Feature
Gilbert Munetsi
T
here
are
four
things
synonymous with the place
Mutambara, situated in the
Eastern
Highlands,
about
100km South-East of Mutare City.
The first is the mission hospital, a
referral institution that serves the Cashel
Valley area, Wengezi, Nhedziwa and
surrounds.
Then, comes the infamous Mutambara
High School - a boarding facility that has
churned out its fair share of professionals
in the various fields of occupation in
Zimbabwe, the region and diaspora.
Deputy
Prime
Minister
Arthur
Mutambara also occasionally comes
to mind when the place is being talked
about, given the fact that he shares the
same name with most public places here
that have been named after his clanship.
These, of-course, include the hospital,
Mutambara Reserve Primary School,
Mutambara Primary and the High School
itself.
But it is the personality Kimpton
Mutambara upon whose mention of the
name, shivers run down the spines of
those who pronounce it and those that are
within earshot.
This is regardless of the fact that
‘Kimpy’ (as he is fearfully addressed
Page 8
by the local community) is neither a
politician nor a clergyman, but just an
ordinary man whose celebrity status
stems from his decision, two decades ago,
to completely shut himself away from the
generality of society.
As far back as then, the sixty-something
year old chose a life for himself, his wife,
sons and daughters in which he does not
interact or associate with the outside
world. Never!
Kimpton does not visit anyone, and he
does not allow anyone to visit him. He
does not go to the shops to buy anything,
attend family or social gatherings,
traditional ceremonies, private functions,
funerals or leave his yard.
Until the recent visit to his home
by The Parade, he was not even aware
that Zimbabwe has since adopted the
US Dollar and the Rand as its official
currencies. And when asked if he had
taken a part in the Referendum process,
his simple response was: “Vote? What
vote? For who? I cast my vote in 1980 and
that was it. What has happened to those
leaders that I voted for, now that you ask
me if I have cast another ballot?”
Perhaps his sister, Mbuya Peggy, could
have come closest in summing up her
brother, with whom she last saw and
interacted with 20 years ago, despite the
two living a distance of about 2km apart.
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“He is a creature from out of
the real world whose decision
we have not yet familiarised
ourselves with as a family. This
long after we last saw him
physically, we are still battling
to come to terms with what
spirit really got into him. Where
on earth have you ever heard of
people who don’t associate with
their kith and kin? Such actions
are absurd!”
Kimpton’s cousin brother who
is also the headman of the area,
Donald, who lives a stone’s throw
away from Mbuya Peggy has also
not spoken, let alone met, with
his elder brother for more than a
decade. And when The Parade team
advised him of its intention to carry
out an interview with the latter, he
did not have much to share, except:
“You say you want to go and see
who? Kimpy? Ah, then just go and
see him even on our behalf. When
you return, tell us how he is… that
is if you step out of that yard alive!”
Before packing our bags for
Mutambara, we first had to make
a phone call to the Officer-InCharge of Cashel Police Station,
an Inspector Nhigo. Our sources
had reliably informed us we
April 2013