The Sunday Mail
HAVING left the country in 1974, a journey that took him from Bulawayo through Chiredzi, where he was detained for four months then to Mozambique, Tanzania and back to the front, Cde Rex Bongozozo, born Isaac Amos Marisa Chidhakwa, went through a number of skirmishes in the liberation struggle that brought about the country’s independence. He says he was there, and witnessed it first-hand, what he thinks was the catalyst for the civil strife that characterised Zimbabwe’s early independence years. He speaks to GARIKAI MAZARA in this, the final instalment of his remarkable journey to liberate the country.
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Q: Your operational zone was a favourite front for zipra, did you combine operations?
A: In 1978, yes it must have been 1978, a delegation from the High Command led by one Mhaka came and said we should combine operations with our zipra comrades and when they came, we started deploying them into our sections. zanla used to get its weapons from China and supplied by Russia, which were superior. One day we went with them on an ambush between Mahuwe and Mushumbi, that is our zipra comrades. Our ambushes were close, like 10 or 15 metres away because the Rhodesians used armoured vehicles which does not return fire when you are that close. After that ambush, they said they were not comfortable with such assignments and they started withdrawing one by one from our sections.
Later on we were given reinforcements, a group that had specialised in artillery, as they had trained in semi-regular and regular warfare. These would deploy big weapons. I was given Norman Hohodza as my commander and when he was withdrawn to command the whole detachment, I became platoon commander, based in Manyame, but with sporadic manoeuvres into Kachuta, going as far as Muzura in Guruve.
It was part of our tradition to hold pungwe sessions, as these were platforms for us to mobilise the masses, but these sessions were against zipra’s approach to the struggle. So there was an exchange of gunfire in Kachuta, between our comrades and the zipras.
So the Rhodesians were now taking advantage of these armed conflicts between us, coming in after every encounter between us and the zipra, usually taking the injured and/or captured arms. There was this battle we had with the zipras at Makuvatsine. They used to do gulley basing, that is sleeping in gullies and they would move in battalions whereas we would move as sections or platoons.
Q: Just put us in the picture there, how big is a battalion?
A: A battalion is made up of three companies and a normal section is made up of 12 and a reinforced section will be made up of 15.
Q: But why were you fighting each other when you were supposed to be fighting the enemy?
A: I will tell you more about that when we talk of events after independence, the cause of the dissident banditry. But these clashes would happen all the time. So I operated in the area until ceasefire. There came a time when we would do ambushes daily because we didn’t feel right without fighting, or firing a gun.
When ceasefire was called I was in the Bvochora area of Kachuta. I was selected to remain in the zone until independence. I celebrated independence in the bush. There were fears that the Rhodesians were not sincere about the ceasefire so some forces had to stay behind in case the enemy got to something, we had orders to resume the war.
Q: How many of you stayed behind?
A: I stayed behind with a platoon, made up of two sections. So that is 12 times two. The other section went to Hoya assembly point. We would disguise as villagers, staying with the masses, working with them in their fields. Remember there was the monitoring forces and we had to blend into the masses, going to the fields or even herding cattle. Since we were not staying in one village, we communicated regularly and kept each other informed of what was happening. Then after independence we all went to Hoya assembly point.
Q: How was the ceasefire taken, were the comrades happy that a ceasefire had been announced?
A: We were not happy because we were not too sure if independence was coming. Otherwise we thought the politicians had sold out. We had liberated zones, the likes of Lower Guruve, Muzarabani and Mt Darwin, the Rhodesians were no longer accessing those areas and we would do as we please in those areas. So we stayed at Hoya, which was the Alpha assembly point. We were taken from Hoya to Llewellyn Barracks and then to Ntabazinduna, becoming the first battalion to be integrated, the 1.2 Infantry Battalion. I think Samora Machel came to see the integration being done when we were being integrated.
Then at the end of 1980, there was this incident. There was myself, Funny Nyamukapa who came from Rusape and Barry Kanengoni, from Guruve. Remember before I left for the liberation struggle I had stayed in Bulawayo, so I could speak Ndebele fluently and had connections in the city as well. As per custom, that weekend we were given passes to go into town.
I used to share clothes with Nyamukapa and on this day he asked to wear my corduroy trousers which had my pass in the pocket. We went to the Ntabazinduna shops, that is at the back of the barracks. We were drinking, waiting to get into town in the evening, then our colleagues from zipra came.
They asked the shop attendant why she was selling us beer as they didn’t want us to associate with their kith and kin. We took the insults lightly and continued drinking. As the sun was setting, we went to the barracks to prepare to go into town and the zipra guys ambushed us. I think this incident was the source of the dissident era. One of the guys called out, “Ungubani wena?” and I answered that I was Melusi Ndlovu.
I was in the front, Barry was in the middle and Nyamukapa was at the back and as we were all drunk, Nyamukapa called back, “ndiani uyo ari kungoti ngubani ngubani?” So these guys were infuriated and they hit Nyamukapa on the chin with a stone. He fell to the ground, rose, fell and tried to rise again and fell. We called out to the guys at the gate that we had been attacked and I remember one of the attackers, he was Sergeant Ndlovu. Nyamukapa was ferried to Mpilo Hospital where he died.
The news only got to us on Monday when we were called for an assembly and General Sute, who was our commander, announced that one of our colleagues, Isaac Marisa Chidhakwa had passed on at Mpilo Hospital. Barry was standing next to me and he raised his hand and instead of him speaking, I spoke and said I was not dead but a friend of mine who was wearing my trousers that had my pass must be the one who had died.
So our platoon was asked to remain while the rest were dismissed and in that platoon, only zanla guys were selected and we were moved from Ntabazinduna. I was taken to Mpilo to identify the dead Nyamukapa and then joined the rest of the zanla comrades who had been moved to Brady Barracks, to practice the funeral procession for him.
We left for his burial on Wednesday, but the rumour had already started circulating within the camp that zipra guys had ambushed and killed a zanla comrade. So a battalion, which had operated together in the Guruve area, went, forcefully, to the Ntabazinduna shops to mete out revenge. The zanla guys were all over the place and the zipras, sensing danger, mobilised civilians. Eventually a fight broke out and the guys fought from the shops right up to the camp.
The zanla guys, noticing that they were being overrun, broke into the armoury and started firing at the zipra guys, who ran away. While this was happening, we were in Rusape, burying Nyamukapa. The previous week there had been a graduation ceremony for 1.3 Infantry Battalion in Umguza, so the zipras who ran away from Ntabazinduna went to Glen View, not the Harare Glen View but an area on the way to Victoria Falls, and mobilised their zipra counterparts. They said you are staying with zanla guys here yet they shot at us at Ntabazinduna. So a fracas erupted at Glen View and the zanlas ran to Entumbane, where they mobilised their counterparts, to fight the zipras.
Our platoon, which had gone to bury Nyamukapa in Rusape, on returning was ordered to stay at Brady Barracks and we were joined with a whites-only RAR regiment, which apparently had not been integrated, to go to Entumbane to assess the situation.
Ntabazinduna was now zanla only, Glen View was zipra only and chaos was brewing at Entumbane. We drove to Entumbane, along Luveve road, and there were two camps on either side and we observed some digging trenches while others were arming themselves.
In the meantime, General Sute was communicating with Rex Nhongo and Dumiso Dabengwa, that the situation was tense. As we were driving away to get reinforcements, the gunfight started and we went to park our police Puma by the Nguboyenja fly-over and mounted a road-block to prevent cars from going past Entumbane.
One RAR regiment was called in for reinforcement and within a short space of time, planes arrived and ordered the hostilities to stop. That is how the dissident period began, as the zipras ran away from Entumbane armed, arguing that the zanlas wanted to finish them off. And when you pursue someone who is armed, you have to be armed yourself.
Q: So is this how all the famous dissidents were born?
A: Am not sure if all of them had been integrated by then. These disturbances spread like veld fire. At Connemara barracks, there was the 4.1 brigade which had been deployed from Masvingo and similar disturbances occurred. Same with Chitungwiza.
Q: But these differences, didn’t they start at the front since you guys always fought, even at the front?
A: Yes, these differences came from the front, but they should have been addressed during integration. But it was just hate, that I hate this person. If they had allowed us to socialise, there wouldn’t have been these problems. The zipras didn’t want us to socialise with their kith and kin. These disturbances were really unnecessary and could have been avoided.
Isaac Amos Marisa Chidhakwa went onto to be attested into the army as a private and rose through the ranks before retiring.
