The war of the axe
author Credo Mutwa
Genre history
Narrator Bonolo Malevu
Language english
The War of the Axe is a powerful and tragic story set in precolonial Southern Africa, where an ancient African kingdom becomes the site of cultural collision, betrayal, and devastating transformation. Through his signature blend of myth, history, and oral tradition, Credo Mutwa tells of the arrival of European settlers and the catastrophic consequences of their interaction with African societies — not just through guns or armies, but through the symbolic arrival of a simple object: the steel axe. The tale begins in a time of harmony, where African people live in rhythm with nature and ancestral customs. Into this world enters the axe — at first a marvel of efficiency, gifted or traded by white settlers. It fells trees faster than traditional tools, builds faster, clears more land. But with it comes greed, competition, and ultimately betrayal. Old ways are abandoned. Relationships sour. Chiefs and warriors, once guided by communal values, begin to turn on each other. The axe becomes a symbol of ambition and destruction. As communities fracture, suspicion and violence rise. What starts as excitement over a new tool ends in bloodshed — the “war” of the axe is not just about metal and warfare, but about the disintegration of African unity under the influence of foreign materialism. In the end, the people realize too late that the axe did not just cut wood — it severed the roots of their society. Mutwa’s story is both fable and warning. It speaks to the psychological colonization that precedes physical domination, and how easily cultural erosion begins when sacred balance is exchanged for material advantage.