ELIZABETH MUSODZI: THE CATHOLIC WOMAN AGENT OF THE GOSPEL 
IN HARARE 
 
 
M Ruzivo 
University of Zimbabwe 
 
 
 
Abstract 
 
The role played by Catholic African Women agents of the 
gospel in the propagation of the faith in Zimbabwe has not 
been highlighted in Catholic historiography in Zimbabwe. This 
article focuses on Mai Musodzi of St Peters Mbare in Harare, a 
laywoman, who contributed a great deal to the propagation 
of the Catholic faith in Harare. The article intends to critically 
investigate the role played by Elizabeth Musodzi at every step 
in the development and expansion of Catholicism in Salisbury 
by unravelling problems and challenges faced by women 
like of Elizabeth Musodzi in a male dominated Church and a 
male-dominated environment. Thirdly the article intends to 
find out the role that Elizabeth Musodzi played in the religious 
and socio-political spheres. Finally the article will try to 
investigate whether she played any decisive role in 
conscientising the Catholic Church about racism and 
segregation that was rampant at the time. 
 
1 COLONIAL AUTHORITIES AND THE STATUS OF 
WOMEN IN SALISBURY 
  
Harare was founded in 1890 by the member of the Pioneer Column 
who was in the employment of the British South African Company, a 
company in which Cecil John Rhodes, Rochfort Maguire, Frank 
Thomson, Alfred Beit and Jameson had shares. Right from the start 
Salisbury/Harare was a male-dominated city. Lawrence Vambe (1976), 
a journalist in the 1940s says, “Originally Harare was not intended for 
respectably married people, but for that type of ‘native’ who kept his 
wife and kids somewhere in the reserve of his birth.” Hence the first 
section of Harare, MaOld Brikisi consisted only of single-roomed houses 
and it was hoped that this would prevent the native from having his 
wife and rows of piccaninnies in the area. There are reasons why the 
Rhodesian authorities pursued a policy that denied women entry into 
the Salisbury of the time. As the study by Jeater (1993:122) has shown, 
missionaries, traditional leaders and colonial authorities feared that 
town life would have a negative influence on African women. As 
Noted by Jochelson (1995:323-332), it was widely believed that women 
were the cause of venereal diseases, adultery, the collapse of 
marriage and the end of morality. Elizabeth Schmidt has also noted 
that because the Rhodesian authorities did not have statutory 
instruments to deal with African women, many African girls and women 
flocked to the cities whenever there was a misunderstanding in the 
family. Older men, chiefs and colonial officials colluded to control 
women’s mobility to the cities. In 1927 several chiefs and headmen 
called upon the colonial authorities to enact a pass system for any 
female who entered either mining towns, farms or any city. Ordinance 
16 of 1901 was to be amended so that women who sought 
employment in the city would be required to obtain permits from senior 
administrative officials. The restrictions became more severe in the 
1930s as they became applicable even to women who were legally 
married. A permit could be granted only if the guardian of the female 
agreed to let her go (Schmidt 1996:120). Until 1945 Government 
pursued a policy that was anti-women-city migration. In spite of the 
bottleneck laws it was not long before the black woman forced herself 
where she was not wanted (Vambe 1976:185). 
 
Most of the women as noted by Vambe were single people either 
looking for husbands or opportunities to work in order to take care of 
themselves outside the constricting tribal environment in rural areas. 
The women found out that they were not wanted by the whites and 
therefore could not get employment. As a result they turned to 
prostitution. Harare proved to be a fertile ground (Vambe 1976:185-
186). Between the First and Second World Wars prostitution seem to 
have enjoyed some official recognition. Prostitutes acquired rooms as 
easily as did legitimately employed male workers. In some cases, they 
had more hold on local officials and location police than had the 
ordinary masculine police. Women were in demand in the city 
because of the high masculine urban population. But not all women 
had come to the city for prostitution. Some had come with their 
husbands and others had followed their parents. 
 
Our reporter of the time Lawrence Vambe (1976:185) says, “In the eyes 
of most Rhodesians the African woman was either a unit, ignorant 
breeding machine or a prostitute. There was nobody in between.” As 
from the 1930s African women began to distinguish themselves as 
people capable of proving to their masters that they were not useless 
creatures. Most of the women became nannies, cooks and waiters. A 
young African woman Magurimbo from Highfields acquired a Bachelor 
of Arts degree in South Africa, the First Rhodesian woman to have done 
so in a male-dominated world where their contributions where limited 
to taking care of the family only (Vambe 1976:185). 
 
2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ELIZABETH MUSODZI 
 
It is in this growth of the city with its problems that we have to situate 
the rise of Mrs Musodzi Ayema or Elizabeth Musodzi or Mrs Frank Ayema 
Musodzi (literally tears). She was born in the Gomba valley near the 
present-day Mazoe Dam about 25 kilometres from Harare. The whole 
valley was under the jurisdiction of Chief Hwata of the Shava Mufakose 
totem. Leonard Chabuka (2004), my main informant, says: 
 
When the first Shona uprisings (Chimurenga) against the 
white colonial settlers began, Musodzi was eleven years old. 
This means that she was born around 1885 or 1886. Her Father 
was called Chibhaga the son of Mufumira who was a 
renowned traditional diviner and healer. Chibhaga and his 
wife Mazviwana of the Mazarura Rwizi of Chitungwiza had 
three children. These were Rinda, which means ‘Grave’, 
Musodzi and Nyakapfu. Musodzi means ‘tears’. Her name 
would later describe the suffering that she went through after 
the death of her parents. Musodzi was related to Charwe one 
of the greatest spirit mediums of Nehanda ever to execute a 
struggle that brought the settler regime to its knees. Charwe 
was her father’s sister (aunt). At the age of four or five she 
could have heard about the Pioneer Column.  
 
The whites in a gold rush came to Rhodesia in 1890 hoping to fill their 
bags with gold and go home. But when they realised that there were 
not many goldmines in the country they turned to grabbing land from 
the indigenous people. This was done with the blessing of the British 
South African Company that was, in a way, compensating people for 
the role they had played in the occupation of the country. Mazoe 
Valley, the most fertile part of the country was not spared. Chief Hwata 
and other neighbouring chiefs and spirit mediums with the lead of 
Nehanda waged one of the most remembered wars in the history of 
Zimbabwe (Ranger 1967:392). In the end they were defeated but the 
spirit of rebellion remained. It was during this brutal war that Musodzi’s 
parents and some of her relatives died, because the settlers dynamited 
the caves where hordes of families had taken refuge. Crops and 
houses were set alight to starve the insurgence and bring the rebellion 
to an end. Cattle, goats, sheep and pigs were confiscated and 
became spoils of the victors. As a result of this war Musodzi was left an 
orphan. 
  
Rinda Musodzi’s elder sister was pregnated by a certain 
Muganhiri whose parents were possibly killed during the war. 
Muganhiri was of the same tribe with Rinda. This was certainly 
regarded as incest. Muganhiri was supposed to pay an ox to 
the chief. The ox was a symbol of the discontinuity of the 
tribal relationship that existed between the two. The two 
eventually got married. Muganhiri since he was also an 
orphan he was struggling to find money to buy the ox. Rinda 
gave birth to two sons Shamhuyenhanzva and Chiweshe. 
Rinda did not live for long she got ill and died. Musodzi sought 
refuge with Chinhamhora who was married to her paternal 
aunt. Chief Chinhamhora was living here in highlands. Since 
Chinhamora was in good books with the missionaries it was 
arranged that Musodzi would go to school at Chishawasha 
as a day scholar. But the death of Rinda did cut short her 
schooling at Chishawasha mission. She was to look after the 
children left behind by her sister. (Chabuka 2004) 
There is no doubt that Musodzi had been exposed to Catholicism 
during her school days at Chishawasha mission. Finding it difficult to 
look after the kids left behind, Musodzi now baptised as Elizabeth, 
made contact with the missionaries so that they could assist her in 
looking after the kids. The missionaries provided her with clothing, food 
and other bodily needs. Whilst it was good that the missionaries were 
assisting her they had survival skills imparted to her (Chabuka 2004). 
 
The Zambezi Mission Record, an official journal of the Jesuits, reports 
that Chishawasha girls school which was opened in 1898 and run by 
the Dominican sisters who taught the girls house cleaning, cooking, 
dressmaking, gardening, and tree pruning. House management was 
part of the training (ZMR, 1914-1917:234-236). With these skills Musodzi 
was able to look after the children left behind by Rinda. Chabuka 
(2004), my main informant says: 
 
It was in her contact with the Missionaries that she met a man 
called Frank Kashimbo Ayema the son of King Lewanika of 
Zambia. He was a Bemba. Lewanika had given Kashimbo to 
a British colonel Hartley who was responsible for the building 
of the railway line from Livingston to the Copper belt. His task 
was to explain to the junior chiefs about the proposed railway 
line. The consent of chiefs was vital if the Rhodesian 
authorities were to be successful in their developmental 
programmes. When Musodzi met Kashimbo, to be referred to 
later as Frank Ayema, the railway line had been completed 
and Frank Ayema had joined the British South African Police 
where he rose to the rank of a sergeant. Colonel Hartley had 
told Frank that he should assist orphans. Frank took interest in 
Musodzi and eventually the two married. Musodzi’s lobola 
was given to Kazingizi the young brother of Musodzi’s Father. 
After their customary marriage the two did built a home at 
Chizhanje near Mabvuku turn off on your way to Mutare. It 
was there at Chizhanje that in 1909 Harupindi baptised as 
Lucy was born. In 1911 Musodzi bore Luke. This is the time that 
Musodzi came to St Peters. St Peters was opened in 1911 
having started in 1910. Those who came for church service 
used to gather under a tree in St Peters grounds. In 1913 
Musodzi bore Funwell Moses Ayema. At this time Mr Frank 
Ayema was now a sergeant and an instructor of the British 
South African Police based at Cleveland Shooting Camp. 
Musodzi in a year that my informant does not remember she 
bore some twins but the other died a premature death whilst 
the other Francis Joseph Ayema survived. In 1917 Elizabeth 
Musodzi wedded with her husband Frank Kashimbo Ayema. 
The wedding took place at St Peters. In 1923 she moved from 
St Peters Area to the Kopje. She was of course following her 
husband. At the kopje were the stores of the British South 
African police. The stores were in between Coventry and 
Bishop Gaul. Musodzi did not as yet abandon her home at 
Chizhanje where she had her cattle. At times missionaries 
visited her with the intention of getting assistance in recruiting 
people to the Catholic faith. She worked well with the 
missionaries and the people from Hwata, Chishawasha, Seke 
and Chkwaka, giving them the help they required. In a way 
she was giving back what she had received. 
 
3 ELIZABETH MUSODZI AFRICAN AGENT OF THE 
GOSPEL 
 
St Peters became a stronghold of Catholicism. With Father Hesse 
Musodzi began the Chita ChaMaria hosi yedenga (The sodality of Mary 
Queen of Heaven) known at that time as the Prima Pri Maria. Maria 
Yotamu a contemporary of Musodzi (2004), has this to say, 
 
The sodality was begun by a number of women. Amongst 
them were Amai (Mother) Musodzi, Sabhina Maponga, 
Bertha Chalie, Regina Solo, Maria Steamer, Maria Meki, Mrs 
Fernando, and Blandina Onismo. According to Maria Yotamu 
most of these women were illiterate. At that time Catholics 
were not allowed to read the bible. The Church was led by 
the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth Musodzi and the above women 
approached the Church Fathers with intention of starting the 
sodality. They requested the Fathers to write to the Pope. The 
request was granted and Elizabeth Musodzi was made the 
leader of the first women’s movement in the Catholic Church 
in Zimbabwe. The reason that propelled Musodzi to begin this 
movement was that other churches had their own sodalities. 
After all, women wanted to be on their own without being 
led by men all the time. The big number of people in the 
sodality was of women. The sodality did allow men and it still 
allows them to participate. 
 
Marja Hinfelaar’s (2001:55) study on the origins of Catholic and 
Methodists sodalities has successfully argued that the Catholic sodality 
of Mary the Queen of Heaven which began in the 1940s was based on 
the Sodality of Our Lady movement in Chishawasha. What this implies is 
that a lot of women who had received mission education took the 
movement with them to wherever they went. Most of the above 
women who were pioneers of the Chita Chamariya Hosi Yedenga had 
done their schooling at Chishawasha mission. My informants tell me 
that women with the help of Father Adolf Hess initiated the movement. 
Fr Raymond Kapito thinks that the movement was associated with 
Fr Alois Nyanhete (Kapito 2003). This is corroborated by the official 
handbook of the movement which states the role played by 
Fr Nyanhete in the origins of the movement (Hinfelaar 2001:55). There is 
no documentary evidence that clearly states that Fr Nyanhete was the 
originator of the movement. What is possible is that he could have 
been a catalyst in the development and expansion of the movement. 
Jesuit archives are silent on this issue and so are diocesan archives. 
Given this complexity the above theory namely that the Chishawasha 
club transformed the sodality movement into the Mary Queen of 
Heaven (Chita Chamariya Hosiyedenga) is possible. All they possibly 
needed was to formalise their movement through the structures of the 
church. There is evidence that sodalities originated in the middle ages 
almost at the same time with religious confraternities (Hillerbrand, 
1987:18). 
 
Maria Yotamu further testifies that she saw and worked with Elizabeth 
Musodzi whom she describes as a huge woman who wore a short 
white dress and a blue cap. She first saw Musodzi at Monte Casino 
when Father Simon Tsuro was ordained a priest (Yotamu 2004). Simon 
Tsuro and Father Isdore Chikowore were the first black Zimbabweans to 
become Catholic Diocesan priests. Maria Yotamu says that Musodzi 
worked well with her vice, Sabhina Maponga. On the works and 
activities of Musodzi, Otilia Madzimure testifies that she saw Mai 
Musodzi when she was still at school. She says that Elizabeth Musodzi 
used to assist those who were suffering, those in want, those with no 
accommodation and those who were visitors to the city and with 
nowhere to put up for the night (Madzimure 2004). When questioned 
on what exactly they did when they met, she said that they discussed 
various issues and we were taught how to pray and how to meditate. 
Otilia further testifies that many women from the St Peters Church used 
to go into the beer halls to drink. There men would molest them. 
Fr Adolf Hess suggested that each woman should accompany her 
husband to their beer hall if both of them took beer. This did not work 
because the prostitutes would simply come to one’s husband and take 
the beer from him and begin drinking there and then. Conflicts would 
start that would result in fighting. From this experience Mai Musodzi 
made it a rule that no one was supposed to enter a beer hall. She 
encouraged women to get involved in clubs and meetings that were 
held at the recreation hall now known as Amai Musodzi Hall in honour 
of her contributions and achievements (Madzimure 2004). 
 
Otilia Madzimure (2004) was a witness to the industriousness of Elizabeth 
Musodzi. She says: 
 
Musodzi used the area around Stodart Hall in Mbare as her 
rice fields. She used donkeys to plough her fields. If one visited 
her home one would see bags of maize, rice, grounds and 
stakes of firewood that she would sell to the people to 
supplement her income. 
 
On some of her responsibilities Leonard Chabuka (2004) says:  
 
When Musodzi was made leader of the Chita chaMaria 
(Mary Queen of Heaven) her husband Frank became the 
leader of Moyo Musande waYesu (Sacred Heart of Jesus 
sodality), another sodality movement at St Peters Mbare. This 
sodality was for all regardless of one’s status in the church. 
Musodzi exhibited her talent in leadership by forming the 
African Women’s Club which specialised in lectures that 
addressed the plight of African women in the city. They met 
in Amai Musodzi Hall. The women were from all 
denominations. In 1921 Musodzi bore her lastborn Raphael. In 
1925 her daughter Lucy got married to Chabuka. She bore 
Zenzile who was baptised as Josphine. In 1927 Musodzi was 
given a cottage in Mbare. She continued to cultivate her 
fields in Mbare, Mabvuku and Cleveland Dam area. Leonard 
Chabuka says that the missionaries taught her all things. She 
left Chizhanje in the 1930s. She came to stay in Mbare. In 
1939 Musodzi joined hands with a British woman by the name 
Barbara Tredgold in forming the Red Cross. The formation of 
the Red Cross was due to the call made by Britain on her 
colonies to prepare themselves for the Second World War. 
With the outbreak of the Second World War many nurses left 
Andrew Fleming Hospital to nurse British who had been 
injured in the war. Given this state of affairs Red Cross nurses 
filled the void that had been created by the departure of the 
nurses to the front. Among the Red Cross nurses who went to 
serve at Andrew Fleming Hospital was Lucy the daughter of 
Musodzi, Tecla Ayema, Elise Nelton, Rebecca Leonard, Hilda 
Chaoma, Anna Chasasa, Alouise Mapundu and many 
others. 
  
4 AN ACTIVIST FOR THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN 
THE CITY 
 
When the Second World War was over the Rhodesian African Rifles 
Troops were received at Rufaro Stadium. Elizabeth Musodzi was invited 
to receive the troops. She was given the task of distributing food to the 
soldiers as they were demobilised to go to their places of origin. 
Musodzi became a member of the Native Advisory Board, which 
fought for the rights of the Africans in the city. She, together with other 
women, fought the bylaws that were restrictive to women. Most of the 
laws were duplications of South African Laws. Musodzi fought for the 
rights of women immigrants in the city. She fought for the right of the 
divorced and the widows. She wanted these women to own their own 
houses. In 1947 when King George the sixth came to Rhodesia she, 
together with Mrs Dumbujena, were invited to Government House 
where she was presented with a medal that made her a distinguished 
member of the British Empire. In his unpublished Doctor of Philosophy 
thesis Tsuneyo Yoshukuni says that Elizabeth Musodzi exemplified the 
respectable African woman, standing in a position directly to women 
like a Nyirenda. Yoshikuni goes on to say that prior to her death in 1952 
at the age of about sixty, she had been representative of women on 
the committee of the African Welfare society for many years and had 
been on the Harare advisory Board at one time. She was founder and 
chairman of the African woman’s club and the leader of the Red Cross 
Society and many other community activities. Musodzi played an 
important role in the reforming of the African home life and improving 
living conditions, especially relative to women in Harare Township 
(Chabuka 2004). 
 
In 1951 she won a contract for clearing the place where Lake Chivero 
was to be built. She did the job successfully. She sold all the firewood 
that she got from the trees that were cut down there (Chabuka 2004). 
 
5 CONCLUSION 
 
Elizabeth Musodzi was diabetic. In 1952 her health deteriorated. On 
July 21 1952 Amai Elizabeth Musodzi Frank Ayema died. Lawrence 
Vambe, the editor of the African Weekly devoted a long obituary to 
Musodzi. The African Weekly (1952) said, “The death of Elizabeth Maria 
Frank on July 21, removed from our midst a very colourful personality 
and robbed the Harare African people of one who was very much like 
a mother in more than one sense.” She was a big part of Harare. Her 
crowning moment came at her funeral that was attended by several 
hundred residents of Harare and municipal officials as well as Red Cross 
representatives. She died, as she would have wished fortified with all 
the rites of the Catholic Church. With a crown (Chita Chamaria Hosi 
Yedenga,) the Mary Queen of Heaven Sodality crown on her head, 
Musodzi was laid to rest. 
 
In an article, ‘One great mother remembered’, published on 8 April 
2005 by The Herald, Joyce Jenje Makwenda Says: 
 
Musodzi was not only a mother to her children but to many. 
Affectionately known as Amai Musodzi, Musodzi was an 
unsung hero! She is a woman who represents most aspects of 
our society: social, economic, politics, women’s 
emancipation and our history as Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe 
feels proud to be associated with such a figure, as most of us 
have benefited from her foresight. A woman who achieved 
the best in life despite the circumstances. Today as we 
celebrate Mother’s Day we remember you MAI MUSODZI. 
(The Herald 2005: E8) 
 
Indeed this is the legacy of Amai Musodzi. She was indeed a product 
of the missionaries. They taught her not only catechism but also how to 
be industrious. She became a woman for others, the very core of 
Christian teaching. Politically, socially, and economically Musodzi 
awakened women to their responsibilities thereby earning them the 
honour the patriarchal history has denied them. Dominican Missionaries 
did not simply domesticate African women but imparted to them skills 
that would enable them to survive in a fast-changing world where 
African values were under threat from Western modernity. She was an 
orphan who dedicated her life to helping others. If the epitome of 
Christian teaching is to be a person for others then Musodzi certainly 
became that. If Christianity is about the memory of the Christian 
people then Musodzi ranks amongst such African saints. She was an 
unofficial Catholic agent of the Gospel in Harare as she was 
responsible for the welfare not only of the people in the Catholic 
Church, but also of Harare at large. Catholic historiography has not 
captured any of her works. There is no church built in her honour, not 
even a building, except the Government Recreation Hall in Mbare. 
When Pope John Paul II came to Zimbabwe he was presented with a 
brief history of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe in which the whole 
history is of a patriarchal character. Is this not a gender disparity? It is 
indeed my contention that there should be a counterbalance to the 
patriarchal history of the Catholic Church in Africa. Such a 
counterbalance can be achieved by highlighting the question of 
gender disparity in our history textbooks. Elizabeth Musodzi died an 
uncrowned Queen of Harare, if not a saint. She did not need official 
recognition of her status by the church. Her people in Mbare accorded 
her the status that she deserved. 
WORKS CONSULTED 
 
African Weekly, 1952, August 6. 
 
Chabuka, L 2004. Interview. Harare, January 8. 
 
Hinfelaar, M 2001. Respectable and responsible women: Methodists and 
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Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum. 
 
Hillerbrand, H J 1987. The Reformation: A narrative history related by 
contemporary observers and participants. Michigan: Grand Rapids. 
 
Jeater, D 1993. Marriage, perversion, and power: The construction of moral 
discourse in Southern Rhodesia. Oxford, UK: Clarendon. 
 
Jochelson, K 1995. Women, migrancy and morality: A problem of perspective. 
Journal of Southern African Studies, 21(2). 
 
Kapito, R 2003. Interview. Mount Pleasant, Harare, December 6. 
 
Madzimure, O 2004. Interview. Mbare, Harare, January 7. 
 
Ranger, T O 1967. Revolt in Southern Rhodesia 1896-1897. London: 
Heinemann. 
 
Schmidt, E 1996. Peasants, traders and wives: Shona women in the history of 
Zimbabwe 1870-1939. Harare: Baobab. 
 
The Sunday Mail Entertainment: Mothers Day Supplement, 2005. The Herald, 
April 8.  
 
Vambe, L 1976. From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. London: Heinemann. 
 
Yoshikuni, T 1989. Black migrants in a white city: A social history of African 
Harare. PhD thesis. University of Zimbabwe. 
 
Yotamu, M 2004. Interview. Mbare, Harare, January 7.  
 
Zambezi Mission Record 1914-1917, July: 69.