Reliving the State House attack

“It was in 1979 and ZIPRA had downed two Viscount planes in Kariba. DR JOSHUA NKOMO came out in the press saying, ‘Yes, we downed the planes and our target was general Peter Walls, the Rhodesian army commander.’ DR NKOMO said ZIPRA was not aware of the fact that the planes were carrying innocent people.

The Rhodesian government was furious and a decision to kill DR NKOMO was reached.” In last week’s edition, Cde Albert Nguluvhe chronicled how he underwent intelligence and security training in Bulgaria before returning to Zambia, where he worked with the National Security Organisation to protect ZAPU leaders.

We ended the discussion with him telling us that “bad things” happened during the war.In his discussion with our Senior Reporter TENDAI CHARA (TC), CDE NGULUVHE (AN) carries on from where he left off, as we get to the climax of this gripping story.

 

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TC: Cde, last week we ended our discussion with you telling us that a lot of bad things happened during the war. If you can kindly continue.

AN : Yes, like I said last week, the personal relations within the ZIPRA High Command were not very good. A lot of problems were bedevilling the leadership. One example of the bad blood within the leadership was that of Cde Godfrey, a senior official who always talked ill about Cde Nikita (Mangena).

Up to this day, I fail to understand the source of Cde Godfrey’s intense hatred for Cde Nikita. Cde Godfrey never tried to hide his hatred for Cde Nikita. Like I said earlier, a lot of bad things happened during the war and many innocent people were also killed.

As the squabbling reached boiling point, Cde Godfrey was later killed in cold blood by Cde Sigoge, who was then the ZIPRA deputy chief of training. Cde Godfrey, whose real name I do not know, had gone to the girls’ camp where he was not supposed to have gone.

For whatever reason, Cde Nikita had given strict orders that senior members were not supposed to go to the girls’ camp.

Cde Godfrey broke the rule and went to the girls’ camp. Cde Sigoge followed him.

Instead of bringing Cde Godfrey back to the main camp, Cde Sigoge tied him up and severely assaulted him. He was then shot and his body was burned.

Personally, I don’t think Cde Godfrey deserved to die that way. These are, however, some of the bad things that happened during the war.

TC: What then happened to Sigoge?

AN : Nothing! He was a strongly built man and I am told at Independence, he was attested into the Zimbabwe National Army as a Lieutenant Colonel. He left the army during the Midlands disturbances.

TC: You can carry on…

AN : Like I said, I was now working with the National Security Organisation and I was escorting the entire ZIPRA and ZAPU leadership like Cde Josiah Chinamano, who was ZAPU’s vice president. I also escorted Cde Samuel Munodawafa, who was at one time the party chairperson and a former secretary of defence. He was from Masvingo.

Since I was working with the leadership, I travelled with Dr Nkomo to many countries where he was sourcing weapons.

We were visiting all the camps. The security team was under the command of the late national hero, Cde Albert Nxele. In that time, we also had Cde Maposa and the likes of Cde Newsreel.

The late national hero, Simon Khaya Moyo, was Dr Nkomo’s personal assistant. I worked with him closely. But then because of our training, a decision was made for Cde Moyo to be trained in security and intelligence. He was sent to the then Germany Democratic Republic, where he did a short course for three months just for him to familiarise with security issues.

We were staying at Dr Nkomo’s house, which we called the State House. Dr Nkomo’s house was next to the Zambian State House, with the British Commissioner’s house also in the same neighbourhood. Dr Nkomo’s house was attacked by the Rhodesian army, and had Dr Nkomo been in the house that night, he would have died during this well-coordinated attack. Later, I will explain to you how it was carried out because I was one of the people that survived that attack, which claimed the lives of four of my colleagues.

TC: Which countries did you go with Dr Nkomo?

AN : I went with him to Russia and all the East European countries that supplied us with weapons. I escorted him to Cuba, Angola, Tanzania and Mozambique for the Frontline States meetings. I was with Dr Nkomo during the Lancaster House Conference.

A lot of people do not know that I attended the Lancaster House Conference. I used a British passport to travel to the conference. Although I was doing security and intelligence, I went there disguised as a student.

TC: Tell us about your experiences at the Lancaster House Conference.

AN : We were changing from life in camps, guerrilla life to life in the city. We were right in the middle of the white man’s territory in the United Kingdom and we didn’t trust the whites. These were the people we were fighting.

It was in the United Kingdom that I got to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa. I also started to get closer to people like the late Cde Tongogara. During that time, I started interacting with security details that were looking after the late former president, Cde Mugabe. We also interacted with these security teams during Frontline States meetings. As security details from ZAPU and ZANU, we were suspicious of each other.

Cde Ignatius Graham Mudzimba, who is Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Cuba, was protecting the late former president Mugabe. He was working with Cde Nyamudahondo, who is now a farmer. Cdes Martin Kwainona and Cde Nation Madongorere were also part of the team that was protecting ZANU leaders.

In the end, we gelled with the other security details as we spent a lot of time together.

TC: Tell us about the attack on State House

AN : It was in 1979 and ZIPRA had downed the two Viscount planes in Kariba. Dr Joshua Nkomo came out in the press saying, ‘Yes, we downed the planes and our target was general Peter Walls, the Rhodesian army commander.’

Dr Nkomo said ZIPRA was not aware of the fact that the planes were carrying innocent people.

The Rhodesian government was furious and a decision to kill Dr Nkomo was reached. I have been reading in books that the Rhodesian army, on several occasions, had tried to use car bombs to assassinate Dr Nkomo.

Our security was very tight as we often changed routes during our movements. We could use this road today and the other day, we would use the other road.

We also made sure that one day Dr Nkomo’s car would be in front and the other day, it will be in the middle of the other cars.

That is when people started to say that Dr Nkomo had magical powers to disappear. Also, the late Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, had given us one of his chief bodyguards who was now working with us. We used to call him Manyana because he would always say ‘see you mañana’, which means tomorrow in Spanish.

So we were always changing tactics, doing proper security. It was not easy for the enemy to hit us. The Rhodesian army then decided to attack Dr Nkomo at his house. Luckily for us, we had gotten wind of the impending attack. We had infiltrated the Rhodesian army so we knew about the attack. In the morning, we took Dr Nkomo to a safe house. He left the premises in a different car than the one that he regularly used.

That morning he left in a car which was being driven by a lady called Medellin, who was being accompanied by the Cuban security detail and another security guy, Osborne. Osborne is still alive today.

They went to a safe house and we remained behind.

Although we were aware of the impending attack, we were not sure about the day and time of the attack.

It was around 2am when I was walking towards the main house from the guard room when the first shots rang.

Don’t miss the next edition as Cde Nguluvhe gives details of the State House attack.