The Sunday Mail
Last week, Cde Noel Chikanya whose Chimurenga name was Cde Roy Mudzingwa spoke about the clashes between Zapu and Zanu during the formatives days of the country’s liberation struggle.
He narrated how in the early 1960s, he went for military training in Russia. He also narrated a touching story in which he said the Zapu leadership in 1964 sent him and some of his colleagues into Rhodesia for arrest and slaughter by the notorious Rhodesian Special Branch.
This week, Cde Mudzingwa continues his story with our team comprising Munyaradzi Huni and Tendai Manzvanzvike.
He tells us how he was captured by the Special Branch and how he broke down after they seriously tortured him.
He recounts how he found love while in prison and this love will leave some people asking whether this was indeed true love or was a set up by the Smith regime. He narrates how he ended up joining Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s party and how he was fired from the party after a few months.
Read on …
***
Cde Noel Chikanya (Cde Roy Mudzingwa )
SM: Ok. Now let’s go back to your story. So Lawrence took you to this other whiteman?
Cde Mudzingwa: Yeah, he did. I can’t remember the name of this whiteman. He said he could drive me out of the country via Victoria Falls, but the Special branch was all over the place. So I stayed with him for a while and during this time he bought me different suits to wear. I would burn the old suits so that there would be no trace. He even gave me some money to spend.
One day ndakasangana nehanzvadzi yamai vangu in Highfield. I was in a beer hall and he was the first to see me. He came to me and whispered that police were looking for me. He asked me when I had came back into the country and I told him sasekuru vangu. I told him never to tell anyone that he had seen me and he said ok.
He said let’s go to my house and we went. I stayed with him, only going out during the evenings. One day I went back to that beer hall and I met Joseph Nyandoro who was looking for me. He said he had met a comrade Muzeza and so he wanted the two of us to go collect some guns hidden somewhere and go to train some recruits somewhere near what is Marimba now. Remember Harare was still a big bush.
So secretly we started training some recruits there. We did this for a while. Unknown to me, the Special branch was closing in on me. They knew where I was staying, but they were not sure what exactly I was up to.
If you know a guy called Konjwayo. He was assigned to track me but I didn’t know. Sometimes I would actually meet him and we would greet like friends. He would actually buy me beer sometimes and I would do the same. After the declaration of UDI we carried out some sabotage activities.
SM: You were now doing this, were you still in Zapu?
Cde Mudzingwa: Yes, I was still in Zapu. The whole of 1965, Konjwayo was tracking me. January 1966, it was time of the Special branch to move in on me. By this time, most of my comrades had been arrested.
One day, very early in the morning, we woke up to see that the house had been surrounded by armed soldiers and the Special branch.
Someone from outside started shouting my name. “Noel Chikanya, come out! Come out! If you try to run, we will shoot you!”
Sekuru vangu went to open the door and I was arrested. Konjwayo was actually there. Ndakaiswa simbi mumakumbo and maoko.
SM: Where you not surprised to see Konjwayo?
Cde Mudzingwa: I was shocked. He actually shouted to me kuti waifunga kuti wakachenjera? I was taken to Central Police Station. When I arrived there, the Special branch said Noel Chikanya, we don’t want to kill you here. Just tell us your whole story. If you refuse to talk, you may not survive.
I said hapana zvandinoziva ini. I however agreed that I had indeed gone for military training. They asked me the names of the other comrades I had gone for training with and I refused to reveal the names.
I was taken to some house and the Special branch said, now you are going to reveal everything. There was a drum full of water. Ndakabatwa musoro ndiye nyuu in that drum. Its like I was drowning. They did that a few times, ndikati regai ndikuudzei.
Ndakataura one or two comrades. They said hausati wakwana. They repeated that process. They even went to buy me some beer, but the torture continued. They bought me meat pies, saying uchataura hako zvakanaka. So these operatives would go and others would come.
They tortured me including my manhood. It was excruciating pain. I screamed but all that didn’t help me. In the end, I told them the comrades I had gone for training with.
SM: You were now revealing all these names — during your training in Russia, you had not been prepared for this?
Cde Mudzingwa: The Russian instructors had told us about this and they were saying when you have been captured by the enemy, if you can kill yourself so that you don’t release any information. But if you can’t kill yourself, give them the information you have so that they don’t continue torturing you.
SM: When you were revealing the names, didn’t you feel like you were now selling out the struggle?
Cde Mudzingwa: I got to a stage where I said I am not selling out the struggle. As they were torturing me, they were telling me that they knew a lot from the other comrades. They said they had arrested Luca Manyatela, Jeremiah Chamba, this one, and this one and this one. They said it was only me and Funny Maduwazi who had not yet been arrested. They said you see we now have lots of information.
What they wanted from me was that as my fellow comrades were going to court, I would become a state witness. That’s why it took them time to arrest me. When they discovered that I was a hot head, they went and arrested Funny Madowazi. He was told that if you don’t want to die in jail, you should become a state witness. He agreed.
In February, we were taken to High Court — about 23 of us. About 10 were from intelligence and other officers from different sections. I have newspaper cuttings to show this. The trial went on for three months.
In court, we were refusing that we went for military training. We said we had been recruited thinking we were being sent to school.
SM: Who was giving you this advice?
Cde Mudzingwa: One of our lawyers was Dumbujena. There was also some whiteman among our lawyers. These lawyers really stood for us. Some of them were even getting threats from the Special branch.
In March 1966, we were sentenced to 10 years in prison, except one comrade called Bhebhe. There was no one akamira in court as State witness against him. He was sentenced to five years. The court advised him to appeal because there was no one who had proof that he had received military training.
For some of us, Funny Madowazi did not waste time. He identified all of us and told the court that we had received military training. There was also another comrade, called Clement Dube from intelligence. He also stood as a State witness.
These two comrades and I think a few others who stood as State witnesses really messed things for us. During court breaks, our lawyers would say, we are trying our best but with these State witnesses, the best we can try is that you don’t get sentenced to 20 years. They told us that we should forget about being discharged.
SM: After being sentenced to 10 years, what happened?
Cde Mudzingwa: We were taken during the night to Prince Charles airport. We were put into a Dakota plane and we were flown to Bulawayo. We were taken to Khami Prison.
When we arrived we were told to remove all our clothes. We were walking naked. We were taken to what they called A Hall which had very small cells that could fit only one person. We were put in these single cells.
The first person I saw, although I didn’t know him at that time was the now VP Emmerson Mnangagwa. I think I was in cell 31 and he was in cell 32. What I know is that my cell was next to his. Akanga akaonda zvainzwisa tsitsi. I didn’t even speak to him because we were not allowed to speak to fellow prisoners.
SM: Explain exactly what you mean comrade?
Cde Mudzingwa: You could see blood in the veins. Waiti ukaiswa kuKhami Prison, unobuda chete kunogeza. All prisoners looked like they were coloured due to lack of exposure to the sun. This was not your normal kugeza, but kungopinda mumvura under a shower and you are out.
The chamber yawaiitira weti or tsvina, in the evening you would clean it wocherera mvura. I was at Khami for about six years. We lost sense of time and some of us we even forgot kuti hembe inopfekwa sei.
We also got so skinny such that we would see blood flowing in our veins. We were not exposed to the sun. Sadza raiitwa zvekukandwa in your cell. I don’t think even the Nazi treated their prisoners like that.
However, a few of us decided to protest against the treatment. It was me, that friend of our wekugona zvibhakera, then Barnabas Sithole, Wurayayi Muhwani and another Ndebele comrade, Richard Ncube, Benny Mutasa, John Mutuvha and others. We were between 10 to 20.
We said let’s fight these guards so that they kill us because this treatment is the same as being killed.
SM: How did you communicate?
Cde Mudzingwa: There were some wardens who sympathised with us. We used them to communicate using letters. After some years, we were allowed to read books.
So on this day, there was this warden I think he was called Musekiwa. This man was an animal. He was ruthless. So we decided that when they open the doors for us to go to the showers, that’s when we should strike.
We did that and Musekiwa was beaten thoroughly on this day. All the privileges like reading books were taken away from us. The treatment got worse.
When the Red Cross and Amnesty International came, they said we were political prisoners and so we were not supposed to be treated this bad. That’s when we were now allowed 30 minutes out of our cells but in those 30 minutes we were forced to run around the prison grounds, still naked by the way.
After some time, we were called by some whiteman called Mr Clarke. He had been transferred from Harare. He said he was mixing us with other prisoners, but those with the appetite to fight should ask warder Musekiwa to come inform me. You will come to my office torovana. Kana wandirova ndizvozvo I won’t charge you, but ndikakurova I will be very thorough.
Now this was one giant whiteman and very strong. Sometimes he would clap black wardens vachidonha just to show us how strong he was. Zvekurwa zvakapera.
SM: So you were in prison till when?
Cde Mudzingwa: Until 1973. We were transferred to the Gray Prison right in Bulawayo. We were taken back to Khami Prison where we got into a Dakota and were flown to Gweru. We were detained.
SM: Why were you being detained? You had finished your sentence?
Cde Mudzingwa: Special branch actually told us that don’t think we will release you. They said we would stay in jail till death.
In Gweru, the conditions were much better. There was Christian Care, which gave us food and clothes. One person would have 10 to 15 suits.
SM: Still under detention?
Cde Mudzingwa: Yes. They had organised with Amnesty International which had found us friends outside the country. These friends looked after us by sending money, food and clothes. We actually has bank accounts where these friends deposited the money and we were allowed to withdraw money from these accounts every Wednesday.
We would send the chaplain to buy us whatever we wanted. We were living well. The family that was looking after me was from Switzerland. There was another lady from Holland called Erica.
We would write letters to each other. I almost got married to Erica. Some of my comrades actually married these white friends that has been organised by Amnesty International.
These white ladies would actually propose love to us even though there was this distance and even though we only saw each other through pictures. They would say, I can see you are being tortured in Rhodesia. I want to send you a ticket so that you come over tizochata.
SM: Where these young white ladies or what?
Cde Mudzingwa: The majority of them were old white women.
SM: As trained soldiers, how and why did you trust these white women? Didn’t you think they were being used by the colonial system to distract you from the liberation struggle?
Cde Mudzingwa: We thought that because they had been convinced by Christian Care and Amnesty International, they would not do that. They were looking after us very well.
We would even sit at the prison verandah drinking whisky some weekends. This was not allowed but we would give the prison wardens money to look the other way.
SM: So you were in detention in Gweru for how many years?
Cde Mudzingwa: For about five years. We would be brought to a tribunal in Harare where we would be asked whether we still had interest in politics. This tribunal would decide whether you should continue living in jail or not.
I was later released and was told to go stay in my rural area in Wedza.
SM: So how did your relationship with Erica end?
Cde Mudzingwa: We were communicating with these friends and families through lawyers chosen by either Amnesty International or Christian Care. So my lawyer, told Erica that after my release, I had found someone to marry.
Erica was very hurt. She wrote me a letter saying our relationship was over. She however surprised me. She said I know that you were in jail and I know that in your culture marrying means not only buying a ring. It means paying some money and buying some cattle.
She asked me to sent her a list of what was required for me to marry. I replied her. I told her that I would need 600 pounds to marry and that I would need money to build my own house since I had spent all these years in prison. I said I would need about 2 000 pounds to build this house in Wedza. Then money for groceries and my upkeep. She said she would send me the money direct into my Standard bank account.
She said she was going to send me 15 000 pounds. It was a lot of money. I became one of the richest man straight from prison.
I then wrote to the Special Branch telling them that I now had lots of money and zvamuri kufungira zvese izvi kuti ndichaita, handichaita.
I was then transferred from home restriction in Hwedza and put under home restriction in Mabvuku. The restrictions were that I should not go further than 10 miles from Mabvuku. I bought a new car, a Peugeot for 4 000 pounds. I later found a job.
I married my wife kumaKwiro. I cant remember the exact year but kuma1970s. Roora rakaita 240 pounds. We were charged mombe six. We paid 160 pounds for four cattle because mombe two — yababa namai vakati vanoda dzinotsika. We paid another 80 pounds for hembe dzababa.
This woman I married is still my wife today.
SM: All these niceties, are you still thinking about the liberation struggle?
Cde Mudzingwa: I was still interested in politics. I decided to join Abel Muzorewa so that I could find time to organise people and send them to Mozambique. I was working with people like Issac Dambo, Musaka and others. We were about 10 or 15 comrades who came from Zambia after receiving military training. When Muzorewa discovered that we were recruiting people and sending them to Mozambique, his secretary, Evelyn Kaunza wrote us letters expelling us from the party.
Muzorewa said muchiri nepfungwa dzehugandanga. You are terrorists. He said his party was against what we were doing. He said they were going to inform the Special branch about our actions.
SM: You mean Muzorewa was against your recruitment of freedom fighters?
Cde Mudzingwa: We joined Muzorewa’s party in 1978. You see Muzorewa started very well saying we want to continue politicising people so that they know kuti murungu akaipa. But pavakazoita Zimbabwe-Rhodesia with Smith, they enjoyed power. Power was very sweet to them.
They were staying at State House, they had very nice houses in expensive suburbs. So vakabva vavhiringika pfungwa.
So we were expelled from Muzorewa’s party. By this time Chimurenga chakanga chapisa so we said to hell with Muzorewa.
SM: Some people don’t really know much about this period when Muzorewa comes into the picture. Tell us what kind of a person was he?
Cde Mudzingwa: He was a church person. A very good man. But the people around him had bad influence.
SM: Who are these people?
Cde Mudzingwa: During that time there were people like Dr Mundawarara, Chris Mbanga and others. Quite a big number.
SM: What did Muzorewa’s part stand for?
Cde Mudzingwa: They were saying we want to take the country and rule it. Tikaipa vanhu vari kubva kuMozambique nyika inoparara. Hapana zvavanoziva. Havana kuenda kuchikoro.
When I left Muzorewa’s party, I never went into active politics again.
