Kariba’s Waters Cleansed: Chiefs Declare Lake Safe as Ancient Knowledge Guides Healing After Tragedy

By Kudakwashe Ruzive

KARIBA — After two days of rituals, remembrance and appeals to the ancestors, traditional leaders in Kariba both urban and rural have declared Lake Kariba safe for navigation, bringing a deeply cultural dimension to the community’s search for healing following the devastating RIDA Mbuya Nehanda boat disaster.

The cleansing ceremony, which concluded on today, October 5, was led by Chief Mola and Chief Priest Lusinga, with rituals conducted at several significant locations on the lake, including Snake Island, DDF Kariba Island and the dam wall.

The ceremony was attended by Chief Msampakaruma and Chief Nebiri of Kariba District, as well as two traditional leaders from Binga District. ZANU PF Politburo member and Secretary for Gender and Culture Tendi Mukusha also attended the proceedings.

According to reports, the ceremony followed a directive from traditional leaders for ferry operators to suspend navigation while the cleansing was underway. The temporary suspension was intended not only to honour those who lost their lives, but also to create space for traditional rites aimed at restoring spiritual balance on the lake.

“The lake is now clean, and boats and ferries are free to cross it,” Chief Mola said.

When tradition becomes a language of healing

Beyond the declaration that the lake is safe, the ceremony demonstrates the continuing influence of indigenous knowledge systems in Zimbabwean communities, particularly when people confront death, disaster and collective trauma.

For generations, African communities have relied on traditional leadership, ancestral observances and sacred rituals to interpret and respond to events that profoundly disturb the social and spiritual order.

In Kariba, the cleansing ceremony has therefore served a purpose extending beyond the physical waters of the lake. It has provided families, traditional communities and residents with a culturally familiar way of mourning, seeking closure and reaffirming their relationship with their environment.

The rituals also underline the traditional understanding that human beings, nature, ancestors and community life are interconnected. Lake Kariba is not merely a body of water used for fishing, tourism and transportation; for communities living around it, it is also part of a cultural landscape carrying generations of memory, beliefs and ancestral significance.

This makes the ceremony an important example of how indigenous knowledge continues to coexist with modern disaster-management approaches.

While modern systems rely on investigations, navigation regulations, emergency response mechanisms and maritime safety measures, traditional communities may turn to spiritual and cultural practices to address dimensions of tragedy that technical interventions cannot necessarily resolve.

The two approaches need not necessarily be viewed as competitors. The Kariba experience demonstrates how cultural knowledge can contribute to community healing, remembrance and social cohesion, while scientific and institutional systems remain essential for determining the physical causes of accidents and preventing their recurrence.

A warning over fishing operations

Despite declaring the cleansing a success, the traditional leaders expressed concern that some fishing-rig operators in Basin 5 allegedly ignored the District Development Coordinator’s directive to suspend fishing during the cleansing period.

“We saw lights from fishing rigs last night, yet boats were told to stop fishing and honour our cleansing ceremonies,” Chief Mola said.

Chief Priest Lusinga also criticised the operators, arguing that their actions demonstrated a lack of respect for the victims and the cultural processes taking place.

“Boats from Binga managed to stop fishing, yet the disaster happened in Kariba. They disobeyed our DDC and our chiefs,” he said.

The dispute highlights another important dimension of indigenous governance: respect for traditional authority and collective community decisions.

For the chiefs, the temporary suspension of activity was not simply an operational restriction but part of a communal act of mourning. Their criticism reflects concerns that economic activities should, at certain moments, give way to collective remembrance and cultural obligations.

Keeping Gova alive

The traditional leaders have vowed to continue meeting annually to appease the ancestors through a ceremony known as Gova in Shona.

The decision could give the Kariba community an enduring cultural mechanism for remembering the dead while transmitting traditional knowledge to younger generations.

In a rapidly modernising society, such ceremonies can also become living repositories of indigenous knowledge — preserving oral traditions, customary leadership, spiritual practices and community histories that might otherwise disappear.

For Kariba, the annual Gova ceremony could therefore evolve into more than a ritual. It could become a continuing reminder of the human cost of unsafe navigation, a memorial for those who died and a cultural platform through which future generations learn to respect both the lake and the communities whose lives depend on it.

The tragedy that triggered the cleansing

The cleansing follows the August 14 Kariba tragedy, in which the RIDA Mbuya Nehanda boat disaster resulted in the deaths of dozens of people and left the Kariba community confronting one of its most painful recent tragedies. The disaster profoundly affected families, fishermen, boat operators and residents whose livelihoods and daily lives are intertwined with Lake Kariba.

Against that painful background, the cleansing ceremony represents the community’s attempt to confront tragedy through its own cultural lens — mourning the departed, seeking spiritual closure and reaffirming the relationship between people, ancestors and the lake.

The declaration that “the lake is now clean” may be understood not only as a traditional statement about the waters, but as a powerful expression of a community seeking to move forward without forgetting those who were lost.

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