Last week, Cde WATSON KUDARO chronicled to our Political Editor KUDA BWITITI how he left his home in Chipinge, Manicaland province, to join the liberation struggle by crossing into Mozambique. In this instalment, he speaks about his experiences in Mozambique and how he was trained to be a guerrilla fighter.
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Q: What happened when you got to Mozambique?
A: The Frelimo cadres really received us well.
They were excited because they were celebrating their independence.
They told us that although they had achieved their independence, they would be happier to see us get our freedom as well.
After some days at the Frelimo camp, they took us to another site called Mpanyeya.
From there we proceeded to Espungabera.
After that, we relocated to Machazi Camp, where there were a lot of recruits.
We stayed at Machazi for about three months.
As you might recall, the party had challenges in getting war materials because of the détente situation.
We were stationed there as we waited to go for military training.
Q: What were some of the activities that you engaged in at that camp?
A: We did a lot of physical training. The plan was to go for military training in Tanzania.
However, there were a lot of delays, mostly because of the shortage of resources.
One of the highlights of my stay at that camp was the visit by the then-ZANU secretary-general, Cde Robert Mugabe.
Q: What was the purpose of Cde Mugabe’s visit to the camp?
A: He came to give us an update about the war situation at the political level.
The leaders had been released from prison and there were talks about ending the war.
Cde Mugabe informed us that they had held deliberations with the colonial regime in Victoria Falls. However, the talks had not yielded any positive results. This meant that the war was now fully on. So Cde Mugabe, being the eloquent speaker that he was, gave an inspiring address on the need to be ready for war. Things were hotting up.
Q: What then happened after Cde Mugabe’s visit?
A: Just a few days after his address, we proceeded to Chibawawa Camp.
At that camp, our numbers continued to grow. However, life was not rosy at all.
We faced many challenges. We did not have enough food. We ate perhaps once in day.
After some time, we relocated to another base — Chitoronga — which was about a kilometre from Chibawawa.
I vividly remember that camp because we used to fetch water from Budzi River.
At Chitoronga, we started receiving political orientation lessons.
This was about understanding why we were fighting the war and to have the mental strength to fight the colonial regime.
Q: Who were some of your instructors at that camp?
A: Some of our trainers included Cde Kesi Dzamira, Cde Warren, Cde Fambai and Cde Mao Hurungodo. The training also included lessons in guerrilla warfare.
We were taught that to be a guerrilla, you had to learn to see without being seen and you had to learn to kill without being killed.
This guerrilla warfare was referred to as muchaka muchaka, and it was mostly inspired by the Chinese.
The number of cadres at Chitoronga continued to grow. We were now in our thousands.
The growing number of recruits meant that we faced a lot of challenges.
There was a serious shortage of food. Furthermore, there were also a lot of diseases at that camp. Some comrades died after getting ailments like malaria and rheumatism. There was also a lot of lice. It was really hard to survive. I suffered from rheumatism for a while, but I was able to recover after a couple of weeks. Other comrades were not so lucky as they perished from the diseases.
Another common disease was night blindness, which affected many comrades at the camp.
Q: Was medical treatment provided at that camp?
A: Getting treatment was difficult as it was only offered to those who were critically ill.
These diseases were mainly caused by malnutrition because we hardly had a balanced diet. For example, we would spend a week eating the same porridge meal, without having any other food. Most of the food we ate was donated and it was insufficient.
The situation was so desperate that some of the food we consumed had expired.
Some of the food included leftovers from the Second World War.
This was how desperate it was. After the difficult time at Chitoronga, we were taken to Tanzania to receive the standard military training to equip us for combat.
Next week, Cde Kudaro talks bout the military training he received in Tanzania.