Hwata

The Hwata dynasty ruled over part of present-day Zimbabwe from about 1760 until British colonisation in the late 19th century, and played a prominent part in the First Chimurenga war of 1896-7.

Three brothers, Shayachimwe, Nyakudya and Gutsa who were of the Shava Dynasty and Museyamwa totem, migrated northwards from Buhera (Va Hera) in the south of Zimbabwe in the late eighteenth century. Legend has it that Gutsa was a volatile warrior who killed some relatives, and the three brothers ran away together between 1760 and 1780. The three brothers were invited by elder brother, Chief Seke Mutema to settle in the Harava area. Later, Gutsa was introduced by Seke to Chief Mbare of the Shumba Gurundoro totem, who resided on the modern day city of Harare, as a useful iron-monger. Chief Mbare settled the three brothers on the Barapata hill. For a while, Shayachimwe, Gutsa and Nyakudya lived under Chief Mbare, but a plot was hatched by Chief Seke, and the Va Hera brothers killed Chief Mbare and took his lands, which stretched to the south of modern-day Harare. In due course, the three brothers moved north and defeated Chief Zumbo at Mazoe. The Zumbo people nicknamed Shayachimwe Hwata because he had long legs and walked like a hwata, the secretarybird.

These northern Va Hera did not form a single dynasty, but instead formed a confederacy of two units which reported to Seke. The Hwata Dynasty was founded by Shayachimwe Mukombami about 1760 and the Chiweshe dynasty was founded by Nyakudya's son Nyangambiri. The Hwata dynasty became more dominant and stretched from present day Harare, past the Mazoe Dam (then commonly known as pagomba) to modern day Glendale and to the heads of the Mazoe, Tateguru and Murowodzi valleys. Gutsa, the youngest brother, did not form a dynasty of his own. Shayachimwe and Nyangambiri abandoned their praise name of Museyamwa. Hwata Shayachimwe assumed the new praise name of Mufakose which means (I have lost both ways) while Chiweshe Nyangambiri assumed the praise name of Mutenhesanwa. Hwata Shayachimwe established his capital at Barapata Hill on the modern Mufakose suburb in Salisbury now called Harare, capital city of Zimbabwe.

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