Government installs inaugural San Chief

Thandeka Matebesi

The Government has installed Christopher Dube as Chief Goledema as the inaugural chief of the Tjwa community also known as the San following his appointment as substantive chief in November last year.

Christopher Dube of Gariya village was installed at a ceremony held at Mtshina Secondary School in Tsholotsho yesterday. The ceremony was officiated by Local Governance and Public Works Minister July Moyo and attended by National Chiefs Council deputy president Chief Mtshane Khumalo. 

The new chief will be responsible for Gulalikabili, Mtshina, Sikente, Gariya villages and some parts of Bulilima where the San people are found.

In an interview with Community Podium Davy Ndlovu director of Tsoro-o-tso San Development Trust, an organisation whose main mandate is promoting the San culture and heritage, said even though coming up with a candidate was a difficult process the process sailed through and successfully.

According to Ndlovu, lack of a set system to be followed when installing a chief coupled with lack of interest among some of the involved families made the process difficult in the beginning.

“When we were given the green light to proceed with the identification process of who would lead the Tjwa community, there was no set system to follow as it was the first time to have a chief. We, however, opted to follow the process done by the Tonga of Binga whereby if there is no direct heir they choose from the royal daughters’ sons,” said Ndlovu.

Ndlovu revealed that since it was the first time to have the discussion of who would be the custodian of the San community, many families that were initially part of the discussion dropped out mainly because of fear of the responsibility and burden which comes with the role.

 “At the beginning of the process, we had meetings and consultations with various families such as Tshuma, Goledema, Mazebele Moyo, Likhwa Maphosa and many others. Some families dropped out and we were left with three families, the Goledemas, Mnambis and Likhwa Maphosas. Most of the people were not interested, and they were hesitant of travelling to Harare to present issues affecting the San communities. 

In the end the Goledema family was the preferred one but the challenge is that there were no surving sons, only grandchildren from both sons and daughters. Eventually the elders settled for Christopher Dube whose mother was one of Goledema’s daughters,” explained Ndlovu.

The San groups in Tsholotsho are comprised of the Jitshwa, the Ganade, the Chaise/ǁaise, the Kaitsum and the ǁawa|he. The prominent families back then were the Nǁaphela Vundla (ǁawa|he), Dziyahwa Sibanda (Chaise), Mazebele Moyo (Jitshwa), Goledema Tshuma (Ganade) and Butabubili Mtshina Maphosa (Kaitsumu).

Efforts to get a comment from Chief Goledema were not successful as his phone was not reachable.