/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-ZIMBABWE: Dreadlocks in Vogue

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Hilary K. Siyachitema

HARARE, Mar 19 2002 (IPS) - Dreadlocks are in vogue in Zimbabwe, where Rastafarians have fought for years to gain recognition.

The breakthrough came in 1995, when Zimbabwean lawyer Munyaradzi Gwisai filed an application to the Supreme Court after a High Court judge refused to grant him permission to take oaths of loyalty and of office for wearing dreadlocks.

Gwisai – now Member of Parliament (MP) – was later permitted to take his oaths by the Supreme Court. Supreme Court judge, Justice Anthony Gubbay – who retired late last year – said lawyers wearing dreadlocks, as an expression of Rastafarian beliefs, could appear in court since they were covered by Zimbabwe’s constitution that guarantees freedom of conscience.

Ish Mafundikwa, a journalist, also had to go to court so those officials processing passports could accept his photograph – bearing dreadlocks.

Since the legal obstacles have been removed, an increasing number of Zimbabweans are now sporting dreadlocks: as fashion, or for religious, or spiritual reasons. Dreadlocks have come to be accepted in the arts, sports and even corporate sectors.

“People in the corporate world have come to accept me the way I am,” says Soukaina Mafundikwa, a dancer with Tumbuka Dance Company in the capital Harare.

“People will always have preconceived ideas about dreadlocks. They will always associate them with people who take illegal substances or with rebels. But people should just accept me the way I am,” she says.

In his book ‘Don’t worry be Nappy’, author Jefferey Bradley says “the first time I saw someone with locks, I was hooked. To me they represented freedom, self-expression, naturalness and successes’.

“Dreadlocks became my declaration of determination to succeed in life on my own terms,” he adds.

Popular Zimbabwean dread-locked musicians include Thomas Mapfumo, Andy Brown and Mr Bell. Local sports stars like Stewart Murisa and Henry Olonga also wear dreadlocks.

To some, dreadlocks are more than just a fashion statement, but a major step in demonstrating one’s independence.

“It is more about how society is going to look at me and how I perceive myself after I permanently decide to have dreadlocks. Dreadlocks are a big step forward,” says Tsitsi Singizi, a journalist in Harare.

The history of dreadlocks — according to available information — can be traced back to Rastafarians, who grow their hair long and then twist it into long matted dreadlocks. They say the locks represent their roots.

Another theory traces the origin of the hairstyle to the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya — in the 1950s — where the leaders wore dreadlocks. The locks are regarded as a sign of African identity and a religious vow of separation from modern societies.

“Dreadlocks are an African pre-colonial hairstyle, which was suppressed by the European colonial oppressors as ‘uncivilised’,” Gwisai was quoted by ‘The Herald’, a state-run newspaper, as saying.

Gwisai is the only legislator who took his oath as new MP in Shona, the language spoken by the majority in Zimbabwe.

Most dread-locked Zimbabweans say they do not follow Rastafarianism. A Rastafarian is a follower of a religion from Jamaica which teaches that black West Indians will return to Africa and that Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, is to be worshiped. Rastafarians often wear their hair in dreadlocks.

The hairstyle also has become a means of marketing one’s work, specifically in the non-performing arts like sculpture.

Joseph Kahari, a sculptor in Harare, says “people don’t want to buy from criminals, so the fact that I have long dreadlocks confirms that I have not been in prison”.

Prison authorities in Zimbabwe shave off inmates’ hair once they are thrown in jail.

Some consider the dreadlocks as a cheap and hygienic way of maintaining their hair.

“We look natural and we don’t need to go to the barbershop. All we need to do is shampoo the hair from home,” says Lovemore Rongai of Harare.

Mafundikwa says, as a woman, she would prefer to keep her hair natural or in braids, and not treat it in chemicals.

Patience Nyawasha, who works in a hair saloon in Harare, says “the dreadlocks are neat only when they are properly maintained, otherwise a lot of grime can accumulate on the hair.”

Others, like prejudiced Harare teenager, Theresa Banda says she feels uncomfortable in the company of dread-locked people. “You can only be sure of problems where you find people with dreadlocks,” she says.