The Sunday Mail
George Rutanhire
We were taught that we should pray to God and that we should work for him while on earth. We were told that our riches were in heaven and not here on earth. We were told that we could only get these riches once we prayed and worked for God.
So I really followed these teachings in the hope that I would get these riches when I go to heaven. But as I was talking to the comrades from Frelimo, they told me that no, no, no, our riches are actually here on earth and no one really knows what’s in heaven. We later realised that the Bible was being used to blinker us and never to think about our life or our wealth while on earth.
I don’t think the Bible is a bad book. It was written by people who were created by God. These people were given the talent to write by God. The Bible came when people in this country were already praying to God. Our ancestors had their way of praying to God.
I still go to church, I pray to God and I know God is there. But I also respect my ancestors and ndinoita chivanhu.
Now let me show you why I still respect my ancestors. During one of the battles at Mukoma, I got shot in the leg but kept fighting. The bullet which hit my leg is still in there up to now because doctors said it went right into my bones.
Later I was taken up a mountain by Cde James Bond and other comrades. When we got to the top of the mountain, they left me in the care of some old man called Mhondorohuma who later put me into a cave. He brought me maputi and water once every day, right in the middle of the night. I was in this cave for about four days.
On the fourth day, kwakauya kamhuka kanonzi kambangu. This little animal came and started licking me. I could not move as I was in pain. After a while this little animal went away. A few minutes later, I lion came and stopped a few metres from where I was. I could see that the lion had seen me. I panicked thinking pano ndava kudyiwa. After a few minutes the lion walked away going in the direction that that little animal had gone. A few minutes later, I saw chapungu. It came padenga pangu and made that strange sound and flew away again going in that same direction as that little animal and the lion. I instantly knew that I was in trouble but there was nothing I could do.
From nowhere, I heard footsteps drawing closer to where I was. About 20 metres away from this cave, I saw a group of white Rhodesian soldiers. They stood facing down the mountain. They were using their binoculars to try and spot macomrades. I said pangu pazopera. I didn’t have a gun to do anything. After a while, these Rhodesian soldiers started walking down the mountain. I discovered that this was the front security because after a few minutes the main forces comprising many soldiers walked by. They went in the direction that those animals had gone. I couldn’t believe that this soldiers had failed to see me. I don’t know what later happened but I later woke up in the middle of the night as mudhara Mhondorohuma was whispering our code so that I could detect it was him. When he arrived, he hugged me and started crying saying “ndiri kukuona here kana kuti ndiri kurota?” He then told me that he had seen white soldiers coming up the mountain and thought they had captured me. We spoke for a while. He then gave me maputi and water and left. After a few hours, this old man came back with James Bond and other comrades. James Bond then said “mudhara dai tawana munhu asipo uyu nemiwo maishaikwa. Makaita basa.” I was taken to Chifombo and arrived at the base on January 1, 1974. Along the way, the comrades fought many battles and sometimes vaisiya vandikanda mumakwenzi as they fought the battles. Two, three days vachirovana nevarungu then vozodzoka kuzonditsvaga.
From Chifombo we were taken together with Cde Shumba who was also injured to Lusaka. While at one of the hospitals, one of the sisters overheard one of the doctors saying he wanted to revenge. She alerted me and I later discovered that this Dr Mckenzie, we had killed his son during one of the battles in Rhodesia so he wanted to revenge by killing us. This sister saved us and I was later taken by Rex Nhongo to be treated at one of our bases. From that time, handidi zvekurapwa in a hospital. Up to this day I only go to hospital zvekumanikidza. I don’t trust these people with my life.
- These are excerpts from an interview that Cde George Rutanhire had with The Sunday Mail Deputy Editor Munyaradzi Huni in December 2012.
