The Sunday Mail
Cde Joseph Khumalo
I am really surprised by what Jonathan Moyo is saying.
He says when he got to Mgagao he was put on a bed belonging to one of the commanders, but you know what? There were no beds at Mgagao.
Even the commanders didn’t have beds. The commanders only had tents with no beds. Whose bed was he talking about? Which commander was he talking about? He is lying.
In addition, those who were sick were put in separate tents. If someone got sick, the person would either be treated at Mgagao by some comrades who were responsible for that, or the person would be taken to Iringa.
Cde Bazooka, our representative, would liaise with me to see how the person could be treated. If the person was serious, we would transfer him to Dar-es-Salaam or we would take him to the military hospital.
Cdes Hashim Mbita and Mwambora would assist us to ensure the sick person receives treatment.
Jonathan says he discovered that he could not survive at Mgagao because he could not speak Shona, that’s laughable to be honest.
I was called Khumalo and I spoke Ndebele. There was Cde Kenny Ridzai, a Ndebele comrade, but he survived. There was Cde Mlalazi, a pure Ndebele who trained at Intumbi and was deployed to the front under Zanla. Why is Jonathan lying so cheaply? I am the one who took Ndabaningi Sithole to Mgagao so that he could see how we were training and he said he was satisfied with the conditions.
Now what is Jonathan trying to do? He is a cheap liar. I really want to know: Jonathan came to Mgagao with who and for what purpose, really? Jonathan should stop trying to distort our history.
Fortunately some of us are still here to put the record straight.
Cde Joseph Khumalo is the guerilla name of Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Joel Samuel Siyangapi Muzhamba, who was part of the first group of 36 Zanu combatants to undergo military training in Ghana, and was one of the first commanders at Mgagao. He spoke to The Sunday Mail Deputy Editor, Munyaradzi Huni on July 7, 2017
