Last week, Cde Joseph Khumalo – whose birth name was Cde Joel Samuel Siyangapi Muzhamba – retold the meeting Zanu leaders had with Mbuya Nehanda. This week, he continues his narration after the meeting with Mbuya Nehanda telling Munyaradzi Huni and Tendai Manzvanzvike the sad story of the first group of female comrades. A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Cde Khumalo also says if you don’t believe the liberation struggle was guided by spirit mediums, then you have much to learn. He reveals how he defended Cde Samora Machel in a fierce battle and was later given a pistol and an AK-47 as a thank you by the former Mozambican leader. Read on …
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Q: You narrated that Mbuya Nehanda told the Zanu leadership based in Lusaka what was supposed to be done after the attainment of Independence. Were those things done?
A: You see, the leadership was there and after 1980, there are comrades like Cde Mujuru, Cde Mayor Urimbo, Cde Justin Chauke and so on – they are the ones who were supposed to tell the President what was said and what needed to be done. Or the president of the chiefs at that time, Chief Mangwende; he was supposed to lead the proceedings. Actually, before he passed away, I approached him kumusha kwake kwMurehwa kwaita mudzimu wainzi uri kusvikirwa naMbuya Nehanda wabva kuGokwe. Mudzimu uyu wakauya ukanogara kuDombo raMwari kuEpworth. Cde Chigumba is the one who gave us transport to go kwaMurehwa.
When I approached him, Chief Mangwende said, “Cde Khumalo, I have my own problems with my other chiefs.”
Later, there was a meeting of chiefs that was held at Sheraton Hotel when Chief Charumbira had taken over as the president of chiefs. We went there and tried to talk to them about this issue but nothing really materialised.
Madzimambo aiva paSheraton vakaramba to talk about this issue. I was trying to help because I was there at that meeting naMbuya Nehanda, but nobody seems ready to listen.
Q: Cde Khumalo, you are talking about after the attainment of Independence but what about the things she said were supposed to be done before 1980? Isn’t it you said Mbuya Nehanda said before mutungamiri wenyu agadzwa nevemabook, meaning Bible, aifanirwa kugadzwa nemadzimambo endoro chena. Was this done before 1980?
A: Nothing was done. Leaders like Mayor Urimbo and the others I mentioned are the ones who were supposed to make sure this was done. Remember these were my seniors. I reminded all these comrades including Cde Chauke, Cde Mujuru about all this. Even Herbert Ushewokunze, I approached him about this issue and he openly told me that he was not at that meeting so he knew nothing about it.
People are now saying zvese zvamuri kutaura ndezvenyu, isu we are now Christians. So when I talk like this ndotoita sendiri kupenga. I am just talking about this so that the nation knows but I know those who should do something about it won’t.
Even if you go kuZanu-PF department of gender and culture and ask them, they will tell you I once spoke about this. No one is prepared to listen to me because vamwe vanoti Cde Khumalo vanozo influencer mhepo dzenyika kuti dzirambwe dzakabata vaMugabe varambe vachitonga. But Cde Khumalo is just a simple person.
Panevanhu vanonokerwa nenyaya yechigaro so they would not want things to be done procedurally. I am talking of people in Zanu-PF who are saying “dai murume uyu afa tachitora chinzvimbo”. The opposition is always saying the same thing. But hapana achamuuraya because Mbuya Nehanda nemumwe mudzimu weTanzania told us kuti hapana chavanoitwa nemunhu wenyama kusvika ivo vemudzimu vakamugadza vati ngaachizorora. I was just a listener when these things were being said and I am just telling you what was said.
Q: We have spoken at length about what was said naMbuya Nehanda and what was supposed to be done. Let’s leave those who are supposed to do something about it thinking about it. Now, after this meeting with Mbuya Nehanda, tell us of your journey from there.
A: After this meeting, I went back to my base at Kakwidze and continued my role of carrying material from Chifombo. By this time, the first group of female recruits had arrived and they together with some masses from Mozambique helped us in carrying materiel to Zambezi.
When I left, Mbuya Nehanda vakanga vasati vaparutsa as she had said. After about two weeks, that’s when we were told kuti Mbuya Nehanda vakaparutsa. So we continued carrying materiel and it’s important that you know that she had told me also mhiko dzekutakura material.
She had told me that as you carry utate hwenyu uhu, muchasangana nembwa dzemusango kureva mhumhi. Vakati mukaona mhumhi idzi musadziridzire pfuti. Instead kana madziona munotora fodya mokanda pasi motaura kuti tazviona vana sekuru nanambuya. Zvinhu zvatiri kutakura izvi ndezvekuti zvibatsire simba renyu kuti tisunungure nyika. Uchitaura mazita ana Mbuya Nehanda nanaSekuru Chaminuka nevekwako kwaunobva iwe uri kutaura wacho.
Ndakanzi ukasangana nenyoka rovambira, usaridze pfuti nekuti rovambira ndiro richachengeta zvombo zvako paunozvisiya mumapako. Even ukasangana neshato, you do the same.
Q: You said Mbuya Nehanda told you that as comrades you had made the mistake yekubatisa vasikana utate vasina kugadzirwa and you said she said she will sort that out. You are now saying you were now carrying material together with the female recruits. Had that mistake been rectified?
A: Mbuya was referring to nyaya yekugeza kwevasikana. She meant that female comrades were not supposed to carry material while on their menstrual cycle. You will talk to the female comrades from these early days of the struggle and they will tell you their stories. They will tell you that they stopped going for their monthly periods until after the attainment of Independence.
But I leave this story to these women vachataura vega so that people can believe.
Q: You also said Mbuya Nehanda spoke against the abuse of female comrades when she said musaite hutobo hutobo. But later we see it common for comrades to even fall in love. How do you explain this?
A: Remember, we were living in the bush and I can assure you that some comrades vaida kusangana nevasikana but Mbuya vakataura zvaifanirwa kuitwa kana macomrades asangana. She said kana wasangana nemusikana unoita mazuva matatu usina kubata pfuti yako uchigeza nedota. All the comrades were told about this but then zvainyadzisa kungoona munhu wogeza nedota.
So yes, later comrades were falling in love and they didn’t follow mhiko yaMbuya. Mbuya vakati handikurambidziyi kusangana nekuti zvinhu zvakasikwa namusika vanhu asi zivai zvekuzoita.
I want to be very frank here, female comrades had lots of problems especially from mashef. Some leaders would just pick kuti ndoda uyu and the female comrade would have no choice but to give in. These things happened.
If you look later in life, a big percentage of female comrades didn’t get married. But I also need to tell you that there were female comrades who chose one boyfriend and they stuck to their boyfriends till the end. These female comrades would tell mashefu kuti “shefu ndine mukomana wangu and this I won’t do”.
These female comrades, especially the first group, went through a lot and what pains me is that after independence nothing was done to all this trauma they went through. Nothing. They would carry heavy material for days walking to Zambezi and on the way, we would come into contact with the enemy and they would put the materiel down and fight.
After this we would continue the journey and when we get to the destination, these tired girls vodeedzwa nemashefu. What is even worse is that some women joined the struggle later and they came and rose through the ranks by sleeping nemashefu. These female comrades vekutanga were thrown by the wayside because kwauya vasikana vatsva. Moyo wangu unorwadza even up to this day ndikafunga nyaya iyi. The first group of female comrades, vacho vakaita the donkey work, vakaraswa and now they are living hupenyu husingaiti. It pains me because vacho vakadzi who came later and rose through the ranks, after independence they completely ignored these women. Instead vanotovatsvinyira. Government was supposed to do something for these women.
Q: Indeed, that’s sad. Now comrade, let’s go back to your duties as the one in charge of war material. We understand you had to carry lots of ammunition into Rhodesia because you didn’t have cars to do this. Tell us, after carrying the material, what exactly were your responsibilities in terms of storage because kwakanga kusina a designated place to hide the material?
A: Cde Tongogara and Cde Joseph Chiremurenga recommended that I should be the overall in charge of material. My position as political commissar was taken over by Cde Martin Rauya.
So in terms of storage of the material what I would do is before the material came, I would go around the mountains looking for mapako that were big enough for us to store the ammunition.
I first did this on the Mozambican side working with Mdara Binda who was a member of Frelimo. He was also responsible for material under Frelimo. So he knew most of the mountains and we would put Zanla and Frelimo material in one cave at times.
Mamwe mapako acho were so big that it would be like two big houses and mune mamwe mapako waikwanisa kuwana mune vanhu vakafa kare kare vakavigwa imomo. Vamwe vainge vakaiswa pazvikumba zvemombe, vamwe zvenzou, vamwe zveshumba, especially Madzimambo. Waitowana vakaita zvekurongwa nematombo iye akarara pachena.
So you would be told kuti bako rako iri. Zvaunowana imomo haunei nazvo. Iwe ronga materiel yako asi before waronga materiel waifanirwa kuombera uchikumbira kuti uise materiel yako. Sometimes waitoti uri mukati mebako wotoona rovambira richi buda. Taitoti tariona taifara towombera kuti materiel is safe.
Asi tainzi ukaona rovambira iri riri kunze usati wapinda mukati, it means usapinde mubako imomo. It’s telling you that there is something wrong inside, so don’t get in. We would move looking for the next cave and on many occasions by the time we got into this cave, rovambira iya you find it inside already rakaungana.
So we would mark these caves with something so that we would remember what’s inside.
Most of the caves where rovambira would stop you from entering were those munenge makavigwa madzimambo saka maybe rinenge rakazara zvekuti you can’t find space to put anything.
Q: Is this real Cde Khumalo?
A: I remember one incident at Kakwidze. We didn’t know the Rhodesian soldiers were in the area. So taitsvaga mapako ekuisa material. Takatanga kumhanyiswa nemhumhi dzakapenga zvekuti takashaya kuti chii. Mdara Binda almost took his gun so that he could shoot them but I said to him “no, no, no don’t do that”.
We retreated back to our bases. In no time, the group of comrades who ensured our safety as we were hiding the material met a group a Rhodesian soldiers, pfuti dzakarira kwete mbichana on this day. That’s when we knew why mhumhi dzakanga dzatidzinga.
These things happened during the liberation struggle but for some strange reason some people question this. You need to know I grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist and didn’t know anything about zvemudzimu. But during the liberation struggle I started to believe due to things that were happening right in front of my eyes. It’s like I told you kuti Mbuya Nehanda told me that I would be injured in a battle but I would not die. Indeed this went on to happen.
Q: As you were getting into these caves, seeing these people who were buried a long time ago, what was going through your mind? Were you not scared?
A: Kana wairohwa nehana wakanga usati wave gandanga plus I had been told that I would meet all these things. If I had met these things without any warning, maybe I would have panicked or something. Even the comrades at the war front were told of the warning signs by Mbuya Nehanda.
Q: We understand that before carrying material from Chifombo, there was a ritual. Tell us briefly about it.
A: Indeed, before carrying the material waitora fodya wopira kumudzimu. Kana usina fodya waitora mashizha emuhacha, mukuyu, musekesa or mutondo. Waiwombera uchiti “ndinokumbirawo vadzimu venyika ino. Isusu tiri vana venyu, zvizukuru zvenyu zviri kurwira rusununguko. Tine basa ramakatisiyira saka taikumbira kuti varidzi venyika ino kuti zvombo zvatiri kuchengetedza zviwane chiremerera uye vasina mabvi vasakwanise kuzviona. Takumbirisisa imimi chivei chaedza chedu motidzivirira. Sekuru Chaminuka, Sekuru Kaguvi, Mbuya Nehanda”, wobva wotaurawo vekwako.
Paunenge uchitaura unenge uchidonhedza fodya kana mashizha aya.
After this you had the green light to carry the material. Even before embarking on a journey, you would do the same for protection.
Q: You said you were in charge of all the war material…
A: Hapana chombo chaipinda kuenda kana kupi chisina kupfuura nepandiri. We had ZZ province, meaning Zambia-Zimbabwe; we had MMZ meaning Malawi-Mozambique-Zimbawe and we had BZ meaning Botswana-Zimbabwe. We really didn’t use this BZ province.
The area which played a significant role was MMZ – it goes into Mash Central province. Ndiko kwakanga kwakanyanyosimba hondo yedu. This is where the Group of 45 operated from.
Q: Some comrades we have spoken to who were carrying material tell us that they would be ordered to leave it at one place, but the next day all the material would have been taken to the hiding place. Why the secrecy?
A: This was important because we didn’t trust anyone. The issue about the hiding places was supposed to be known by one person or two and that was me and Mdara Binda. Just imagine, there would be about 500 comrades coming with materiel and they would leave all this material at one place.
It was my duty together with Binda to then carry all this material to the identified caves. Later Shakeshake joined us, but his main job was to receive the material on the Mozambican side kwainzi kumabanana. In the evening, Shakeshake would use zvimwadiya to cross with the material and hide them on the Zimbabwean side.
I would take over from there.
Mdara Homba and Cde Chauya Chauya also had their duties with regards the storage of the material. They are the ones who would come to me and tell me of the requests for ammunition from the different sectors. I would personally go up to the caves and come with the material. I would put them at one place without the other comrades knowing and only after finishing that’s when I would tell them the place to go and collect the material to the war front.
Q: Did you have a log book to record that I have received such and such ammunition?
A: We would write everything down. We would count everything together to make sure everything was in place. After this, we would all sign to confirm that indeed, this is what we have. Even when dispatching, we would record everything down. Kana mabook iwayo azara, we would go and surrender them kumashefu, in our case it was Cde Tongogara or Cde Mayor Urimbo. In some cases we would give Cde Daulamanzi. We would surrender the books in front of the secretary responsible for security because they would later sit down and reconcile figures. But all these mashefu, they would not know where I kept the ammunition. That’s why after the war, Cde Rex Nhongo said to me, “Cde Khumalo go and collect all the war material.” That responsibility was given to me because I was the one who knew exactly where they were.
Q: How would the commanders who were at the front send the requests for ammunition to you?
A: I would not dispatch material without the requisition from the commander or the person responsible for material in a given area. Homba is the one who would come with the request to me before apinda munyaya dzanaBadza.
The request would tell me kuti tavhura such and such an area and we need such and such material. I would not just dispatch any material. Each area and commander had his specifics.
Sometimes the requests would come suddenly and I had to quickly make a judgment on what exactly to do. It was my job to make sure that we would not have a situation where freedom fighters would get into a battle without the ammunition they would have requested. This required quick thinking and judgment because hazvaizoita kuti macomrades azoti takapinda into battle tikatiza nekuti comrade Khumalo vakanga vasina kutipa ammunition. Things were not supposed to get to that.
Q: Where were you staying?
A: Right in the bush. Sometimes we would go and sleep mumapako aya andati maiva nevanhu vakafa. We would sleep paside navo and sleep soundly. This was very normal. This was our life. We would stay one month at one place and then change for security reasons.
Q: What kind of material are we talking about here?
A: There would be boxes of hand grenades, usually not less than 100 boxes, mashell emabazooka, more than 100 and bullets, rifles and so on. I was supposed to know the number of comrades in any given area and their composition to know exactly what to release to them and at what time. This was a delicate exercise.
We also had cases where comrades at the front would send requests for something that we no longer had in store. Once this happens, I had to communicate with Lusaka or Chimoio about these requests. It would take me nine days to walk to Chimoio and nine days to come back, uchifamba kwete zvekutamba.
Before going to Chimoio or Lusaka I would make sure these other comrades had some ammunition in case it would be requested in my absence.
We would go for about two months without receiving any material so we had to use the ammunition very wisely. And by the way I would move around with the books with the records of the ammunition. Ndaiacherera some place where I would remember and keep them there. The reason being that if we were attacked, the enemy was never supposed to see these records because once they see these records, they would camp in this area and make it difficult for anyone to access the ammunition. And pese pataifamba carrying the material, we would make sure that there would be no footprints that anyone could follow. I can tell you for all the time I was in charge of materiel, the Rhodesian soldiers never got to know where we kept our ammunition. Our security together with that of Frelimo was very tight.
SM: In terms of carrying and securing material, what would you say were some of the challenges you faced?
A: Just the fact that all the comrades relied on me and that the enemy was hunting for you was enough of a challenge. This meant there was need for very tight security. The Rhodesian forces would go round in a helicopter shouting my name saying “Khumalo takuziva pauri, buda hako”. That was a tactic to scare me because they knew I was the one responsible for all the ammunition.
From my side, dealing with leaders like Joseph Chimurenga was not easy. That man was tough but to an extent he was right because his job demanded that. But you see, I had received military training which was far better than Joseph Chimurenga because while I trained in Ghana, Chimurenga had received his training at Chimbichimbi camp in Zambia. His training was very basic so when he got tough with me, I would understand his shortcomings and my training had taught me how to deal with such leaders.
Q: How did the Rhodesian forces know about you?
A: They captured one of our comrades who was tortured and he revealed my name. This was Cde Isaac Tagwirei. They tortured him until he died. He is the one who told them about my name. The Rhodesian soldiers vakamurembedza pasi pehelicopter vakafamba vachiratidza vanhu.
Q: To you, was he a sellout or what?
A: No, no. He was not a sellout. Some people don’t really understand torture that’s why they would say he was a sellout. The Rhodesian soldiers, especially the Special Branch, those people were ruthless. They knew how and where to inflict pain. He wasn’t a sellout at all.
We have some comrades who after this torture actually went on to volunteer more information and they started working with the Rhodesians.
Q: But we were told that at training, you were taught how to endure pain in case of capture?
A: Yes, we were taught, but to a certain extent. And because of this also, the Rhodesians would really be ruthless when torturing a trained comrade.
Q: We have met some comrades who say our training was such that when the enemy was closing in, they would rather shoot themselves. . .
A: Yes, some who got that training did that. But that was if you saw that you were about to be captured. Killing oneself was a way to say “I can’t be caught and sell out my fellow comrades”. But this was done by very few comrades.
I also need to tell you that the povho in Mash Central, Mash East and Masvingo suffered a lot. They were tortured also.
Q: So you were responsible for material until when?
A: I had this responsibility until I got injured towards 1974. When I got injured, no one knew where I was hiding the material that’s why after independence, Cde Mujuru directed me to go and retrieve it. I spent almost two months carrying that material. The only comrades who were aware that there was this material were Cde Mujuru, Cde Mupunzarima and Cde Perrance Shiri. But again, like I said, they didn’t know exactly where this material was.
When I got injured and was treated, I was later appointed as military attaché in Tanzania. I only came back from Tanzania after the military attack at Chimoio that was in 1977.
Q: You said you were injured, tell us what happened leading to this incident?
A: The Rhodesians knew that Frelimo was about to gain independence in Mozambique and they hired some Portuguese and some South Africans to beef up their army. Some of the forces even came from Israel and there were some Red Indians also.
When these forces came they intensified their operations around Kukakwidze which is the area where I was operating from. I fought in about three battles surviving. The first battle was at Mukumbura border. Only one of our comrades died in this battle. Frelimo lost four comrades because we were together when this battle occurred. Quite a number of Rhodesian forces died in this battle.
After this battle that’s when we decided that we should move in smaller groups. This was the strategy that was suggested by Joseph Chimurenga and Cde Nhari before the Nhari Rebellion.
The second battle was around Msengezi area. No one was injured. We all survived. The third battle happened when Cde Samora Machel visited Frelimo bases telling his comrades how the negotiations with the Portuguese were going. He was telling them that very soon we will be independent and so be ready.
This was in 1973. That’s the battle where I defended Samora Machel and as a thank you he gave me his pistol and an AK. I was given these two in front of Cde Tongogara and Cde Mujuru. He narrated to them what had happened.
Q: Tell us a bit more about this third?
A: Comrade Samora Machel was a very short-tempered person. The AK he gave me actually belonged to one of his guards. This is quite an interesting story to tell, but on the day there was nothing funny. It was a life and death situation.
You see, when we got into this battle, I was still using those guns, mapepesha, which had a fold-butt. We were at the confluence of Zambezi and Msengezi. We could not swim across Msengezi river because it was full. On the other side, there was Zambezi and that one was a non-starter. So the Portuguese really cornered us and we had to force our way in their direction which was the only way out. This battle raged on for hours and Samora was also firing back. That man was a fighter. He was supposed to go to one of the Frelimo bases in Mukumbura but he failed after this battle.
So during this battle, one of Cde Samora’s bodyguards realised that the Portuguese were really determined to kill us all. The bodyguard threw his gun down and started running and Samora shot him straight.
As I was fighting, Samora could see me struggling with my gun because chipepesha would sometimes jam but I would quickly sort it and continue fighting. We defended Samora until the Portuguese retreated. After this that’s when he gave his pistol and this AK which belonged to his bodyguard.
Q: Tell us about the battle where you got injured?
A: The leaders at the rear wanted to send some food to the war front so they called me to ask whether this was possible. It was me, Cde Tongo, Cde Mayor Urimbo and Cde Chauke at that meeting. I told them it was not necessary to send food because the povho was now providing food for the comrades. I told them the people who needed food where those who were carrying material.
When I was coming from this meeting, that’s when I got into the battle where I was injured. We walked into an ambush.
I had just assisted Cde Hwata to cross into Mozambique after he had been injured at the war front. I didn’t know that the Rhodesians were following Cde Hwata and his group. This Hwata is still alive. We fought in this battle for about two hours. We were about 18 because there were some Frelimo comrades. Four of them died in this battle. This is the battle where I got injured. One of our comrades, Cde Tarisai Mabhunu died during this battle. After I got injured, there was a sudden downpour of rain.
Cde Binda and the other comrades stood their ground defending me. Later in the night they took me into Mozambique and in no time we met Shefu Daulamanzi and his group.
Up to now I still have a bullet lodged between rib four and five. Its very close to my heart. Doctors said they can’t remove that bullet because I may die. I was also shot in the leg and my arms. Up to this day I don’t know how I survived.
Shefu Daulamanzi took me back to the Chifombo. One the eighth day as we were walking to the rear, that’s when I fainted and fell down. I woke up when I was in hospital.
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Cde Khumalo went on to play many roles during the liberation struggle, including training the first group of female freedom fighters together with Cde Elias Hondo. He was also in the thick of things during the battle at Mavonde. For now, we put his narration on hold.
Next week, get ready for a big surprise from Mbuya Nehanda’s clan. We will be talking to someone who really knew Mbuya Nehanda and he will tell us in detail who she was, what she told these freedom fighters and what she said about a free Zimbabwe before she died. We will be traveling in the spiritual world. Don’t miss The Sunday Mail as we prepare to unleash another aspect of the Second Chimurenga.