The Sunday Mail
BEFORE starting his narration, Cde Noah Mbira whose Chimurenga name was Cde Chemist Ncube requested to stand up and observe a minute of silence to honour his fallen comrades and thank the spirit mediums that led the liberation struggle. “We went through a very, very difficult time. This is a dedication to all the comrades I shared the load with in order to deliver Zimbabwe in 1980. Thank you Lord.” Silence for a few seconds. “Icho, charira! Icho, charira!” Silence again. “Thank you macomrades.”
Born in 1948, Cde Chemist joined the liberation struggle via Botswana after completing his O-levels at Sakubva Secondary School in Mutare. In this interview with our team comprising Munyaradzi Huni and Tendai Manzvanzvike, Cde Chemist says he wanted to be an aircraft technician but condition in Rhodesia didn’t permit that. Under the guidance of Cde Shonhiwa the then Zanu representative in Botswana, he flew to Lusaka, Zambia to join the liberation struggle in 1971.
It took about 17 hours to interview Cde Chemist and the narration below is just a small fraction of his intriguing story. Read on …
SM: Most comrades who joined the liberation struggle via Botswana joined Zapu. Why did you join Zanu?
Cde Chemist: Yes, its true Zapu at that time was the biggest political party. I could have joined Zapu but then it was the underground work of Cde Chimombe who was under Zanu that led me to leave the country and to go to meet Cde Shonhiwa. By this time, I wasn’t really a political activist. Like I said, my aim was to go to Ethiopia for training as an aircraft technician after finishing my O-levels at Sakubva Secondary School in Mutare. I also worked as a gardener to pay for my school fees.
Even though my dream to become an aircraft engineer did not materialise when I got to Lusaka, I was not very disheartened because very few people at that time were going to school. Most people who were coming out of Rhodesia at that time were going for military training.
In Lusaka, I met Cde Josiah Tungamirai and a few other comrades. After a few days, I think we were eight recruits, we were driven to Tanzania by Cde Tongo and Cde Godfrey Savanhu. Of course I know there was a time in Zambia when Zanu had to abduct people so that they could join the liberation struggle but that wasn’t the case with us. Remember when we grew up, all the smoke and thunder was Zapu, that is the party which was popular during this time all over the country. So at this particular time Zanu had very few comrades and yes, at some point it became necessary for Zanu to abduct some comrades to go for military training.
One of the comrades I later voluntarily trained with is Cde Norman Bethune. We trained together and we were part of the group that opened Mgagao Training Camp in Tanzania.
SM: Can you briefly tell us about your training?
Cde Chemist: We were driven to Tanzania for about four days by Cde Tongo and Cde Savanhu. We got to Tanzania through Tunduma and we were taken to Itumbi. This is where we met Cde Kenny, Cde Nhari and many other comrades who were under Cde Kashiri deputised by Cde Chimedza. When we got to Itumbi, the camp was about to be closed for security reasons. We were joined by other comrades, I think we were now 27 and we headed for Iringa then we went to open Mgagao camp. We were the first people to open Mgagao camp. At this time, it was just a plain field and very cold.
For about three months we were assisted in terms of logistics that included food by MPLA from Angola because they had their camp around that area earlier than us. MPLA was receiving training from some Chinese instructors and I must say we had very good relations with MPLA. At Mgagao Cde Chimedza was in charge of the camp and Cde Kenneth Gwindingwi was the camp commander, a Cde Sibanda was the camp commissar and Cde Dick Moyo, a former university student was part of the administration. So from 27 comrades, the number rose to about 53 including Cde Bethune and Cde Dzino who came towards the end of the training.
As for the training, you were asked to narrate the situation at home and the grievances by the masses. This was a bit difficult for non-political cadres like me. I didn’t know much politics by this time and what was even more challenging was to talk about the military disposition of the Rhodesian forces. I didn’t know much about this.
SM: So what would you say were the grievances by the masses at that time?
Cde Chemist: Black people were being arrested and harassed for no reasons and at that time there were no equal opportunities between blacks and whites. Issues to do with makandiwa, which by the way was a good concept but was implemented as forced labour on blacks.
So at training, we would wake up around 2am and go for a cross country run, which was meant to instil endurance into the comrades. Some comrades ran away from training because they could not stand the training regime. Of course there were also sellouts who came to cause problems. On Saturdays and Sundays, pacamp paibikwa chikokiyana which was meant make people open up and reveal their motives for joining the liberation struggle. This was also meant to study people’s characters. We received political and social education.
With regards to military training, the first thing was the general appreciation of guerilla warfare. We were taken through Chinese history, how they conducted their military activities particularly against the Japanese. We were taught that guerilla warfare was a concept to fight a well established army. We were taught that we could not win a guerilla warfare if we didn’t know the composition of the masses and their grievances. We were taught that we were supposed to be part and parcel of these people. We had to fight guerilla warfare because we were a very ill-equipped army, with very few people confronting a well-established army with good armament.
In our case, it was actually scary that we were going to face the Rhodesians because they were well-equipped for war but guerilla warfare taught us mass mobilisation so that the masses were on our side. The good thing is that from the Zapu experience, we knew the masses would support us. After understanding guerilla warfare, we trained in light arms – the AK rifle, LMG, sub-machine gun and the pistol for self-defence. But the pistol was not for everybody. We were taught to assemble the guns and how to shoot at the shooting range. We were told that the most important thing was to look after the gun and the bullets because they were your only cover. We were told never to fire the gun unless it was really, really necessary because our resources were really scarce. The training was quite rigorous and like I said, some people ran away. We were taught also how to deal with chemical warfare.
After the training, people were now put into groups to undertake specialised training which depended on one’s performance during the general training. As the Chinese took us through the training, Cde Enerst Kadungure was one of the interpreters. He explained some of the concepts and this helped in a big way.
I was then chosen to specialise in heavy machinery, specifically the anti-aircraft whose main focus is to fight an air-force. So I had to understand the machine itself, who manufactured it and its maintenance. I was taught how to use it and to use it only when really necessary.
SM: So you were at Mgagao for how long?
Cde Chemist: We were at training from March to December. From Mgagao, about 40 of us moved to a transit camp called Kongwa ready for deployment. I also need to inform you that during training we analysed why some of the first battles, like the Chinhoyi Battle had failed and we learnt quite a lot. Clearly, in the early stages the deployments into Rhodesia were chaotic that why there were so many comrades who were arrested, but what is important is that they sowed the seeds of the revolution. We were at Kongwa I think for two to three weeks then about 20 of us including Cde Josiah Tungamirai and Cde Rex Nhongo were taken to Mozambique to join another group of 25 which was already there. The 25 had already started carrying materiel from Chifombo to Zambezi River with Cde Khumalo at the helm of receiving all the ammunition and smuggling it into hiding places in Rhodesia. He was assisted by Baba Juru and Cde Zengeni. Chifombo was very close to the border between Mozambique and Zambia. We joined this group in carrying materiel from Chifombo to Zambezi and we were working very close with Frelimo whose provincial commander at that time was former Mozambican President Armando Guebuzza, seconded by Cde Joachim Chissano. Here my Chimurenga name was changed to Matias Matosi. All the comrades adopted new names at that time but the name Chemist Ncube refused to die.
Our first battle was against the Portuguese as we fought on the side of Frelimo under the leadership of Cde Guebuzza and his deputy Cde Chissano. I remember there were about three anti-airs, ten 82 mm mortars then other heavy machine guns. This was our first join operation – Zanu and Frelimo. We joined Frelimo on voluntary basis and it was only eight of us who volunteered. It was myself, Cde Nhongo and other comrades I can’t remember their names. We fought in that battle and I just enjoyed myself firing my light machine gun. I remember we were around 200 comrades and we hit the Portuguese that they tried to return fire but we overpowered them after some two hours. I remember as we were retreating with my machine gun I was providing cover for many comrades until one of the Frelimo commanders came from my back, pat me on the back and said “comarada, rekuwa!” which means retreat its done.
Now we are at Chifombo and Cde Mayor Urimbo was Zanu’s provincial secretary, Cde Chimurenga was the provincial commander while Cde Rauya was the provincial political commissar. This was MMZ province which meant Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia operations. Malawi was involved here because the then Malawi leader Kamuzu Banda was a Zanu sympathiser through his close relationship with the then Zanu leader Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole. So in these early days, quite a number of people would pretend as if they were going to Malawi and then change route to Zambia. So Malawi played a role. As you know people like Webster Shamu came through Malawi.
We got to Chifombo in January 1972 and up to June we were carrying materiel on our backs to Zambezi getting ready to start the war. During the first days, it would take us about seven days to walk from Chifombo to Zambezi but as time went on, we walked for three to four days (shows us his back showing marks of carrying materiel and an X-ray showing problems to his spinal cord). That’s why you see I can’t walk up straight. It was six months of carrying heavy materiel and so my spinal cord gave in. Because of this, during the early days of the liberation struggle, once captured, the Rhodesian soldiers would ask you to take off your shirt and the marks on the back would clearly show them that you were a gandanga as they liked to put it. I don’t think I can repeat this because up to this day I ask myself how we managed to do that for six months.
SM: Tell us now how you later crossed into Rhodesia and what were your first tasks?
Cde Chemist: After this battle where we fought alongside Frelimo, Cde Guebuzza came to address us. He said he was surprised by the passion we had shown as we fought alongside Frelimo. He wished us the best in our fight with the Rhodesians. He told us that the struggle would be long and very painful but we should never give up. Our group of 45, crossed the Zambezi River on the 30th of June 1972 into Rhodesia. Let me state this now and very clearly. The war was not easy. If you ask me today, do I want to go to war? I will tell you, NO. But then we had no choice. People don’t like war but there are circumstances that forces people to go to war. People should know that war means death. Lots of dying, blood and pain.
Cde Urimbo and some comrades remained at Chifombo while the group of 45 started the march to Rhodesia in 1972. Through the help from Frelimo and some Mozambicans, we managed to cross into Rhodesia. Cde Khumalo did all the donkey work organising zvimwadiya for us to use to cross Zambezi. Each mwadiya could take five or six comrades. But before we crossed Zambezi it was the norm that whoever aiva nechidumwa or whatever mushonga was supposed to throw it away because the spirits of the rivers were against that.
SM: So were there some comrades who had these zvidumwa?
Cde Chemist: Oohh, yes and they threw them away. So we later crossed into Rhodesia and crossed Msengezi river through a point called Kakwidze.
SM: Earlier on you said when you left Rhodesia you wanted to go to Ethiopia and train as a aircraft technician. Now you were going back to Rhodesia as a freedom fighter. Did you have any regrets?
Cde Chemist: Not even. I had now accepted the situation and I was ready for war. The time for books was over. The most important thing now was how to execute the war. I don’t think if I had gone on holding to the notion that I should have gone to school, I would have survived the war. I was ready for war.
SM: We are asking this question because we have spoken to some comrades who say that in Lusaka and Tanzania, there were some comrades who would say, ‘you go and fight the war while I further my education. When you win the war, we will then come and rule you because hamuna chikoro.’
Cde Chemist: Let me take you back a bit to Mgagao. Mgagao was very cold. I got very sick while at Mgagao. I had a serious and persistent cough and was taken to Iringa for medical treatment. The doctor asked, do you drink? I said no. Do you smoke? No. Did you ever drink or smoke mbanje or what? I said, no. The doctor then said make sure you are very warm everyday. When I came back from Iringa the commander at Mgagao, Cde Chimedza said chingoshingirira maybe after training you will be selected kuenda kuchikoro.
However, after training we went to Kongwa and the coughing stopped. After this that’s when I was later deployed into Rhodesia. I never questioned why I wasn’t sent to school. My mind was now set to fight the war. Like I said, quite a number of people ran away from Mgagao to further their education. That was their choice and yes some comrades made the remarks you are repeating here, but my mind was already in Rhodesia and up to this day I don’t regret the decision I made. Later you will realise that after independence I chose to join the private sector because I knew that handouts from Government would not be easy to come by.
SM: Now back to your journey.
Cde Chemist: So we crossed Zambezi and took some rest. The provincial commander was Cde Chimurenga, seconded by Cde Badza, Cde Rauya was the commissar, I think Nhari was his deputy. I was selected to go to Chaminuka sector. There were two sectors divided by the Harare-Mukumbura road. There was Chaminuka sector and Nehanda sector.
Chaminuka sector was headed by Cde Gwindingwi. From Msengezi we proceeded through Mukumbura to Nura. The povho in the area welcomed us but most of them knew about Zapu and because of that we didn’t concentrate on political parties. We just said tiru vana venyu vamakanzwa kuchinzi mapfupa angu achamuka naMbuya Nehanda. But there were some people who had come into contact with the war in Mozambique and these people were tired of the war. Some of them would inform the Rhodesians about our presence or they could poison our food.
Around July 1972, some Rhodesian soldiers actually came very close to our base and they didn’t know we were already in the area. So we quickly organised ourself and attacked the Rhodesian soldiers. We took them by surprise and we wiped them out but there were no assault because we knew reinforcements could come anytime. This was our first contact with the Rhodesian soldiers and we quickly changed base.
We then went and established another base at Mupfubve close to Zambezi river. Having realised that this was a typical attack, the Rhodesians tracked us and one night we woke up to find ourself encircled by the Rhodesia soldiers.
SM: You didn’t have some comrades to guard the base at night?
Cde Chemist: We had. I was actually one of the guards with my LMG, but on this day I was actually not feeling well after going on long trips to Zambezi to collect materiel. I had diarrhoea.
So when we woke up, we didn’t know what was going on.
As other comrades were going to the assembly point, I actually shouted saying handisi kuuyako. I went to a nearby bush to relieve myself and as I took my position, I saw Rhodesian soldiers from a short distance. I don’t think they saw me but they stealthily walked closer to the assemble point where the rest of the comrades were. I think this was around 4am. I used another route to rush to the assemble point to alert the other comrades. Quickly, we started retreating but the Rhodesian soldiers followed us up without firing. I think they didn’t fire because it was still a bit dark and so they feared that we could escape. We climbed up a hill with them in hot pursuit. After discovering that they were following us, we took position up the hill and when they got close, we fired at them.
They took cover and were firing back at us just to make sure that we don’t escape. They were buying time. We fell for their trick and as it became clear, we suddenly saw helicopters coming. Pakabva paita baravamhanya. It was now around 6am. Takarovana ipapo. In no time we saw jets coming. Some comrades tried to run away and our war plan became very disjointed but we managed to stand our ground until past 3pm. We unfortunately lost one comrade during this battle, Cde Mapudege. He was one of the comrades in charge of logistics in the sector. We really don’t know whether he was captured or not. The situation was very desperate. This was the first heavy attack on our side, especially from the air. It became very clear to us that we had no capacity.
SM: How did you survive this battle?
Cde Chemist: With my LMG, I ran down the hill and the moment we discovered that we were under air attack, it became one man for himself, God for us all. I took advantage of the terrain and quickly took cover. I remained in that position without making any movement because I knew that from the helicopter, the gunman shoots at anything that moves on the ground. After a while, I dashed to a nearby tree and knelt down with my LMG covered. I remained in that position then after some time dashed to a nearby bush.
SM: You were facing death and we always wonder, in such a situation, do you pray to God or talk to the ancestors?
Cde Chemist: For a fighter, there is no time to pray. All you are thinking is, how do I manage the situation here? How do I escape?
You can’t even afford to be afraid because once you become afraid, you are dead. Fear has no place here. The moment you allow fear to take control or the moment you pray, just know you are giving the enemy advantage. Prayer is for another time. It’s you who will manage the situation and decide what to do. If you concentrate on please help me God, God has no time for someone so scared. A military person in such a situation has no time for prayers. Its like mwana akunyura mumvura and you are busy praying kuti asanyura. Things don’t work like that mwana anonyura uchinamata.
SM: So you telling us faced with death you didn’t fear death?
Cde Chemist: No. Not even. In a war situation death will come if its meant to come. There is no reason to fear it. You fear death them what?
So when I dashed to nearby trees, I joined another comrade. We took cover under the trees and the helicopters couldn’t fly low because they didn’t know what to expect. I had been trained in anti-aircraft so I knew that the helicopters would not come close to the trees. Later we escaped from the war zone and walked to our gathering point. After two to four days, most of the comrades came to the gathering point. Because the povho had been shaken by this war, they left their homes and were staying in mountains. This presented a problem for us because now there was no one to cook for us. For days we were surviving on mbwizhu, from mhunga.
Later the provincial commander Cde Chimurenga came to see us and encourage us to keep fighting. That man was a brave fighter and leader. I really think we should forgive some of these comrades. Cde Chimurenga paved the way for our liberation struggle.
SM: What do you mean we should forgive some of these comrades?
Cde Chemist: Do you know where Cde Chimurenga is right now? He passed away and was buried like anybody else. Why? Why? Why to such a comrade? There were differences during the liberation struggle but couldn’t we forgive such a comrade? Why are we not a people who can forgive each other?
SM: What differences did Cde Chimurenga have and with who?
Cde Chemist: We can actually spend the whole day on that. But what I am saying is that we were in total disarray and in the middle of nowhere. We had lost all our belongings and as I said, the situation was desperate. Cde Chimurenga came to give us hope. What kind of a leader would one want?
He came and organised us to focus on the war. This was just one incident but this was Cde Chimurenga’s character. After about two weeks, we were back on track and proceeded to Chioko area which was a very dry area. We went to Changara and camped there for quite a while.
Cde Chemist is one of the few remaining comrades who were accused of being part of the Nhari-Badza rebellion. He has a fascinating and sorry story to tell about that dark episode. He went on to survive many battles in ways that confirm the crucial role played by spirit mediums during the war. Don’t miss your Sunday Mail next week.
