The Sunday Mail
CDE STEVE TRINITY CHIDAVANYIKA (STC) joined the liberation struggle when he was still a young man. This week, he tells our reporter AARON CHARUNGWA MOYO (ACM) how his father’s involvement in early nationalist politics influenced his decision to join other boys and girls who were determined to take up arms to free Zimbabwe.
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ACM: Can you begin by introducing yourself and how you got involved in nationalist politics?
STC: My name is Steve Trinity Chidavanyika. My Chimurenga name was Trinity Zuvarabuda.
I was born at St Augustine’s Mission in Manicaland province on April 17, 1958.
I was born in a family of 10.
Cde chidavanyika
My father was a nationalist, who ended up being blacklisted from teaching around 1963 following the formation of ZANU.
I probably want to speak more about him than myself.
This is because my father, Giles Chipo Chidavanyika, was one of the 16 people who were there at the formation of ZANU at Cde Enos Nkala’s house on August 8, 1963.
Nationalists behind the formation of ZANU held meetings at our house at St Augustine’s Mission, preparing for the establishment of the party.
Before that, my father had been a member of the National Democratic Party and later ZAPU.
When ZAPU was banned and ZANU was formed, he was one of the people who were pivotal in the formation of that party.
He was in charge of what they called the Eastern Region back then, along with Cde Enos Nkala.
My father is basically unheralded; he is an unsung hero.
In 1963, before the formation of ZANU, there were deliberations about forming a new movement among the people who were breaking away from ZAPU.
ZAPU had been banned in 1962.
Between December 1962 and 1963, there had been no party operating because ZAPU, under the leadership of Joshua Nkomo, had been banned.
His lieutenants — who included Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, as well as Cdes Enos Nkala, Leopold Takawira and Robert Mugabe — decided to form another party.
They met at our house at St Augustine’s Mission.
That time, my father was leading student nationalism at St Augustine’s Mission.
Among his learners was Herbert Chitepo, who later became ZANU chairperson at its formation.
It was my father who inducted Chitepo into politics, together with a lot of people you hear about today; they were influenced by my father to go into politics.
My father was operating with Jorum Tinavapi, who was also a teacher.
My father was also working with David Hamadziripi, who is our Ambassador in South Africa today.
Then there was Dennis Bepe, whom I think was one of the most underrated politicians in Zimbabwe.
He later became a magistrate in Bulawayo a few years back, before becoming a priest in the Anglican Church.
He died, I think, last year.
Dennis Bepe and my father were always arrested and tortured by the Rhodesians.
One of the torture methods they used was to tie them by the ankles and then throw them down the shafts at Rezende mines.
The mines were always flooded with water and had been condemned and decommissioned.
They were always interrogated about their roles in nationalist politics.
Crucially, my father was also a member of the Rhodesian African Teachers Association (RATA).
What made his situation worse was that RATA members were not allowed to participate in any form of political agitation.
That is why he was not given a post when ZANU was formed in 1963.
It was because he was operating underground.
The code of the education ministry did not allow him to be involved in politics.
But because he was stubborn, he broke the rules and continued his involvement in politics.
Often times, some teachers at St Augustine’s Mission would sell him out to the authorities.
They told the authorities that my father was the one organising the learners and involving them in politics.
One of the learners who knows a lot about what I am talking about is Dr Henry Muradzikwa.
In 1963, because of a meeting that was held at St Augustine’s, just before the formation of ZANU, my father was then put on the radar for his political activities.
The meeting I am talking about had a lot of politicians that came to our house.
This was something that was unheard of for a teacher under the Education ministry to get involved in politics that way.
So, in 1963, ZANU was then formed and my father was there.
ACM: Tell us more about your father’s involvement with early nationalists.
STC: He used to travel a lot around the country, doing a lot of political work.
This caused a lot of problems for my mother; my father was doing something that endangered the well-being of the family.
So, my mother wasn’t very happy about it.
He also used to drink a lot and would come back home from these meetings with his beer.
My mother would then take away the beers and break all the bottles.
But he was very close to the people who ended up in the upper echelons of ZANU.
Just to clarify what happened during those days.
After the formation of ZANU, remnants of the people who were in ZAPU, who included the likes of (Josiah) Chinamano, then assembled and formed the People’s Caretaker Council (PCC) on August 9, 1963.
Those who remained with Nkomo joined the PCC.
This means, after ZAPU was banned, it never existed again under that name.
So, 1963 marked the formation of the two parties — PCC and ZANU.
The two parties then held their congresses to formalise their operations.
ZANU held its congress in Gweru and PCC at Cold Comfort, just outside Harare.
ZANU held its congress from May 21 to 23 in 1964.
At that congress, it was agreed that the party was no longer going to deal with the Rhodesia Front through the strategy of civil disobedience.
They would go toe to toe with the oppressor; engage in war for the country’s independence.
Next week, Cde Steve Trinity Chidavanyika will recount his journey to joining the war.
