'Turn our place into a heritage site'

Vuu Village, headed by vhamusanda Matamela Nelson Ramathithi, is situated only a little to the west of Vuwani Municipality’s offices. The village is blessed with what the traditional leader calls the history of their forefathers, dating back to the 1880s.

At the foot of the Vuu Mountain is a certain spot that vhamusanda Ramathithi has fenced off where his great-grandparents apparently used to do iron smelting, up until 1920. This, he explained, was how they made their living back then. Beside this spot where the smelting was done is a big old hollow tree. To this day, the remains of their working area is still visible. Thavhayamipfa makes sure that the spot is regularly cleaned up.

“Really, this is a historical site that should not be allowed to just gradually die. South Africans and all the world should know how African people used to make their living. This is proof enough to convince anyone prepared to trace the history of African people,” said Ramathithi.

According to him, the smelting was done next to the old tree and a kind of harmony is believed to have existed between the tree and the people smelting the iron ore.

Weapons were made from the iron and used for defending their territory and when hunting game for food. The rocks were also used to pay lobola. Limpopo Mirror was shown some of the remaining artefacts that were made from the iron ore, which included hoes, knives, axes, spears and traditional drums.

According to Ramathithi, the government showed an interest in turning the place into a heritage site some three years ago, but never got around to it. He now calls on the government again to step in to preserve this rich and precious piece of African history.

“Once the place is properly fenced off, there must be a system of visiting the area. There must be a structure representing all South African cultures at this place,” said Ramathithi, adding that turning it into a heritage site could possibly also create employment.

“There are many unemployed young people in Vuu Village. The heritage site may create employment and at the same time we could see development in the area, especially roads. At the moment, the area is marked by bumpy dust roads,” he said.

As a means of protecting the site, the traditional leader frequently calls meetings to educate residents on preserving the history.

News in brief - Date: 30 July 2021

Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

Email: [email protected]