The Sunday Mail
LAST WEEK, Cde LYN GORORO (LG), whose Chimurenga name was Cde Farisai Magorilla, recounted to our Political Editor KUDA BWITITI (KB) how she came face-to-face with Rhodesia’s enemy forces in Murewa in 1976, just as she and other recruits had begun their journey to join the liberation struggle in Mozambique.
This week, she continues her account.
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KB: Please tell us what happened in Nyanga as you were about to cross into Mozambique.
LG: In Nyanga, we managed to recruit other cadres to join the war. There was a team of mujibhas and chimbwidos that welcomed us in Nyanga. They treated us well and even slaughtered a cow for us to eat. What was interesting was that it was the females who actually slaughtered the cow.
These were chimbwidos who were renowned for being physically strong and committed to supporting the combatants.
KB: How many women were in your group of recruits?
Cde Gororo
LG: There were three of us — myself, my cousin Blessing and another lady named Delia.
However, they were later captured by the Rhodesia security forces while we were in Nyanga.
KB: What happened?
LG: As we were about to cross into Mozambique, we were informed that some new clothes had been donated to us. Naturally, we were excited about this, because the clothes were mostly jeans that were the latest fashion trend of those days. As we were choosing the clothes, I had a dispute with one of the comrades who insisted on having the jeans that I had selected.
Although I had already selected these jeans, he insisted on having them because he was my senior.
Reluctantly, I allowed him to have the jeans. Soon after he put on those jeans, he started to complain that he was not feeling well. He started vomiting and sweating, and after about an hour or so, he died. The jeans had been poisoned. In fact, we were the first group of comrades to put on clothes which had been poisoned by the enemy. A lot of people died after wearing those clothes.
Others, like my two female colleagues, were captured after a surprise attack.
KB: Can you recall the number of people who died as a result of the poisoning incident?
LG: I cannot recall the actual number, but it was more than 10.
KB: What happened next?
LG: When the Rhodesian forces learned about our predicament, they decided to attack. All of a sudden, we saw a couple of military aircraft hovering over us. The enemy’s aim now was clearly to finish us off. They attacked us with napalm bombs. These napalm bombs are liquid ammunition made from a thickened fuel mixture.
They were so destructive that they were banned later during the war. Several comrades died after this attack. These bombs had a porridge-like appearance and were very deadly. I believe we were the first group of comrades to be attacked by napalm bombs.
KB: How did you survive?
LG: One of the bombs was aimed at me but I managed to evade it and escaped into the thick forest. I ran for several kilometres until I was safe from danger. But the scenes were quite horrific as I saw my fellow comrades dying. I strongly believe that I survived because my ancestors protected me. You see, many people find it hard to grasp but our ancestors really protected us.
KB: What happened after this attack?
LG: After we escaped, we managed to regroup and continued with the journey and finally crossed into Mozambique.
We regrouped at a base called Nyakakomva, where we stayed for about a week.
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From there, we moved to another base called Mubhanana.
Our next stop was in Guru, where there was another base and we stayed there for about a month. After that, we proceeded to Doroi, which was a transit camp.
At this camp, we faced food shortages, but I was lucky that my uncle, who we called Mandebvu, was a chef there.
He made sure that I had enough food to eat, as he gave me extra portions.
The living conditions at Doroi were tough, as this was a refugee camp. Many comrades fell sick and died due to illnesses.
The place was also infested with lice, which was very unpleasant.
There were thousands of people who lived at Doroi and lorries that we called maDim-Dim used to come regularly to ferry selected comrades to go to the ZANLA military headquarters in Chimoio for training.
One day, my uncle, the chef, was selected to go to Chimoio, which meant that I would no longer enjoy the luxury of extra food portions.
So, because of the tough conditions at Doroi, I decided, with five of my colleagues, to escape the camp and go to Chimoio for training rather than wait to get selected.
KB: How did you engineer this escape from Doroi?
LG: Although there were several security guards, we managed to escape without incident. However, the challenge was that we didn’t know the exact route to take, as we only had a general idea of where our destination would be.
KB: How many were you when you escaped?
LG: There were six of us.
On the first day, we walked for several hours without eating. It was very tough, but we persevered because of our determination to receive military training and fight for independence.
On the second day of our journey, we encountered challenges after one of the cadres proposed love to one of the ladies in our team.
It was taboo to have sexual relationships during the war, so we then decided that to avoid such temptations, the males would travel on their own and we would meet in Chimoio.
So we proceeded with the journey as females only. It was a difficult time for us as we did not eat on the first day and we were struggling with the directions.
On the second night, we decided to sleep on top of a mountain.
While I was sleeping, I saw a lion coming towards me. I remained calm and the lion looked at me for a moment before it changed direction. We had been told beforehand that there were a lot of wild animals in that area, but, fortunately, this lion did not attack. In fact, I continued sleeping and then my grandfather appeared in my dream, directing me to follow the route used by the lion.
In the dream, he advised me that this was the direction I had to take to get to Chimoio.
Next week, Cde Gororo tells us about her experiences at Chimoio, including how she survived the massacre that killed thousands of comrades at the camp in 1977.
