I was sentenced 30 years in prison for terrorism

CDE ONIAS GARIKAYI GOSHA (OGG), whose wartime name was CDE GABARINOCHEKA, concludes his account by recounting some of the fierce battles he took part in during the Second Chimurenga. He also tells our Deputy News Editor LINCOLN TOWINDO (LT) how he lost an eye to a dirty bomb.

******************

LT: How did the Rhodesians react to the attack on Altena Farm?

OGG : Following the successful execution of the attack on Altena Farm, we continued mounting many other campaigns.

We would ambush vehicles transporting Rhodesians through assistance from the povo volunteering intelligence about the movement of the enemy in our area of operation.

Whenever we heard that a convoy of vehicles transporting Rhodesians or their goods was scheduled to pass through, we would plant landmines on the road they were going to use.

The landmines would then dismantle the vehicles, giving us an opportunity to attack using conventional arms.

As our campaigns intensified, the Rhodesian government found itself in a very tight spot and it had to react.

I remember clearly the brutal reaction that followed.

On January 7, 1973, Ian Smith addressed the nation in a live broadcast on radio.

Essentially, his broadcast was to tell the nation that the country was officially at war with “terrorists”.

He said the guerrillas had changed tactics and they were finding it difficult to contain us.

He immediately ordered all soldiers and police officers who were on leave to report for duty.

I remember Smith equating us to a cancer that needed to be dealt with.

LT: What then followed after the broadcast?

OGG: As our attacks continued to gain traction, Rhodesians living on farms could no longer sleep in their farm houses that were isolated from their colleagues out of fear of being attacked during the night.

So, they were now abandoning their homes around dusk and congregating at one farmhouse, along with their families, where they would spend the night.

The men would spend the night patrolling the perimeter of the farmhouse on the lookout for “terrorists”.

The women and children would be locked up in one place.

We had caught them completely off-guard.

I remember another follow-up ambush we carried out on Chawona Estate.

We attacked the farm owned by a white man who had just returned from Britain.

He was killed in the attack.

In response, the Rhodesian government began setting up concentration camps, which they called “keeps”.

They would invade villages where they suspected the residents to be collaborating with the freedom fighters and beat up those accused of working with us.

We used this reaction by the Rhodesians as evidence of the white man’s brutality against the common man.

We used this to galvanise the povo, telling them that the Smith regime was evil.

This also presented us with an opportunity to recruit more fighters, as we saw that the war effort was broadening and we needed to bolster our numbers.

We would identify young intelligent men, whom we would then train right there at the front and arm them.

We sent some of the recruits across the border via Zambia for training.

One of the people we recruited was the late Brigadier-General Epmarcus Kanhanga, who was declared a national hero in February this year.

We recruited him in Sipolilo (Guruve) before sending him to Chifombo, Zambia.

LT: Take us through the other battles you were involved in?

OGG : By 1973, we were truly immersed in the war effort.

We had laid landmines all over and it was difficult for the Rhodesians to operate without hindrance.

The Rhodesians had also intensified their recruitment of sell-outs to try to counter our activities.

One of the collaborators was a shop owner in the Kaitano area.

He had been looking for us for some time by sending emissaries, saying he had a gift for us.

We then passed through his shop one day and we were handed a brand-new portable radio.

Unbeknown to us, the radio was booby-trapped.

We thanked him for the gift and proceeded to Dande, where we were supposed to camp for the night.

The following morning, one of the comrades wanted to listen to the radio.

To switch on the radio, you had to turn on a key of some sort that was attached to the front.

Inside the radio was a grenade with its pin attached to the key used to switch on the device.

What this meant was that the moment you switched on the radio, the pin would detach from the grenade, and the explosive would detonate in a matter of seconds.

So, the comrade who wanted to listen to the radio switched the key on and in a matter of seconds, the grenade detonated, killing him and another comrade who was close by instantly.

I was a short distance away and got hit by shrapnel all over my face and on my head.

I was badly injured in the face and on the head.

I immediately lost consciousness and was barely alive.

My comrades thought I was not going to survive the blast because of the nature of my injuries.

So, they covered me with a blanket and left.

I only had my underwear on because my clothes were bloodied.

After three days, I started regaining consciousness and could tell that I was all on my own.

I could hear birds chirping in the nearby bushes.

After some time, I gained a bit of strength and decided to move away from danger.

So, I started walking very slowly, heading towards the east, hoping to reach Mozambique undetected.

Along the way, I was bumping into trees and falling into trenches because my eyesight had been affected immensely.

My vision had been blurred.

Even up to today, I cannot see properly.

But in spite of my injuries, I soldiered on and walked for days.

Luckily, I did not run into the enemy.

After walking blindly for what seemed an eternity, I bumped into a group of children going to school.

I called out to them, but they were afraid of coming too close to where I was.

So, I shouted out that I was Cde Gabarinocheka.

They replied, saying Cde Gabarinocheka had died in a bomb incident some days earlier.

They thought they were seeing a ghost.

I assured them that I was indeed alive and needed their help.

I then asked them to go to their parents and ask them to bring me water.

The parents brought the water, which I drank like a mad man.

That is when I was told that I had been walking for 13 days with barely any water or food.

They then gave me some food and sent a messenger to our base to tell the comrades that I was alive.

The comrades then came and took me away.

By that time, Cde George Rutanhire had completed his training and was now at the front.

So, he came to see me.

It was around that time that the comrades recruited schoolchildren from St Alberts Mission School.

So, Cde Rex Nhongo ordered that I was supposed to be transferred to Chifombo, Zambia, so that I would receive treatment in relative safety.

I was supposed to join the party that was going to Zambia that included some of the children from St Alberts.

The Rhodesians caught wind of the raid on the school and deployed heavily to cover all crossing points along the Zambezi River because they knew the children were going to be taken to Zambia or Mozambique.

So, crossing was going to be tough.

Having noticed the blockade, some of the children escaped and turned back to go home.

They were soon caught and tortured by the Rhodesian army, before revealing to their captors all our plans and position.

They told them that among the travelling party was a “blind man”, who had survived a bomb incident.

Immediately, they knew that I would be easy picking.

So, the enemy set up a trap for us, which we walked into.

We were ambushed suddenly from all angles.

The comrades scattered to safety in all directions.

However, because of the problems I had with my sight, I could not run from danger.

I was stuck as gunfire rang all around me.

I knew I was all by myself and was in deep trouble.

By the grace of God, I safely walked out of the ambush before the enemy could reach my position.

After a short while, I realised that I had crossed into Mozambique and immediately began looking for the povo for assistance.

As I walked, I began to notice the type of sand I was stepping on.

I realised that I had passed through this area some time before.

I was in Chief Makombe’s area, Mozambique.

So, I figured out I was now safe.

Unbeknown to me, the Rhodesians were on my trail. Because I thought I was now safe, I decided to sleep in the open and proceed with my mission the following morning.

Just as I was about to sleep, I heard footsteps from nearby and got up.

As I was trying to figure out what was going on, I heard a loud male voice.

“Hands up!” shouted the man in the shadows.

I had been caught by the enemy.

I later learnt that they were trailing me using the footprints I was leaving behind.

So, I was captured by the Rhodesian security forces. I was tied up with a rope. It was so tight that it was eating into my flesh and I was bleeding.

The following morning, I was transferred to Sipolilo by helicopter for interrogation.

At the camp in Sipolilo, I was tortured badly in spite of my apparent injuries.

I started bleeding from one of my ears after the eardrum ruptured.

The white man who was torturing me only stopped doing so after pleas from his colleagues who thought I was dead.

I was later taken to the military camp in Centenary, before being transferred to Salisbury Central Prison on remand.

There I met the likes of Cde Robert Mugabe, Enos Nkala and Morton Malianga, who were in detention.

The courts later sentenced me to 30 years in prison for terrorism.

I was to be put into solitary confinement during the subsistence of my sentence and would only be released for 30 minutes for physical exercises.

In 1976, I was transferred to Khami Maximum Prison to serve the rest of my sentence.

I was only released from prison through the general amnesty in 1980, just before the first elections, after serving seven years of my sentence.

Twitter: kuntowaz