President Mugabe pumps water from a borehole at Sikombela Detention Centre. — Picture courtesy of Friends of Joshua Trust
Sikombela— was also known as the Gokwe Restriction area, and covered 500km2.
It was an extremely hot, mosquito-infested and bushy place about 350km from Harare (then Salisbury) and the nearest town was Kwekwe.
Survival was difficult because cultivation was not possible due to sandy soils. The first native commissioner there was JG Aylwood.
Initially, it was built to accommodate 500 people, and the first group after the banning of the southern Rhodesia African National Congress were James Chikerema, Maurice Nyagumbo, George “Bozo” Nyandoro and Henry Hamadziripi Mushonga.
In 1964, the Rhodesian police, after restricting the nationalists (known as terrorists) to their villages, transferred them permanently from Whawha to Sikombela and Gonakudzingwa.
This group consisted of Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Leopold Takawira, Enos Nkala, Michael Mawema, Edgar Tekere, Edson Zvogbo, Moton Maliyanga and Simon Muzenda.
Sikombela is now an example of forgotten history. All one sees are concrete slabs — a reminder of the shapes and sizes of the former prisons. — Toyi Toyi Gallery