The Sunday Mail
BEFORE Zapu and Zanu got guns to fight the country’s liberation struggle, there were some youths during the early 1960s who gave the colonial regime a torrid time. Using their own resources, these youths with a difference carried out sabotage activities that later gave birth to the liberation struggle.
One of the youths from this era was Cde Tobias Chizengeni born 23 September 1943, whose Chimurenga name was Perkins Malan. In this interview with our Deputy Editor Munyaradzi Huni, Cde Chizengeni narrates how tough it was to be a NDP, Zapu and later Zanu youth in the early 1960s.
He narrates the untold story of who exactly was Cde Felix Rice Santana, Zimbabwe’s own James Bond character. From a youth point of view, Cde Chizengeni, who went up to Standard Six at school in the early 1960s, explains the split of Zapu and the formation of Zanu. “We got very close to having a civil war after the split,” he explains.
Read on …
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Cde Tobias Chizengeni
MH: Comrade, briefly tell us how you joined politics and why?
Cde Chizengeni: In 1960 Michael Mawema and company formed the National Democratic Party (NDP) and they started talking politics. At first I had no interest but as time went on, colleagues would come and ask me to join them in attending meetings by NDP.
When I attended the first meetings, what impressed me was that I had never heard an African speak in English the way Michael Mawema did. Also he was very forthright in what he was saying. He was saying we demand One man One Vote. He was saying the politics of appeasement was over. He was saying we are no longer asking to be treated better, but we want to be able to determine our own affairs. To me that made lots of sense and from that time wakava mutserendende. I would attend most if not all meetings.
This is how a lot of people from my generation joined politics. You would join politics because someone has persuaded you. Iwe waenda kana zvakunakidza you invite your friend zvichienda zvakadaro.
MH: Who are some of the people you invited?
Cde Chizengeni: Felix was one of them. Felix Santana. We knew each other because we were staying in the same township in National, kuMbare. Felix was much older than me and much more experienced in life than me because apparently he had been all over the place. He was given maP.I (prohibited immigrant) in Salisbury which restricted him to his home area because he would do all sorts of things.
He went as far as Joburg during these years. That’s early for many of our people to have gone as far as Joburg. He would go ikoko and be given P.I again and come back home.
MH: We are going to ask you more about this man as you narrate your story, but maybe briefly just tell us what kind of a person was Felix Rice Santana?
Cde Chizengeni: Felix was a quiet chap. He was not the type that would go kunotsvaga trouble, but he was also not the type yekutangana nayo. You had to know zvaurikuda kuita kana wada kutangana nezvaFelix. Very cooperative but asingadi zvinhu zvemashort cuts. He didn’t want to be cheated.
If you cheat him, then you have a problem naye. Paiita hondo.
For me to attend these meetings, I think it was Shadreck Chipanga who invited me.
MH: During these years of NDP what were the main drivers of politics?
Cde Chizengeni: The right for Africans to rule themselves through One man One vote. But there were no meetings to say our government would be like so and so. No. At the point, the issue was simply, we want majority rule in this country and in order to achieve that we should have the right to vote. You remember there was qualified franchise where certain types of privileged blacks were allowed to vote. So people like Mawema were saying to hell with that. We want One man One vote.
MH: You said at the tobacco company you were working with whites. Tell us, how much the whiteman was feared during these years?
Cde Chizengeni: Murungu akanga ari chimwari chidiki and they behaved as such. Munhu mutema was never seen semunhu. Whether wakura or not, murume wese aingonzi “boy,” while vakadzi vese were called “girl.”
MH: Now, let’s continue your journey. You have now been introduced to politics by people like Shadreck Chipanga. What happened thereafter?
Cde Chizengeni: NDP was banned. All this time during NDP mdara Nkomo (late VP) was not around. After the ban of NDP, Zapu was then formed and Nkomo was announced as the president of Zapu. To a lot of us this came as a surprise because although we knew about Nkomo, we knew more of people like Mawema because they are the ones who had been around.
Anyway, Zapu continued more or less on the same theme of One man One vote. The party continued preaching that we were going to demand our rights as Africans.
As the party made the demands, the colonial regime intensified harassing and arresting the leaders. Clearly, they were not listening to the demands.
As this was happening, there were talks – the Zambians, then Northern Rhodesia led by Kenneth Kaunda and Harry Kumbula and Malawi, then Nyasaland led by Kamuzu Banda they were talking to the British about their demands for independence.
In Rhodesia, the language was the same kuti tiri kuda independence. So I think our leaders in Zapu found common ground with these other leaders from Zambia and Malawi. They used to go for overseas meetings, Commonwealth, United Nations together and they became very close. So Zapu’s demands were now almost the same with demands in Malawi and in Zambia.
However, the problem was that while Kaunda and Banda seemed to be making progress in having their demands met by the British who had the authority over the territories, Zapu’s demands were not being met. This was because the British had ceased government status to the whites in Rhodesia. So the British would say, no, the Rhodesian whites ndivo vari kutonga in Rhodesia, they have self governance status so we can’t intervene.
We got to a stage where we agreed kuti varungu havanzwi kuramba tichitaura nemuromo chete. I don’t recall the leadership sitting down with us the youth to say vakomana this is how things are, now you should do this.
While the leaders of the party continued talking, we as the youth we got impatient.
MH: You mean the youth became impatient of the continuous talking by the leadership?
Cde Chizengeni: Yes, as the youth we said let’s try and push these leaders. We said we push them how? We said let’s go and disturb peace in the white community. However, we couldn’t go to their residential areas because of security. We said let’s target their shops, their factories and places where they go to relax. So this gave birth to the sabotage activities.
I can’t remember who exactly, but someone taught some of us how to make a petrol bomb.
MH: Who are some of the youths you were with as you carried out these sabotage activities?
Cde Chizengeni: In Highfield, I think there were three or four groups. Each group had four, five people. We would choose the groups ourselves. Those vaizivana would just form their own group.
As we carried out the sabotage activities, hapana aitiudza kuti chiendai munoita this and that. No. The person aiita like a coordinator of all the groups was Enos Chikowore. He was like our leader.
I remember the comrades who were in my group because we were friends. There was Gatula, Shadreck Chipanga, Fredrick Nyandoro and his brother Gideon and then myself. This was our group. We would amongst ourselves decide on what we thought could bring maximum damage to the colonial system. (narrates sabotage activities they carried out in Tynwald slashing maize for about three hours)
MH: You were carrying out these sabotage activities at a time when many people were still very afraid of the whiteman. What gave you the courage?
Cde Chizengeni: We understood the politics that our leaders were preaching and we also understood that whites were ignoring our demands so we had to do something. The issue about sabotage was our own initiative as youths. When the leadership was asked kuti vanhu venyu are doing these sabotage activities, they would deny that. They would say, these youths are unruly and we don’t know them. To an extent this was true because we never went to them to say we want to go do this give us some money or vehicles to use. No.
MH: Yeah, because I was going to ask you, who was sponsoring these sabotage activities?
Cde Chizengeni: We would use our own money. This is something that’s very different with today’s youths. The youths who turned to politics during our time where serious and committed. There were motor vehicles for the party but we had no access to these vehicles. They were for the leadership. So we would say among ourselves, Huni ndiye ane mota so we talk to him and use his car. The comrades would give us their cars because they understood what we were doing.
Even ourselves we didn’t care about the risks because the cause was much bigger.
(narrates incident were they petrol-bombed OK Bazars warehouse in Granite side)
MH: Now, comrade would you say, you were the first youths to carry out sabotage activities in Rhodesia?
Cde Chizengeni: What I can claim is yes, our groups were the first to carry out sabotage activities. There were youths before in the African National Congress but I don’t think they did the sort of things we were doing. It was clear from these early days that nyaya yekuzorovana nevarungu was ultimately going to be the answer.
MH: Talking about the split of Zapu, as youths did you understand what really caused the split?
Cde Chizengeni: Yes, we understood the reasons very well. We were very clear. In fact, we were pushing vakuru vedu kuti what are you still doing here? We are not doing anything in Zapu.
By this time, Zapu leaders used to tell us that independence is by the corner. But corner yacho yaitaurwa inenge yakanga isiri yedu. It was corner yeZambia and Malawi. This is because for sure independence was getting closer in Malawi and Zambia but in Rhodesia, there was no movement at all. So we were getting more and more frustrated. This caused many people to say no, we can’t continue like this and we can’t continue with the leadership iri kuramba ichingoti freedom and independence by the corner when there is nothing happening.
Sometimes we would be told kuti independence is in my briefcase. Then we would say, so let’s go and steal the briefcase, tiiburitse from the briefcase.
MH: Who was saying this?
Cde Chizengeni: The pronouncements were made by mdara Nkomo. He would say, you see my briefcase here, I have all the papers to show that independence is coming. When the split happened, as youths, we were made to understand that all the leaders had been arrested and restricted to their home areas for a period of time. After that period, they were released. And as soon as they were released, they all left, all the leaders of Zapu. They went to Tanganyika (Tanzania). We were told that the leaders had gone to Tanganyika to form a government in exile.
They went to Tanganyika and nothing happened. In fact, this period I am talking about that’s the same period when the OAU was formed. I think all the leaders were there. What came out was that they had been told by the leader Joshua Nkomo that he had words with President Nyerere who had advised him kuti they should leave the country and come out to Tanganyika to form a government in exile. However, we were told that when these other leaders of the party got to Tanganyika, they were confronted by Nyerere kuti muri kutsvagei kuno and while you are here, who is leading the people back home? So you can imagine the tension that this caused among the leaders.
Nyerere said there is no such thing as coming out and forming government in exile.
Whatever kept these leaders together, this was the breaking point. Some who had the same thinking went one side leading to the split and the formation of Zanu.
In the meantime, before Zapu was banned, the public pronouncements by all the leaders was that as a way of defying the colonial government, if they banned Zapu, we were not going to form another party. Zapu would remain.
So isusu as the membership we understood that Zapu was not going to be banned even if the government announced that it had been banned. We were going to continue operating underground.
But then here was the dilemma. Some of the leaders who were saying Zapu would not be banned, had now formed Zanu.
MH: Who were these leaders who were pushing for the formation of Zanu?
Cde Chizengeni: I can’t really tell kuti this one and this one. I can only tell you the line up yeZanu when it was formed. So I assume these leaders are the ones who were pushing for the formation of Zanu.
Reverend Sithole was the president, (Leopold) Takawira was the vice president, Chitepo was the chairman, President Mugabe was the secretary general, Edson Zvogbo was deputy secretary general, Edson Sithole was publicity secretary, I think Simpson Mutambanengwe was in foreign affairs while Noel Mukono was secretary for public affairs.
Zanu had decided that the solution was a fight with the colonial government, so the public affairs department was a disguise for defence department or military affairs. Our leaders told us about this but they couldn’t come out in the open.
Even the language under Zanu changed. At first I said we were impressed by the way Mawema was speaking. Now we had Sithole saying in order for us to rule ourselves, we have to fight for this country and fighting for this country involved fighting the local whites not those in England and America. Its the local ones we must fight. So we must adopt a policy of direct confrontation with the local whites.
Sithole went further emphasising that we had gotten used to thinking that sooner or later the United Nations or the Commonwealth is going to intervene and force the white Rhodesians to give us our independence. This was because of the pronouncements that our leaders under Zapu made. We were thinking kuti haaa UN ichauya chete, haaa Commonwealth ichauya chete.
Sithole now under Zanu said, ahh, ahhh, hakuna chakadaro. We are our own liberators. Nobody is going to liberate you. We have to do it ourselves. So from now onwards we must be prepared to fight. Outsiders will only come to help us. We said izvi ndizvo chaizvo zvatiri kuda. We were very happy.
MH: You told us of the clashes between Zapu and Zanu youths. What caused these clashes?
Cde Chizengeni: This was because the Zapu guys felt cheated by the Zanu guys. They were saying inga wani we agreed as Zapu that we were not going to form another party? The other group was saying these guys in Zanu must have been given money. They are sellouts. So they were saying Zanu was a sellout party to an extent that on the day John F Kennedy was killed in America, we had one of our members in Highfield who had died, so when the Zapu guys saw us mourning, they said we were mourning our paymaster John F Kennedy (laughs).
MH: How was the relationship between the supporters on the ground between Zapu and Zanu?
Cde Chizengeni: There was war. Zviya zvinonzi civil war, we got very close to that situation. As Zanu youths we ended up defending our members from Zapu attacks.
For example, Zapu youths would make it almost impossible for Zanu supporters to board buses from Highfield into town. They would stop the bus and get the Zanu supporters out. This was meant to intimidate our supporters. So as Zanu youths we had to prevent that.
MH: How did you prevent that?
Cde Chizengeni: We would get into the bus, about three or four of us. We would go up and down with the bus. Kana vatanga kutaura kuti muno manhuhwa Zanu, they would try to stop the bus and that’s when we would come in and say no. Now when this happened, the obvious would happen. Tairovana kwete mbichana. Tairovana maningi. While defending our members, we didn’t forget our sabotage activities.
The attack of the supporters did not end there. Even the leadership was attacked. Maleaders ese hapana asina imba yakatemwa. Kumba kwaPresident Mugabe kuya kuHighfield kwaigara kwakatemwa. So we had to deploy youths to defend our leaders. I want to emphasise that even at this time, most of our activities were self financed. We had to source funds among ourselves. Some of us were still employed so we would use our salaries to finance our activities.
MH: These activities and what you were doing as youths, what is exciting or what?
Cde Chizengeni: I think we were possessed. (laughs) We were excited that we were succeeding in what we were doing but we were not doing it for excitement. There was no policy yekuti as youths we would go to the leaders kuno kumbira mari. No, we would not allow that.
We also prided ourselves in being smart. We were very smart. Taigara takasunga matie. This was also a tactic kuti the authorities vakaudzwa kuti taita this or that, they would not agree. Vaiti such smart guys couldn’t do that. But of course we were arrested several times.
MH: Earlier on you spoke about being impressed by the way Cde Mawema spoke during the days of NDP. What was the situation in Zanu?
Cde Chizengeni: I remember at one time when our leaders were released and President Mugabe, George Nyandoro and Chikerema came to address us. As youths we listened and compared kuti anonyatsokuma ndiani. VaMugabe was just something.
During this time, I think Zambia has been promised that it would get its independence the next year so when vaMugabe spoke, he said things that really inspired us. He said “I don’t understand what is happening between us, the Zambians and the Malawians. We are both Africans and yet Zambia and Malawi are about to have their independence. Is it because of this tie that I am putting on? If its because of the tie, then I remove it.” He removed the tie. He said “is it because of this jacket that I am putting on? If its the reason, I remove it.” He removed the jacket. So you can imagine what that did to us as youths. Takati yaa, mudhara uyu ari fired up. We were also fired up…
MH: Comrade, we have moved from NDP to Zapu and now to Zanu, all this time, where is Felix Rice Santana?
Cde Chizengeni: Felix akanga asingadi kusevenza nevanhu vakawanda. He couldn’t relate to many people. It was his nature. In NDP, in Zapu and in Zanu, those riots that would take place, Felix would join us also as we defended our leaders.
Taipotsera matombo pamwe chete but one issue yainetsa Felix was that kana maenda to defend the houses belonging to your leaders, don’t run away because makurirwa. Ukatiza Felix would follow you husiku and ask you kuti wanga wakutiza kuti zvidii?
MH: Ko ndava kurohwaka?
Cde Chizengeni: Aiwaka, hausiwe wegaka. Watanga kumhanya iwe why? So because of this in the end a lot of people kumuti hande pamwe chete naFelix airamba. There were two of them there was Felix and Kingstone Muzondo, he also passed away. With these guys you don’t go naye and do whatever you do and then run away. No.
So you were saying where is he, Felix all this time, well, aripo but he was never involved in those groups I told you about. But sometime in Zapu, I don’t know how they were actually recruited, but Felix and Lloyd Gundu were sent to China, I think it was in 1962. At that time we didn’t know they had been sent to China. We only knew when they came back. When they came back they went to Zanu.
Because Felix and Gundu were now trained, they came back with much more sophisticated means dzesabotage. They attempted to blow African Daily News building but only one side was damaged. So they were arrested.
They were put in different prisons. Later Felix was put ku prison in Bindura and he says he escaped from Bindura. That’s when he came to Zambia.
Next week, Cde Chizengeni continues his story where he will talk about how Felix Rice Santana escaped from prison movie style and the clashes between Cdes Ndangana and Santana. He will narrate why he later failed to go for military training and the tragic death of Zimbabwe’s own James Bond, Felix Rice Santana. What followed after the death of Cde Felix Rice Santana is set to bring tears to many. Don’t miss your copy of The Sunday Mail next week!
