The Sunday Mail
CDE JOSEPH TSENGERAI (JT), whose nom de guerre was TAKESURE MUHONDO, considered joining the liberation struggle after the arrest and brutal torture of his parents by Rhodesian authorities. This week, he narrates to our Features and Arts Editor PRINCE MUSHAWEVATO (PM) how this experience changed the course of his life.
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PM: You can start by telling us about yourself and a brief background of your life.
JT: My name is Joseph Tsengerai and my liberation name is Takesure Muhondo.
I was born in August 1958 in Nyanga, under Chief Katerere.
I learnt at Bhande Primary School (now known as Tsengerai Primary School) from Grade One up to Grade Seven.
When I was in Grade Seven, my parents were arrested by the Rhodesian government and detained at Ruwangwe Camp for close to a month.
They were severely tortured during their detention.
The colonial government would bring and parade them at our school and many others, embarrassing them in all manner of ways.
It was a traumatic experience.
I saw them lose weight. They were also visibly in pain from torture.
PM: And then what happened?
JT: After my Grade Seven, I enrolled at Emmanuel Secondary School for my Form One.
However, my heart was no longer at school, as I was angered by the white man’s oppression and brutality, including the way they were ill-treating our parents.
When I was in Form Two, one day, after schools had closed in April, we passed through our local town centre.
The Rhodesian forces then stopped and temporarily detained us, asking if we knew the whereabouts of liberation fighters.
But this was not my first encounter with them, as they used to visit and camp at our school.
This was not only disturbing but annoying.
So, after leaving school, four of my colleagues and I did not go back home for the holidays, as was usual.
PM: Where did you go?
JT: We gathered at some place in the neighbourhood and discussed the oppressor’s vile rule and how we could contribute to solving the problem.
All the while, we were playing a popular Chimurenga song with the chorus “Mhoroi mose mose”.
The song not only entertained us, but also gave us the courage to join the struggle.
It was on a Friday and around 2pm, when we actually decided to look for the liberation fighters to join them.
PM: Was this to mark the beginning of your involvement in the liberation struggle?
JT: In a way, yes.
We had earlier on been told that comrades were following Rwenya River (a tributary of Gairezi River) into Mozambique and that they had intensified the liberation struggle.
So, we knew where to find them before crossing the border.
Besides, we had been informed that there was a party in a nearby village, so that same day, we decided to join the liberation movement. We later joined the party and enjoyed ourselves. While there, some comrades arrived but they did not stay long.
We, however, told them of our intention to join the struggle, but they left before giving us any feedback.
They had initially told us that their main mission did not include recruiting.
Later on, after the party, one of them returned and promised that they would come back and get us.
We spent five days in the area, waiting for them.
Each day, we would inform the local traditional head that we were still around.
The traditional leaders in the area knew that we were from Tsengerai village, so we did not face any challenges with the community.
However, they encouraged us to go back home and promised to send an emissary when the freedom fighters returned for us, as promised.
PM: Did you go back home?
JT: No! We could not go back home.
We knew that our parents would long have been in trouble with the Rhodesian forces because we had been missing for five days.
Thus, we decided to move towards Gairezi River.
When we got there, we met an elderly man who asked us where we were going.
We told him that we wanted to cross the border into Mozambique.
He then told us to follow him since the path we wanted to take had landmines laid by the colonial forces.
The old man was deployed by the comrades to the crossing point, monitoring the white man’s movements.
He then led us through a safe path, but we still had to swim across.
Swimming was not a challenge for most of us, save for one guy who struggled and almost drowned before I rescued him.
As we crossed, moving towards Nyakadecha, a mountain in Mozambique, we were stopped by the comrades and they asked where we were going, which party we wanted to join and which group we belonged to.
We then told them that we were from Sithole’s camp, which immediately won us approval. We then proceeded and got to Villa Catandica in Mozambique.
Next week, Cde Tsengerai will recount how he narrowly survived the Nyadzonia attack soon after crossing into Mozambique.
