Kariba Dam challenges Nyaminyami

 Protected by the river god, Nyaminyami, their homes were never flooded and food and water were abundant. Legend has it that the river was a second home to them and some infants could swim before they learned to walk: At one with nature, the Tonga were never attacked by crocodiles, whether in the water or on the riverbanks.
All this was to change in 1954 when the government of the Federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland began the groundwork for Kariba Dam, a hydroelectric project in Kariba Gorge, on the banks of the Zambezi River. About 57 000 ba Tonga would leave their homes as earth moving equipment rolled in and Impresit, an Italian construction company, began building one of the biggest dams in the world.
The history of this momentous project, which ultimately would provide much-needed electricity for industry and domestic use, has been brought to life by curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ), Raphael Chikukwa. Working with the National Archives, Chikukwa has created a display of the work of four widely differing artists, each offering a different interpretation of the construction of Kariba Dam.
Giovanni Novaresio (1917-1997) was born in Naples, but while still a bambino moved to Genoa, where he spent most of his life. A great traveller, he visited Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), acquiring the nickname Giovanni l’Africano. Novaresio, whose drawings and paintings have lain unadmired in the permanent collection until now, documents work on Kariba Dam over a period of several years. His black and white drawings of the construction are severe and geometric, but the oil on board “Vision of Construction” 1960, brings to life Impresit’s mathematical and engineering precision against the vivid blue of an African sky.
Relatively little is known of Waalko Dingemans (1912-1991). His delightful mixed media paintings, recording different stages in the construction of the dam wall, were donated by Mobil Oil to the NGZ.
Sir Cyril Hatty, who painted Kariba at Night, is probably better remembered as a Member of Parliament and cabinet minister in the federal government of the 1950s, than as an artist. Knighted for his services to the ministry of finance, he would appear to have been a man of many talents, having also written a book about baobab trees, entitled There’s Peace in Baobabwe.
Very much alive and at the height of his talents, is the fourth artist on display, Taylor Nkomo. Highly accomplished in painting, drawing, fabric design and sculpture, Nkomo draws inspiration from family ties, the environment and the spirituality of nature. Trained at the Mzilikazi Arts Centre in Bulawayo, he has exhibited widely at home and abroad. On exhibition, the smooth, sinuous lines of serpentine Tonga Man Crossing Zambezi River reveal the close relationship of the Tonga with the river gods, in particular with Nyaminyami, a dragon like creature residing in the Zambezi River.
The Tonga live on the shores of Lake Kariba, but they believe that one day Nyaminyami will keep his promise to return them to their ancestral homes on the river bank. Hairline cracks in the dam wall were reported a few years ago, but whether this was normal wear and tear or efforts by Nyaminyami to be re-united with his wife, trapped in Kariba Gorge, could be the subject of a later exhibition.