‘Carrying war materials was no easy task’

22 Dec, 2019 - 00:12 0 Views
‘Carrying war materials was no easy task’

The Sunday Mail

This week we publish the last part of the war chronicles of Cde Alice Karimatsenga, whose nom de guerre was Petty Marungamabhunu. In this instalment Cde Marungamabhunu speaks to our reporter Norman Muchemwa about the difficult task of carrying war supplies to the fighters who were at the warfront.

Question: We hear stories of unfair treatment, especially abuse of women during training, what was your experience with such issues?

Answer: We trained as a combined group of males and females.

Considering that we undertook physical exercises, obviously men had greater endurance than women.

We faced general challenges as women. Vamwe vainge vachiri kutevera and there was no sanitarywear.

Asi vamwe vaibva vamira kutevera nekuti the conditions were tough.

Every time people gather in numbers, for a long time and in a situation where there are power imbalances, there are bound to be cases of some men, in leadership positions, who would want to make sexual advances to women in lower ranks.

Yes, such issues were common.

There are some leaders who took advantage of their positions to abuse women. But this was outside the ethos and values of the liberation struggle and once it was discovered, some of these people were demoted.

Again, some women were not abused, but fell in love.

Relationships were not encouraged during the liberation struggle and when the affairs were discovered, some women would allege abuse for fear of being punished.

It is true, that some commanders would use their positions to force women to fall in love with them.

We also had problems of food shortages in the camps, but generally, my training went well.

There are issues of fatigue which we expected because the training was meant to toughen us so that we could endure life in the bush.

Some of my training instructors included Cdes Tito, Mike Hiplevel and Mbumburu, among others. They took us through the paces to the end.

Question: After training, where were you deployed?

Answer: When I finished training in 1977, I was one of the 25 female combatants selected to go to Chitima, an area around Cahora Bassa in Mozambique.

The war had intensified and our immediate task was to take war materials from Chitima to the front.

We were led by Cde Swederai. During this time in Chitima, taigara pa base remakamaradha.

Our task was very tough because the demand for war material had increased. We used to carry heavy loads to avoid making too many trips to the front.

Zvainge zvisina basa kuti uri mukomana kana musikana. Tose taitakura makasha emabara akafanana. We used to strap them on our backs like a satchel. Because of the weight, taisvuka ma shoulders.

As for myself, I had undertaken a similar task whilst in Chitepo sector before full training, saka ndakanga ndave neka experience.

Not many of the female combatants were deployed to the war front.

Our roles were mainly restricted to carrying war materials to mostly male combatants who were fighting the Rhodesians.

The Rhodesians used to stray into Mozambique and they tried to capture us at Chitima. But we were protected by the Frelimo soldiers and it was decided that since the Rhodesians had information on our operations, we should leave the base.

We returned to Tembue in November 1977. When we got there, the camp was attacked

Question: How did you survive the Tembue attack?

Answer: At that time I was well vested in enemy evasion tactics. Remember, I had been caught in the battle, back home, repaSmart. So during the attack, I remember instructing some comrades that we should run away under the cover of trees.

There were some with bright colours, but we told them to remove such clothing. Even myself, I removed everything to avoid being detected by the enemy.

Takamhanya tichienda kwainzi Kumaroro. When we got there the place also came under attack.

Takatiza zvekare tikazoguma tave kune rimwe base rainzi kuTingwe, just close to the Zambian border.

Takagara ikoko up to around February 1978 pakazovhurwa Base Two, which was for those who were being deployed to the front.

I was ordered to go to Base Two before assuming duties of supplying war materials kuvakomana vaiva muChitepo sector. While in that sector, our commander was Cde Kakata Dirorimwe.

Around October 1978 I survived an attack by the Rhodesian soldiers as we were going to give the fighters in Detachment C of the Chitepo sector, their war materials.

No one was killed or injured, takangoridzirana pfuti asi we managed to get out of danger.

We used to cross the Kairezi River into parts of Nyanga. We ferried war materials to detachments A, B and C. These detachments were to become semi-liberated zones and were a no-go area for the enemy.

That is the sector I served until independence.

Question: At ceasefire, which assembly point did you go to?

Answer: I went to Luangwa Assembly point in Nyanga. This was after the Lancaster House talks.

Takambononoka kuzvigamuchira kuti hondo yapera. Vakuru vedu had a tough time convincing us that we were preparing for independence.

As such we had many combatants who chose to remain in the bush as they did not trust the Rhodesians.

But eventually they joined us.

Tiri pa assembly point pakauya ainzi mamonitoring forces vachititaurira hurongwa hwaivepo kuti tizonovhota.

There, our guns were taken away and they conducted a head count.

At independence, many ex-combatants joined the army, but I decided I had had enough of guns.

I got a job in the security department of Chitungwiza Municipality where I served for several years.

Before getting the job, I had met Misheck Mwanjeya, a war veteran whose liberation name was Bhazuka Chimurenga.

We got married in Mutare and we have six children.

Question: Lastly comrade, do you feel you are adequately recognised by both Government and society for the role you played in the liberation of Zimbabwe.

Answer: As a female ex-combatant, I appreciate the way we have been recognised by Government, but there is room for improvement.

I think I was lucky to get a job, but there are some colleagues who have not been fortunate enough to do so.

These ex-combatants are living in poverty and it pains to see them in such situations whilst some people who do not care about our independence are living in luxury.

While we get monthly payouts, the money is not enough to sustain us throughout the month.

My appeal to the Government is that it should consider giving war veterans or children of the ex-fighters land so that they can farm and sustain themselves.

The land audit has identified cases of people with multiple farms and I feel war veterans should be get priority when it  comes land alloc

After all, it is the land that we fought for.

 

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