditional leader and Senator Chief Mathuphula
said traditional leaders have reached a consensus that the chiefs’ regalia
should be changed.
“On the issue of the traditional dress, chiefs regalia to
be precise, I feel and we feel that the current regalia does not really reflect
our traditions and heritage. Our culture or the cultures that we have in our
areas and I think there is a need for the people to look at it from the village
perspective to ask the local leadership on the ground to come up with a dress
that reflects our cultures.
“We need to revisit what we used to put on and design
something that we can be proud of and children be proud of. So that we start to
have a national consciousness with regards to tradition and culture,” said
Chief Mathuphula. Chronicle
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