I saw many dying

LAST week, CDE GIFT KAGWEDA told our Political Editor KUDA BWITITI how he joined the liberation struggle at the age of 14, when he was still in Form One at Hartzell High School in Mutare, Manicaland province. This week, he chronicles his experiences at Nyadzonya in Mozambique, which include witnessing the horror massacre of 1 000 people after being sold out by Morrison Nyathi.

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Q: Please tell us about your experiences when you arrived at Nyadzonya Camp.

A: We arrived at Nyadzonya whilst it was still under construction. We built structures, like rudimentary barracks, at the camp. When we got there, some seniors had some military experience and they lived in the other part of the camp, whilst we, the juniors, lived in another section.

I was enrolled in Company 2, which we also nicknamed Vatoto, meaning juniors or Red Guards. It was whilst I was in this company that I got my nom de guerre, Cde Paradzai Mabhunu. We stayed at Nyadzonya for several months. One of my commanders was Cde Freeman — real name Daniel Sigauke — who now lives in Mashonaland East province.

Q: How were the living conditions at Nyadzonya?

A: They were very tough. We lived there during the time of the détente, when there were some uncertainties. There was a decline in the material support that we were receiving. For several months, food supplies and other provisions were not coming as expected. We could spend up to five days without proper food. To survive, we would hunt for wild animals like deer or fish in the Nyadzonya River. Sometimes we would even cook roots. The situation got so bad that people started practising what we used to call “chirenje”, which meant going to the povo to beg for food.

Q: How was the situation on the military side of things, especially in the face of these hardships?

A: Despite these hardships, we persevered and carried out our duties at the camp as required. Because of dwindling supplies, most of us did not have guns, but we still engaged in military drills, training to prepare for attacks, individual tactics and political orientation. We also continued with the construction of structures at the camp. After some time, I was appointed security officer for Company 2. My duties included being stationed at the guarding post and looking out for potential threats, sellouts or deserters. I stayed at Nyadzonya until the camp was attacked in August 1976.

Q: Please describe how the attack happened.

A: I will start with what happened before the attack. Morrison Nyathi, who was one of our own at the camp, committed an offence when he brought in a Portuguese man into the camp. This was not allowed, so Nyathi was given his punishment for breaking the law. His punishment included being beaten and detained at our detention camp. After serving his punishment, Nyathi returned home. Some of the comrades who meted out the punishment were Cde Manex and Cde Tsuro. During his punishment, Nyathi said he did not want to be part of the war effort anymore, but I don’t think many of us took these words with the seriousness they deserved. However, we got wind that when he returned home after he had served his punishment, he became a traitor and befriended the enemy.

So, at the camp, we in the security department knew that Nyathi had sold out. So, knowing that one of our men had sold out made us more vigilant, but I think we let our guard down a little.

On August 8, we celebrated the formation of ZANU. This was the 13th anniversary of the formation of the party, and everyone was in a jovial mood. What happened was that we decided to carry the celebrations forward to the next day, because some comrades had not done their mass displays. So, the attack on Nyadzonya happened on August 9, the morning after the anniversary of ZANU’s formation.

Q: You can continue.

A: On that day, August 9, 1976, food was prepared early to enable us to all go for our parade and continue the mass displays. It was also common for trucks to come into the camp to ferry comrades to go for military training.

After we had completed the parade, we saw some vehicles arriving at the camp. The vehicles were painted in Frelimo’s colours. Comrades were happy to see the vehicles because the obvious assumption was that the vehicles would carry us for training. However, we were wrong.

I saw Morrison Nyathi and he went to the parade to blow what we called the emergency whistle.  To the comrades, blowing the whistle meant that we had to assemble at the parade. Soon after he did so, I saw a gun being adjusted in one of the vehicles to aim at comrades who were rushing to the parade. The first person to be shot was Cde Manex, who was a security officer like myself.

After that, the carnage started. It was gunfire all over as the armoured vehicles fired ruthlessly at our comrades. Many, especially those who were standing, were shot. I watched many comrades dying.

Next week, Cde Kagweda describes how he survived the massacre at Nyadzonya.