Inyati
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Inyathi (also known as Enyathi, Inyati, UMzinyathi, and Emhlangeni) is a village located in the
Bubi District Bubi is a district in Matabeleland North in Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limp ...
of
Matabeleland North Matabeleland North is a province in western Zimbabwe. With a population of 827,645 as of the 2022 census, it is the country's second-least populous province, after Matabeleland South, and the least densely Zimbabwean populated province. Matabele ...
,
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
that grew from colonization by missionaries in the late 19th century. The Mission itself sits upon around of land. Inyathi is about from
Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...
and has a number of gold mines that have inspired both corporate (including Rio Tinto and Anglo American) and illegal mining.


Etymology

Inyathi is the
Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...
word for buffalo; the town was named for the nearby Buffalo River.


History


Pre-colonization

Due to colonization, information about pre-colonial Inyathi has largely been lost.


Colonialism

Reverend Robert Moffat of the
London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...
(LMS) traveled from
Kuruman Kuruman is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is known for its scenery and the Eye of Kuruman, a geological feature that brings water from deep underground. The abundance of water produces an unexpected swathe of green ...
with a string of ox-drawn carts to visit King Mzilikazi in 1854, 1857, and 1859 with a proposition to build a Mission on his lands. King Mzilikazi agreed on the terms that they would do so for "non-religious reasons", as the
Northern Ndebele people The Northern Ndebele people (; ; ) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. Significant populations of native speakers of the Northern Ndebele language (siNdebele) are found in Zimbabwe and as amaZulu in South Africa. They differ ...
were very devoted to their own
religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
practice. He hoped that by allowing them to settle, he could use them as agents for trade with white traders from
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The Mission was established in 1859 by Moffat and William Sykes. This became the oldest Mission and first permanent white settlement in Zimbabwe, and the first Mission to offer education to the locals. While it offered adult and evening classes, no university was established. The initial Mission consisted only of a red-brick church built by Moffat, who left Inyathi once the necessary buildings were built. The LMS viewed Inyathi as a failure for many years due to the inability of missionaries to convert its people to Christianity. During the last decade of the 19th century, however, the colonizers began seizing power, first by attempting to smother the importance of the iziNduna, then by creating their own police force. According to Cullen Reed, a missionary from another settlement, young girls were "burning sores in their skin to imitate contagious diseases to avoid the attentions of white men." The Europeans also punished Ndebele men in deliberately cruel ways, such as dragging them along behind horses. Missionaries began stealing cattle from farms, at one point having 362,000 cattle, and killing "the sacred black cattle that embodied the spirits of the king's ancestors". The colonizers then seized land from the Ndebele, allowing them to stay in their homes so long as they paid rent or worked the land. They later decided there were too many Black residents in Inyathi and forced them to the outskirts of the village into an area called The Reserves or, later, the Communal Lands. Despite having so much of the land, only "150 of the 1070 European farms were actually ''worked'' ic" In 1989, 6,000 people and 1,000 cattle were living on the of the Communal Lands.


Education

The Mission School for boys was established in 1921 and by the 1950s had grown into a Central Primary School (years 4, 5, and 6), an Industrial School (post- Standard Six training), and a secondary school. Girls were later admitted. The school is now known as Inyathi High School and is privately owned by the
United Congregational Church of Southern Africa The United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) is a prominent Christian denomination established in 1967, following the unification of various congregational movements within Southern Africa. Its origins can be traced back to the miss ...
, which developed from the LMS.


Graveyard

Inyathi's cemetery holds the graves of missionaries' children, white farmers, and prominent church members, having had its first burial in 1860. Among those buried there are Mzingaye Dube, who headed the secondary school, Ndumiso Gumede,
Highlanders F.C. Highlanders Football Club, or more commonly Highlanders F.C., is a Zimbabwean football club based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe that plays in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League. It is also known colloquially as iBosso, Amahlolanyama. Founded in 1926 ...
executive, and politician Micah Bhebhe.


References

Populated places in Matabeleland North Province British colonisation in Africa Populated places in Zimbabwe {{Zimbabwe-geo-stub