Mukarakate is a place in the north-eastern Murewa district of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. The district is in

Mashonaland East Mashonaland East, informally Mash East, is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 32,230 km2 and a population of approximately 1.35 million (2012). Marondera is the capital of the province. Geography Districts Mashonaland East i ...

province of Zimbabwe. It is almost entirely inhabited by Shona-speaking people (specific dialect:

Zezuru Shona (; sn, chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was codified by the colonial government in the 1950s. According to ''Ethnologue'', Shona, comprising the Zezuru, Korekore and Karanga dialects, is spoken by about 7 ...

). The traditional rulers of the area are the Nhowe people, whose chieftainship is called Mangwende. Many of the Nhowe people use Mukarakate as a surname, because it is the name of a great-great-ancestor of the tribe. Their

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the wo ...

is 'Moyo Muzukuru', which uses the bull as its symbolic animal. However, in practice, the tribe strictly holds only the heart of the animal as sacred, not the whole animal. Currently, the Mangwende Chieftainship is vacant following the death of Jonathan Tafirenyika Chibanda who passed on in South Africa on the 16th of December 2013. Chief Jonathan Mangwende was once president of the chief's council. Jonathan Tafirenyika Chibanda was the son of Chief Chataika Chibanda Mangwende. Chibanda became chief Mangwende in 1926 and died in 1936. Chibanda only ruled for 10 years. Jonathan Tafirenyika Chibanda become chief Mangwende in 1968. Prior to that he was a teacher at Chinhenga primary school. It is widely believed that the next Chief Mangwende will come from the Bokoto lineage. In modern-day Zimbabwe, the surname is still widely used in the area. Mukarakate is at the border post of Mrewa south and Mutoko South Contrary to the above, major aspects of the Mangwende Chieftainship history were missed. Please refer to article on Mangwende. http://www.geody.com/geospot.php?world=terra&map=col&ufi=10644189&alc=mkr&start=100 Zhombwe mountains

References

{{Reflist Places Geography of Zimbabwe Shona-language surnames Geography of Mashonaland East Province Landmarks in Zimbabwe