HEROES DAY SPECIAL: Reliving the Battle of Chinhoyi

07 Aug, 2016 - 00:08 0 Views
HEROES DAY SPECIAL: Reliving the Battle of Chinhoyi

The Sunday Mail

On April 28,1966, seven Zanla freedom fighters perished at the hands of Rhodesian forces after a fierce battle that lasted a day on the banks of Hunyani River, a few kilometres from Chinhoyi.

The Rhodesians had descended on the town after word spread that guerillas were planning acts of sabotage.

Although oral accounts of what transpired prior to that battle vary, it is generally believed the seven fighters were part of a 21-member group that sneaked into Zimbabwe from Zambia.

Their task was to undertake several sabotage acts that would coincide with the 68th anniversary of the death of Mbuya Nehanda, the spirit medium of Charwe killed by settler forces on April 27, 1898.

All 21 fighters had received military training in Nanking, China. The briefing from Cde Herbert Chitepo, the then Zanu Chairman in Lusaka, Zambia, was to target strategic sites big enough to destabilise the Rhodesian establishment and send it into panic.

The guerillas were supposed to split into four groups on reaching the Chinhoyi’s periphery.

Some surviving members of the larger group recount how Cdes Mudhumeni Nyikadzino Chivende and Alex Nharara were the famous seven’s first contacts.

Both are now late.

The fighters briefed the two on their mission and for close to a month, the pair was their only link with the wider Chinhoyi community and the only ones aware of their hideout.

The main target was the Kariba Hydro Power Station pylon that supplied electricity to Rhodesia. Had it been hit, the entire country would have been plunged into darkness.

However, things did not go according to plan as the damage only caused a minor blackout in Chinhoyi.

Disillusioned by this setback, the comrades consulted spirit mediums who gave them the green light to execute their mission, assuring them that all was well.

Plans to carry out more sabotage also went horribly wrong as one group that had split from the main one encountered skirmishes in Chegutu, resulting in the death of a white commercial farmer.

This was not according to the original plan. The original plan was to inflict as much damage on the electricity line so as to cause a nationwide blackout that would have been a signal to other groups entering the country through Mutoko, Nyanga and Mutare.

The death of the white farmer caused alarm among the Rhodesians, and the seven fighters’ situation was compounded by one of their contacts who sold them out.

Spurred by superior weaponry, the Rhodesian forces descended on Hunyani River, the guerillas’ rendezvous just 4km from Chinhoyi, and started shelling, aided by bombers and jet fighters.

The battle began at 9am, ending at around 4pm when the freedom fighters ran out of ammunition. The seven guerillas fought to the last bullet, refusing to surrender.

White soldiers collected several souvenirs from the battle site, marking their first combat against an organised insurgency. However, the actual site where the bodies of the seven comrades were buried remains a mystery.

Some Chinhoyi residents say their remains were buried close to Hunyani River at what is now known as Magamba Cemetery.

Other accounts have it that the remains were incinerated to erase that piece of history; while another version says the bodies were thrown in disused mine shafts.

Sadly, the actual burial site is slowly fading into a historical myth, with no real attempt at verification.

Yet, the contribution of these seven heroes of the Second Chimurenga is well known. The Chinhoyi Battle taught latter combatants to use better tactics. Although the seven heroes lost their lives, their refusal to surrender still evokes a sense of pride.

There were also wild celebrations among nationalists incarcerated in different prisons and detention centres when news of the battle filtered through.

Thirty-six years into Independence, those heroes’ burial site is still unmarked, unclaimed and yearning for recognition.

David Guzuzu’s mother, who was profiled by The Patriot newspaper last year, still desires to see the remains of her son who she, five years after the war, still believed was alive until she met a war veteran in her village who had a list of those who fought in the famous Chinhoyi Battle.

“I was shocked when a man I met at the Magaya shops showed me a paper with the seven guerillas. My son’s name was third on the list. I collapsed.

‘‘The pain was too much. Sammy (David’s birth name), my second born son, left home because of poverty and died in the Chinhoyi Battle,” Ambuya Sophia Chingwara said. — Zimpapers Syndication Services.

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