NEHANDA RE-IMAGINED
The Nehanda Statue
The stature done by David Mutasa of Mbuya Nehanda original commisioned by the government was initially reseleased to the public after the President had gone to view it. When it was shared on social media there was a huge backloash at the depiction of Nehanda as a young girl and some were especially offended by the perky breasts and her protruding buttocks. There was a feeling that nehanda had been overly sexualised and and that would be offensive for her to be remembvered in such a way. It was not just the issue of sexualisation that was an issue but that of her likenss too. She apparently did not look like the Nehnda image that had been in the public domain over the years. With the pressure from Social media the government did a u-turn and had another stature comissioned, a 3 metre high bronze statue. This was unvieled at a ceremony on the May 25, 2021, which coincided with Africa Day. The stature was erected on the intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Julius Nyerere Way, two iconic African leaders 18
