The Sunday Mail
We conclude CDE JOSEPH TSENGERAI (JT)’s account of his experiences at the warfront during the liberation struggle.This week, he recounts to our Features and Arts Editor PRINCE MUSHAWEVATO (PM) some of his encounters with Rhodesian forces.
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PM: Can you recount some of the battles you were involved in at the front?
JT: I had several nasty encounters with the enemy.
In Kawazva (Mutoko), we were involved in a fierce battle that lasted for about four hours, having started around 2pm.
We were fighting the Selous Scouts and Auxiliaries.
The Auxiliaries gave us a challenge; they were very determined fighters.
Battling Auxiliaries and Selous Scouts always lasted long.
They did not wear military fatigues, just like us, and they would also go into villages mobilising masses, just like we used to do.
There is one encounter that still lingers in my mind.
I was now section political commissar and happened to be going to Sonera Base.
Before embarking on the journey, I went under a tree to perform our usual traditional rituals that we undertook before every journey.
We placed some snuff on tree leaves, then asked our ancestors to guide us and give the masses loving hearts so that they would not poison our food.
After the rituals, I stood up and tried to reach for my gun.
A shot was then fired towards me and it hit my gun, breaking it into two pieces.
I was seriously injured by fragments from the impact.
I figured out that I had been spotted; if I was to stay in that position, I was definitely going to be killed.
So, I stooped down and found my way out of the killing bag.
My colleagues also escaped.
We could not return fire because of the bullets that were raining on us.
I had to devise a way out of the enemy range of fire.
So, I went through a nearby school to look for cover.
Some distance away was a mountain close to Sonera, so I headed for that mountain as the enemy bore down on my position.
They were closely monitoring my movements using binoculars and they saw me going over the mountain.
They knew that I had escaped the killing bag.
They then organised a follow-up attack.
When I got on top of the mountain, I noticed that I was bleeding profusely.
I then got a tree branch which I used to cover my blood trail.
I then took cover in a thicket.
Within a short space of time, the Rhodesian forces were on the mountain, searching for me.
At one point, they even sat on a large rock that was close to where I had found refuge.
I stayed in that position for close to three days, without food and water.
I knew that any attempt to move from that position would result in my capture.
Fortuitously, when hunger and dehydration were about to get the better of me, that is when the enemy’s planes came to collect the deployed ground force.
On noticing that the coast was clear, I came out of hiding.
Luckily, I noticed a group of children from the local village, who were coming from school.
I whistled and gestured for them to come over.
I noticed that I had startled them and some wanted to run away.
But one of the seniors among them mustered enough courage to come to where I was.
I think the ancestors were the ones who gave him the courage.
I waved at him until he got to where I was.
I noticed that the boy was switched on; he understood the war. He moved towards me slowly while trying to determine whether he was being lured into a trap.
When he got close, he recognised me and said “Cde Taky”.
I told him that I was injured during contact with the enemy, before instructing him to locate my fellow comrades and alert them about my injury and location.
He said he knew exactly where the comrades were and left immediately.
His colleagues fetched some water for me since they were carrying water bottles to school.
After quenching my thirst, I told them to leave because staying would put their lives in danger.
The comrades later arrived and carried me on a makeshift stretcher to safety.
PM: Where were you taken to and was it safe to move around?
JT: We deliberately avoided going to our usual base because of safety concerns.
The comrades feared Rhodesian spies embedded in the community would tell the enemy that there was an injured freedom fighter among our group.
That would have led to a definite attack.
That night, I was taken to Nyamagwada village in Mutoko, which was quite a distance from where we were. That is where I stayed for a month while getting treatment and recovering.
The injuries took time to heal.
Because of the injuries I had sustained, I could not continue in that state at the front.
The commanders decided that I be transferred to the rear.
I was then moved to Mozambique.
The comrades carried me all the way to Mozambique on a stretcher.
PM: What happened when you were in Mozambique?
JT: As I recovered, I was transferred to Tembe Base 3, where I had previously operated as an instructor. Soon after I arrived at Tembe, Chimoio and Tembwe were bombed by the Rhodesians. Many of our comrades died in those brutal massacres. The commanders knew they had to respond to the heinous brutality by the enemy.
So, Cde (Josiah) Tongogara ordered all freedom fighters who had been injured and were now recovering to return to the front.
We complied with the order and returned to the front. I went back to my zone — Takawira.
Around that time, the Lancaster House talks had commenced.
Strangely, we were ordered to attack every enemy camp in the country.
No single camp was to be spared.
We had a group that had been ordered to strike the fuel tanks in Salisbury, which was already in position.
In fact, I am the one who welcomed them from the border and directed them onto the front.
Eventually, we won the war and independence came in 1980.
PM: In winding up our discussion, maybe you could tell us your final journey towards demobilisation.
JT: After the war ended, the comrades were taken to assembly points. However, our commander, Cde Jezenga, selected 10 of us to remain at the front and on high alert in case of the enemy reneging on his commitments to cease hostilities.
So, we did not go into assembly points with the rest of the comrades.
We were instructed to remain with the masses, conducting surveillance operations.
There were rumours that the Rhodesian regime was planning an attack.
So, we were ordered to remain on high alert and monitor airplane and military truck movements. We were directed to alert our commanders upon noticing anything suspicious.
In the end, there was no attack.
We were eventually demobilised and transferred to an assembly point in Chitungwiza.
The public was awestruck when we arrived.
Roadsides were filled with masses of people who wanted to see what a comrade looks like.
We stayed in Chitungwiza for some time.
We were allowed to move around but always remained on high alert because we knew there was a possibility of the enemy regrouping and launching an attack.
I then later moved from Chitungwiza to Tongogara in Chipinge.
Around 1981, I was seconded for military training.
Cde Tsengerai later rose to the rank of Captain in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). He was part of the ZNA teams that undertook missions in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola. He retired in 2011 as a result of complications that arose from a foot injury he sustained during the war. The foot was later amputated.
