'Money Breaks Blood Ties': Chiefs' Courts and the Transition from Lineage Debt to Commercial Debt in Sipolilo District

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 24, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 509-526

  Smith, Randal ^a  

^a Japan Local Government Centre   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0000468022     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057079808708587     Document Type: Article

References (95)

1. Chenjerai Hove, Shadows (Harare, 1991), p. 26.1 would like to thank the Irwin Fund of the Central University Research Fund, University of London, for the generous support that made the research on which this article is based possible. I would also like to thank Andrew Roberts for his guidance, support and encouragement.
2. A. Kuper, Wives for cattle (London, 1982), p. 170.
3. National Archives of Zimbabwe, NC Mazoe, Annual Report 1958, S 2827/2/2/6; and NC Buhera, Annual Report, S 2827/2/2/7.
4. National Archives of Zimbabwe, NC Mazoe, Annual Report 1958, S 2827/2/2/6; and NC Buhera, Annual Report, S 2827/2/2/7.
5. Martin Chanock, Law, Custom and Social Order (London, 1985), pp. 12-13. Emphasis in the original. See also Kristin Mann and Richard Roberts (eds), Law in Colonial Africa (London, 1991), pp. 3-4.
6. Martin Chanock, Law, Custom and Social Order (London, 1985), pp. 12-13. Emphasis in the original. See also Kristin Mann and Richard Roberts (eds), Law in Colonial Africa (London, 1991), pp. 3-4.
7. Chanock, Law, p. 22.
8. Richard Abel, Customary Law of Wrongs in Kenya: an Essay in Research Methodology (New Haven, n.d.), cited in Chanock, Law, p. 66.
9. Richard Abel, Customary Law of Wrongs in Kenya: an Essay in Research Methodology (New Haven, n.d.), cited in Chanock, Law, p. 66.
10. Martin Chanock, 'Writing South African Legal History: a Prospectus', Journal of African History, 30 (1989), p. 268.
11. Lloyd Fallers, Law Without Precedent (London, 1969), p. 16.
12. Katherine S. Newman, Law and Economic Organization (Cambridge, 1983), p. 137.
13. See A. S. Ladley, 'Courts and Authority: a Shona Village Court' (PhD thesis, Laws, London, 1985), in which he argues that the courts are a key instrument for the distribution of crucial resources.
14. See Randal Smith, 'The Struggle to Control Dispute Proceedings in Southern Rhodesia, 1930-1970' (PhD thesis, London, 1994), especially Chapters One and Two.
15. Diana Jeater, Marriage, Perversion and Power: the construction of moral discourse in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1930 (Oxford, 1993), demonstrates some remarkably similar processes as those presented here, but in an urban and peri-urban environment, close to major markets, some thirty or more years earlier.
16. Chanock, Law, pp. 222-223.
17. Ibid., p. 18, citing John Lonsdale, 'States and Social Processes in Africa: a Historiographical Survey', African Studies Review, 24, 1981.
18. Ibid., p. 18, citing John Lonsdale, 'States and Social Processes in Africa: a Historiographical Survey', African Studies Review, 24, 1981.
19. See Smith, 'The Struggle to Control Dispute Proceedings', especially ch. 4.
20. Michael Bourdillon, The Shona Peoples (Gweru, 1987), J.F. Holleman, Shona Customary Law (London, 1952), Adam Kuper, Wives for cattle (London, 1982), all write about 'payments'. Although this may appear to be a very minor point, I believe it does help to dispel the concept of 'purchasing' wives. It also takes into account the role that bridewealth cattle etc. play in divorce disputes.
21. Michael Bourdillon, The Shona Peoples (Gweru, 1987), J.F. Holleman, Shona Customary Law (London, 1952), Adam Kuper, Wives for cattle (London, 1982), all write about 'payments'. Although this may appear to be a very minor point, I believe it does help to dispel the concept of 'purchasing' wives. It also takes into account the role that bridewealth cattle etc. play in divorce disputes.
22. Michael Bourdillon, The Shona Peoples (Gweru, 1987), J.F. Holleman, Shona Customary Law (London, 1952), Adam Kuper, Wives for cattle (London, 1982), all write about 'payments'. Although this may appear to be a very minor point, I believe it does help to dispel the concept of 'purchasing' wives. It also takes into account the role that bridewealth cattle etc. play in divorce disputes.
23. Kuper, Wives, p. 22.
24. NAZ, Tarupiwa v. Arutura, CR 9/47, 30 June 1947, S 2033.
25. Kuper, Wives, p. 26.
26. NAZ, Muzira X427 v Matiyapa (asst. by Dzinyanda 979), CR 25/54, Sipolilo, 1 October 1954, S 2033.
27. Bourdillon, The Shona, pp. 40-42. See also the Civil Records for Sipolilo District in S 2033 where these issues arise several times in cases.
28. Bourdillon, The Shona, p. 36.
29. Ibid., p. 37.
30. Records held in Guruve Community Court, Mufidziki X6699 Sip v Kugotsi Chirata, CR 122/60, 7 June 1960.
31. Kuper, Wives, p. 26.
32. Ibid., p. 27.
33. NAZ, Nhlanga to the Native Production and Trade Commission, 1944, p. 583, ZBJ 1/1/1, vol. III.
34. Bourdillon, The Shona, pp. 42-43. The translation is also Bourdillon's. The Shona version was quoted to me independently during an interview with Major Shadreck Chitsiga, Ruwinga, Guruve Communal Lands, 9 December 1992.
35. Bourdillon, The Shona, p. 37.
36. Kuper, Wives, p. 39.
37. A. K. H. Weinrich, Women and Racial Discrimination in Rhodesia (Paris, 1979), see especially ch. 4, 'The Changing Function of Bridewealth'.
38. Ibid., p. 94.
39. Ibid.
40. Elizabeth Schmidt, Peasants, Traders and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939 (London, 1992), p. 86.
41. Weinrich, Women and Racial Discrimination, p. 96; also see the case study below.
42. See Smith, 'The Struggle to Control Dispute Proceedings', ch. 4.
43. Weinrich, Women and Racial Discrimination, p. 108.
44. Ibid., p. 112.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid., p. 96.
47. Jeater, Marriage, Perversion and Power.
48. M. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary, p. 185. It is also interesting to note the primary meanings of this verb which include: to lie in wait for; watch over or for, and sit on.
49. Jeater, Marriage, Perversion and Power, p. 98, has shown that the rinderpest epidemic of the late nineteenth century had a similar impact on the form of marriage transactions.
50. NAZ, Nyahonodo v. Mbarika, CR 10/45, Sipolilo, 16 May 1945, S 2033.
51. NAZ, Nyande v Ndimu (unassisted), CR 106/33, Lomagundi, 10 January 1934, S 306.
52. NAZ, Rusere v Chirata, CR 15/36, Sipolilo, 23 October 1936, S 2033.
53. NAZ, Gupa 8040 Sinoia v Kanyuchi 11808 Sinoia, CR 70/33, Lomagundi, 15 August 1933, S 306.
54. NAZ, Rusere v Chirata, CR 15/36, Sipolilo, 23 October 1936, S 2033.
55. See John Iliffe, Famine in Zimbabwe, 1890-1960 (Gweru, 1990), p. 82.
56. No accession number.
57. NAZ, NC Sipolilo, AR 1958, S 2827/2/6.
58. See NAZ, S 2033 and the Civil Records that remained in Guruve Community Court in 1991-1992.
59. Guruve Community Court, Bonda X1843 Sipolilo v. Kelesiya (unassisted), CR 18/60, 18 January 1960.
60. See the following CRs held in Guruve Community Court: 254-270/59; 23 December 1959, 271/59, 19 January 1960; 27-54/60, 25 January 1960; 123/60, 10 June 1960; 6/61 17 January 1961; 7/61, 18 January 1961; 200/61 8 December 1961.
61. Guruve Community Court, Mapfuma Baingira v. Nicholas Chipangura, CR 7/61, 18 January 1961.
62. Guruve Community Court, CRs 143-146/59, 9 November 1959.
63. Guruve Community Court, Nyamadzawo X156 v. Makoronga Kunguma, CR 3/61, 10 January 1961.
64. Guruve Community Court, Sangare Webster X86 v. Naison Musandakwira, CR 204/61, 14 December 1961. The Warrant of Execution was dated 13 December 1961.
65. Guruve Community Court, CRs 34-35/61, 6 March 1961.
66. NAZ, NC Urungwe, AR 1958, S 2827/2/2/6.
67. Interview with Sturben Gweshe, Ruwinga, 1 September 1991.
68. Interview with Sekuru Makha Kugotsi, Shinje, 2 September 1991.
69. I would like to thank Dr. Peter Fry for pointing out to me this dichotomy in the Shona world of 'things African' and 'things foreign'. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary, p. 403, defines muRungu as '1. Person of Caucasian descent. 2. Wealthy person. 3. Employer (African or non-African)'.
70. J. F. Holleman, Chief, Council and Commissioner (London, 1969), p. 356.
71. Interview with Sekuru Mahka Kugotsi, Shinje, 2 September 1991.
72. Guruve District Offices. This is a marginal note on p. 11 of 'Notes on Some of the Mhondoros (Spirit Mediums) in the Sipolilo District of Rhodesia', a report prepared as part of the Delineation exercise, dated 1965, PER 5.
73. Guruve District Administrator's files, Guruve District Offices, Report by Native Messenger Marufu, 15 January 1963, in 'CHIEF CHIPURIRO PER 5'.
74. This was gleaned from piles of marriage certificates for the 1950s onwards that remain loose in Guruve Community Court.
75. Guruve Community Court, Manyika v Kapomba Makorichi, CR 117/62, 15 August 1962.
76. Guruve Community Court, Stanley Gora RC No. X15878 v Jane a/b Muzinde, CR 1/69, 3 March 1969. The marriage certificate contained therein states the marriage was contracted in 1966, registered on 9 March 1966, and that the pfuma was due 'in May 1966'.
77. Chanock, Law, p. 22.
78. Guruve Community Court, Hildah [asst. by] Sirewu v Phineas Muhloga Murambiwa X24915 Victoria, CR 15/71, 9 September 1971.
79. Guruve Community Court, Harusi (asst. by) Masonda v. Zwenyika X8824, CR 2/68, 5 February 1968.
80. Guruve Community Court, CRs 14 and 15/63, 6 June 1963, and 2/68, 5 February 1968, all relating to marriages in the 1950s.
81. Guruve Community Court, Ndawa v. Mutochi, CR 128/62, 27 September 1962.
82. NAZ, CR 45/63, 27.7.63, Chief Chinamora's Case Record Book, S 2932/2.
83. Guruve Community Court, Chief Bepura's Case Record Book, 1976-1977. Translation by Actor Tapfumaneyi.
84. NAZ, NC Sipolilo, AR 1958, S 2827/2/2/6.
85. NAZ, NC Mtoko, AR 1958, S 2827/2/2/6. Mtoko had an extremely uneven year with regards to agricultural produce. The Native Marriages Act (1950) attempted to limit roora to a, 20 ceiling.
86. NAZ, Mr Forrestall, Asst. NC Chibi, AR 1912, N 9/1/15.
87. John Iliffe, Famine in Zimbabwe, 1890-1960.
88. NAZ, NC Charter, AR 1916,N9/1/19; Mr. Franklin, NC Chibi, AR 1933, S 235/511; see also Guruve Community Court, Sipolilo CR 91/60, 4 April 1960, for evidence.
89. Iliffe, Famine, p. 11.
90. Ibid., p. 103.
91. Guruve Community Court, Chanzi X11398 Sip v. Matambo X7301 Sip, CR 96/60, 11 April 1960.
92. N. Long, Social Change and the Individual (Manchester, 1968), p. 222.
93. Guruve District Office, District Administrator's files, 'People Troubled by Givoze' to District Commissioner, Sipolilo, 24 July 1964, Chief Chipuriro, PER 5.
94. Jeater, Marriage, Perversion and Power, p. 219
95. Ibid.