Guniuswa is a grassy area, a place of grasses. I believe it was a type of very thick grass. There is one type that we call zhengeni, which is as thick as a finger. There, I believe the grass was even thicker, so they called it Guniuswa.
Another name for Guniuswa is Arusha. People who live in Tanzania call it Arusha. So it is a significant place, a sacred place. Even in Tanzania, they say that place is sacred. We hold it sacred because it is the second place where black people lived here in Africa during their migration. After leaving their place of origin, they came to Guniuswa.
It isn’t known how Murenga died, but upon his death his voice carried on speaking. First it spoke from the grass while they were in Guniuswa. That is where it began. Upon nearing the grass, a voice would begin speaking.
They were being led by that voice although their father was no longer present. It could predict what would occur the following day. People were made aware of what was to come. They knew there was a voice leading them.
So that voice spoke from the grass. In an act of disobedience, people burned the grass, saying, “Why is the grass speaking?” Then it spoke from a tree. Through their disobedience, they cut that tree down, saying, “Why is this tree speaking?” It spoke from a stone, and people again acted disobediently and smashed that stone, saying, “Why is a stone speaking?”
So finally, the voice spoke from a person. It came to a small child, a boy. And they couldn’t kill a person. So then he grew up, and that same voice carried on speaking, leading people, until he was a mature person.
Then they said, “Chinhu chiye chaminuka,” meaning, “This thing has shifted, and now it is speaking from a person.” So Chaminuka is not a name. Kuminuka means “to shift,” and this is what happened with that voice. It began speaking from a person. And then they said, “That thing that spoke from the tree has now shifted, and now it is speaking from a person. So, there is no way for us to kill that person.”