The Sunday Mail
LAST week, Mr John Nyamakawo, born 6 June 1951 in Karoi, narrated the horror at Harare Central Prison where some freedom fighters were hanged in barbaric fashion by the Smith regime. As a prison guard from 1972 up to 1976, Mr Nyamakawo saw several comrades were being buried inside the premises of the Harare Central Prison. His narration was just too graphic. This week, Mr Nyamakawo continues his story to our Deputy Editor Munyaradzi Huni (MH) revealing why he failed to join the liberation struggle and how former director of Prisons, the late Mr Langton Chigwida shot and killed a freedom fighter just to please the white bosses.
Read on …
MH: There is a strong belief that blacks who used to work under the Smith regime supported this regime. How far true was this?
Mr Nyamakawo: Yes, that’s true many people thought and some people still think like that. You know there were those black prison guards who had been employed just because they had participated in the Second World War. Most of these people had very little education, vakanga vasina kufunda. Now because of that, they were so, so afraid of whites. Isusu takanga tati verengei mabhuku we understood kuti haaa iganda chete hapana chinoshamisa apa.
MH: I ask you again, so why didn’t you just leave and join the liberation struggle? I hear what you have been telling me about what Cde Makwasha said to you, but I still don’t get your story.
Mr Nyamakawo: You remember when that group that included Cde John Makwasha went for military training in Ghana and came back, there was this fellow called Simon Bhene who later turned out to be a spy. He sold out all the comrades he had trained with in Ghana and most of them were arrested. The leaders of these comrades who were arrested knew that their comrades had been sold out by Bhene. So vakanga vakuti isusu takanga tapinda muchihurumende chaSmith tikaenda to try and join the liberation struggle, they would say we were all like Bhene. So I feared that they would even kill me. This story about Bhene I was told by Cde John Makwasha after I had asked him how he was arrested.
MH: Answer this question very directly and openly. Did you support the Ian Smith government?
Mr Nyamakawo: Not even, zvaiva zvebasa.
MH: Besides helping Rev Sithole to smuggle notes for his book from prison, you told me that you also assisted some of the political prisoners to get legal assistance. Can you explain briefly how you did this?
Mr Nyamakawo: As a prison guard, one of my duties was to keep records of all the prisoners including those who would have just arrived. So as I wrote the records down, I would see that such and such a prisoner is being charged or such and such a crime. After work I would rush to notify our political leaders about these prisoners so that the party could find them legal representatives.
I also assisted comrades Mathias Khumalo, John Makwasha, Misheck Tapera and many others to smuggle their letters from prison.
MH: Who are these party leaders you are talking about?
Mr Nyamakawo: This was quite a risky exercise so most of the times I would take the information kumba kwavaSithole and the party would take it from there. I didn’t want many people to know about this. We were very few of us, as prison guards who assisted these comrades. I can say at Khami Prison we were about six prison guards who assisted these comrades out of a total of about 300 prison guards.
MH: Do you remember the names of some of the prison guards who were hanged during this time?
Mr Nyamakawo: I can’t remember them by name, but I am sure at Prisons Service they must have the names written somewhere. The records must be there. The Smith regime was very, very ruthless. I used to hear about this, but when I came face to face with reality, it confirmed to me the racist rule of the Smith regime. This was one of the main reasons I took a risk by smuggling the letters from the comrades. I just said this is the little I can do for these comrades who are dying for the country.
At one point I actually wanted to join the liberation struggle but Makwasha warned me that the comrades would think I was a spy like Simon Bhene and they would either kill me or ill-treat me.
MH: Some comrades say the black prison guards during before independence were more ruthless than their white counterparts. What is your comment?
Mr Nyamakawo: That was mainly true to those prison guards who had been recruited simply because they had served in the Second World War. These prison guards were even used to spy on us. They were not educated and being ruthless was a way of pleasing the bosses.
MH: Why were you transferred from Harare Prison to Khami Prison?
Mr Nyamakawo: Most of the prison guards at Khami at that time were not educated and they wanted people who were educated so that they could vet letters that were being written by the detained freedom fighters.
MH: As someone who had created such a relationship with Rev Sithole, did you bid him farewell as you were now going to Khami Prison?
Mr Nyamakawo: Yes, I did. Rev Sithole had introduced me to a certain gentleman called Edward Makova who used to work at Sales House, I think now its called Edgars Stores. This Makova was the manager there so from time to time he would give me new clothes saying haungafambi nehembe dzakasakara. So because of this, I was known as one of the most well-dressed prison guards. Ndaitova nembiri yekuchena.
When I left for Khami, Rev Sithole was still at Harare Prison but Edward Makova had been transfered to Bulawayo, working at Sales House along Lobengula Street. I went to Rev Sithole and I told him that I was now going to Khami Prison and he said I should continue assisted freedom fighters the way I was doing. He advised me to keep in touch with Makova. In Bulawayo, Makova was staying I think about three houses from Cannan Banana’s house. Sometimes Makova would lure me to attend political meetings at Banana’s house by inviting me to this house saying he wanted to buy me some beer. Without knowing, I would see myself surrounded by politicians discussing issues to do with the liberation struggle. Makova had not told anyone that I was a prison guard so I would attend the meetings just like his friend.
MH: You told me about the issue of food riots at Khami Prison. What exactly happened?
Mr Nyamakawo: Indeed, there were food riots at Khami Prison and some of the comrades beat up a prison guard called Musekiwa. One of the ruthless white officers, called Tom came with the late Langton Chigwida who was quite senior to use at that time came to stop the riots. Chigwida, the one who after independence became the director of prisons, actually shot one of the freedom fighters. Chigwida akaridza pfuti ikarova mumwe mubhanditi. This comrade was rushed to Mpilo hospital but he later died. This issue inondirwadza baba because this is the same Chigwida who was promoted after independence to become director of prisons. Ndiye akatoridza pfuti ikapfura this comrade as they were trying to stop these food riots. I saw this with my eyes.
MH: Where you surprised?
Mr Nyamakawo: Not at all. We all knew that Chigwida aiva mutengesi. We used to avoid him a lot as we assisted the freedom fighters.
MH: How exactly did these political prisoners organise the food riots?
Mr Nyamakawo: The prisoners just wrote letters among themselves and they used some prison guards to exchange the letters. After a while I think they agreed on a date and the prison guards, especially those who were cruel were taken by surprise the moment they opened doors for prisoners to have their food in the afternoon. The prisoners started beating up some of the prison guards. When the riots started, I was at home but we were all called to report for work. Vakaridza chibhosvo cheemergency and vaiti whatever you were doing, chikarira everything stops and you rush to work. When I arrived one of the prison guards called Musekiwa had already fainted after being attacked by the prisoners. The prisoners were on the rampage beating up prisoners. So Chigwida ndiye akazoridza pfuti akananga muvanhu chaimo. Other prison guards vairidzira mudenga but Chigwida shot straight at the prisoners. The prisoners rushed back to their cells but one of them had been injured seriously. He had been shot zvakaipisisa so he was rushed to Mpilo hospital and died in no much time. Some of the ring leaders of these food riots were charged and given more time in jail.
MH: Tell us of the conditions with regards to prisoners at Khami?
Mr Nyamakawo: I went to Khami in 1973 around June. My main duty was to censor the letters that were being written by political prisoners. Once every month, the prisoners were given a writing pad written “Rhodesia Prison Services” to write letters to their relatives. So my duty was to censor these letters to make sure that the prisoners were not inciting other people to revolt against the government. If the letter was ok, I would stamp it and sign it then we would post it. If the letter contained subversive statements, I would report this to the white officers and the prisoner would be charged with trying to send subversive information to their relatives. Letters by the prisoners were supposed to contain general information like “makadii ikoko, kuno ndiri right. Ndakatongerwa kugara mujeri such and such number of years and kana ndabuda ndichazokuonai. Asi ndanga ndichikumbira munditumirewo mari yekutenga fodya or toothpaste.” On some occasions, ndaisungwa pamwechete with a prisoner while going to court kwanzi kuitira kuti asatize. So I would be handcuffed to the prisoner while going to court.
MH: We have spoken to some former political prisoners who tell us that there was a time when they were not allowed to see the sun and they were supposed to stay naked. How far true is this?
Mr Nyamakawo: Yes, that’s very true. Political prisoners were really really ill-treated. Their living conditions were just too tough and rough. To start with, their cells were just too small and we would allow them outside early in the morning for very few minutes. After this they would return to their cells and we would give them porridge with lots of salt. Sometimes we would allow the prisoners out for less than 15 minutes around past 1pm and around 4pm.
It’s also true that the prisoners would stay naked. I mean stark naked pasina kana underwear. Kuita musvo chaiko. The authorities came up with this idea after some white prisoner called Dick Den at Harare Central Prison used his clothes to scale up to the window and escape from prison. The authorities spend about two weeks looking for him and from that time they decided that prisoners should stay naked in their cells. The prisoners would come out of their cells kuzodya vakashama and that was very normal.
In terms of food, we gave them food enough to keep them breathing. We would give them very small portions of salted sadza with no relish. It’s not that pakanga pasina chikafu, hwakanga huchingori hutsinye. What I can tell you is that quite a number of political prisoners died because of this food issue. It was really, really bad.
MH: It was that bad as you say and as a black person what was going on in your mind?
Mr Nyamakawo: It really pained me. I wasn’t supposed to leave my job in 1976 because I was living very well. Edward Makova was making all sorts of favours for me and to be honest life wasn’t that difficult for me. So I had every reason to stay as a prison guard but in 1976, I said enough was enough.
MH: As a prison guard, would you have time to chat with the prisoners?
Mr Nyamakawo: Yes, especially during the night. As a prison guard I would know which cell each and every prisoner was so I would go to the prisoner’s cell and sit outside and we chat. I would spend hours chatting to people like Makwasha. I would talk about the liberation struggle, politics and anything that was topical during those days. I would ask the prisoners how they were arrested, where they were coming from and what they are thinking about their future. Like I said, I ended up very close to Cde Makwasha and few other political prisoners. I also connected a lot of prisoners to some charitable organisations, like Christian Care that helped them in paying for their college fees and so on. These prisoners were not allowed to write letters to organisations like Christian Care asking for financial assistance but I would smuggle the letters and post them. The authorities would be surprised to see some prisoners receiving lots of books. Sometimes I would smuggle newspaper cuttings into the cells of a few selected prisoners so that they could read about the liberation struggle.
At one time while at Khami, I got sick and failed to report for work. The prisoners didn’t know about this so they wrote those letters asking for assistance. The prison guard who was on duty discovered this and reported the matter to the white officers. I was called to explain because it was clear that I had been letting such letters to pass without much censoring. I quickly said aahh, pano panevanhu vakandivenga so they are trying to create these stories for me. That’s when I was transferred to Masvingo.
MH: You said Zanu and Zapu political prisoners would be put in separate areas so that they would not mix. Explain why?
Mr Nyamakawo: Yes, that’s true because the Zapu and Zanu comrades would clash frequently. The comrades from Zapu were accusing the Zanu comrades of hijacking the revolution. The clashes would really turn nasty sometimes.
MH: You have been talking about the cruelty of others. During your time, is there a day when you ill-treated some of these political prisoners?
Mr Nyamakawo: No I didn’t ill-treat them but to make sure that the white officers see that I was not supporting the freedom fighters, I would ill-treat those prisoners who were arrested for cases like robbery, rape and so on. Kana vaunzwa in jail ndairatidza kushatirwa zvekuvhara the white officers.
MH: Some people will say you are saying this just to make yourself look like a kind-hearted former prison guard. What is your response?
Mr Nyamakawo: I know people will say that but I am telling you the truth. I left the prison service in 1976 and during this time the Smith regime had improved our working conditions. We were now staying in better barracks and hostels. Our food was now being prepared nevasungwa and mari takanga tava kutambira kudarika mateacher. So really there was no need for me to leave my job but I decided to leave. There were some ruthless black prison guards who I can tell you did many evil things just to please the white officers.
MH: In Masvingo, your duties remained the same?
Mr Nyamakawo: My duties remained almost the same to censor letters. With regards to politics, in Masvingo I was working with Cde Chrispen Mandizvidza to smuggle information from prison. I was however shocked one day when Cde Mandizvidza came to our officers and told the white officers that this young man is very courageous because he is providing us with information. I don’t know why he did that. That’s when I quickly applied to leave the prison service because I could see it was a matter of time before I was in serious trouble.
I am told this Chrispen Mandizvidza later went to Mozambique for training and he was in that group comprising people like Rugare Gumbo who were regarded as sell-outs.
MH: When you look at the time you served in the prison service, do you think you did the right thing to serve the Smith regime?
Mr Nyamakawo: I think kubuda kwandakaita was a big mistake because ruthless people like Chigwida remained in the prison service and at independence he was made director of prisons. I tried to join the prison service after independence but the authorities refused to accept me. Despite killing a freedom fighter, Chigwida amassed a lot of wealth, he had some farms and several houses in Harare. I regret leaving the prison service in 1976. I made a blunder.
However, I am quite happy because I managed to send my children to school through the connections I made during my time as a prison guard. My children have good jobs – one works at a bank and the other one is training to be a pilot. The school fees for these two children was paid by the Zapu Scholarship Fund. Some of the political prisoners I had assisted at Khami are the ones who recommended to the party that my children should be put under the scholarship fund.
MH: So what did you do after leaving the prison service?
Mr Nyamakawo: I got a job in the loss control department of a local agricultural company. I worked at this company from 1976 up to 1980. After 1980, I saw an advert from Air Force of Zimbabwe saying they was a vacancy for a stock controller. I applied and got the job. I worked in the Air Force of Zimbabwe for three years.
MH: Why did you leave Air Force of Zimbabwe?
Mr Nyamakawo: I don’t know if you remember some incident that happened during the early 1980s when some white officers in the Air Force of Zimbabwe vakapisa ndege kuThornhill in Gweru. I was now working for the Air Force of Zimbabwe in Gweru. When this happened, I tried to assist the authorities to establish exactly what had happened but some of the white officers quickly moved me and fired me so that they could frustrate the investigations. I knew exactly how the planes had been torched and so the white officers got me fired as I was assisting the authorities with investigations. Those who were being accused went to the High Court and they were acquitted.
I wrote letters to the Ministry of Defence and the Commander of the Defence Forces but no one listened to me. I later gave up.
MH: Who are some of the white officers who had committed this crime?
Mr Nyamakawo: This was an internal job and if people had given me a chance to narrate what exactly happened the authorities would have apprehended the culprits. The authorities were supposed to just go to the guard room and get the name of the person who was responsible. I think around 40 planes were burnt in this incident.
You see after independence, the white officers at the Air Force of Zimbabwe were refusing to accept that blacks were now in charge. These officers addressed several meetings that I attended saying they were against majority rule. They then hatched a plan to turn Air Force of Zimbabwe into some parastatal that would provide services to the Government on hiring basis. They wanted to be hired as mercenaries in case of any war in the region. The new Government refused this and these officers decided to burn the planes. After this, almost all white officers in the Air Force of Zimbabwe resigned en-mass in July 1983 and relocated to South Africa.
MH: Some people will say you are speaking out now because you are bitter. Are you a bitter man?
Mr Nyamakawo: Not even. Hupenyu hwangu huri kufamba. My children are looking after me and I can’t complain. I want to thank Zapu for sending them to school. It’s unfortunate that after independence I never got the chance to meet Cde Makwasha. It really would be nice to meet so that we go down memory lane.
MH: What is your wish as we conclude this interview?
Mr Nyamakawo: My wish is that Government should give a descent burial to the comrades who were hanged and buried at Harare Central Prison. Their spirits should be freed from prison. I saw these comrades being killed and I know the pain they went through. Many prison guards saw this but they don’t have the courage to come forward and speak out. Those comrades vakafa vachitambura. Nyaya iyoyi inondirwadza too much. I keep hearing the voice of this white prison officer who would say these comrades “are going to be good manure for my roses.”
