The Sunday Mail
WE continue with our discussion with CDE EVELYN GOTEKOTE (EG), who, together with her two sisters, left their home in Nyanga and went for military training in Mozambique. We ended last week’s instalment with CDE GOTEKOTE, narrating to our Senior Reporter TENDAI CHARA (TC), how she found herself in the middle of a Rhodesian army attack. This week, she takes us through another chapter of her long and difficult journey to liberate Zimbabwe.
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TC: Cde, we ended last week’s discussion with you narrating to us how the bombardment of your camp by the Rhodesian army started. You can carry on from where you left off.
EG: When the plane appeared on the horizon, one of the combatants shouted that we were under attack. Pandemonium ensued as we ran in all directions.
The bombs rained on us and I was hit by shrapnel on both legs. Although I was badly injured, I did not notice it at first as I ran for dear life.
I was surprised when I saw eagles flapping their wings and at the same time making a noise that one could have easily mistook for a person’s cry. The eagles appeared in the midst of the bombardment.
So, each time the bombing planes dived, the eagles would soar in the air as if they wanted to fend off the attacking planes. Up to this day, I do not know the meaning of all this.
After that, I escaped from the killing bag.
I was bleeding profusely and my clothes were soaked in blood. I witnessed horrific scenes that haunt me up to this day.
I saw injured cadres with intestines protruding. Some were crying and begging their colleagues to finish them off.
They were in great pain.
As I was walking out of the killing radius, I blindly ran towards a group of white Rhodesian soldiers that were having lunch.
For them, everything appeared normal as they continued to devour their food while innocent people were dying.
When I saw the Rhodesian soldiers, I ran back to the camp and dived into a pit that we used as a toilet.
Flies and maggots were everywhere.
I had a deep wound on my leg and when the leg was exposed to the urine in the pit, I felt a very sharp pain.
After finishing their lunch, the Rhodesian soldiers went on a burning spree and the toilet in which I was hiding was also burned down.
I was exposed to intense heat as I lay partly submerged in human excreta.
The heat forced me to come out of the pit.
Luckily for me, the Rhodesian soldiers just burnt down the toilets and the other huts and left the camp.
As the Rhodesian soldiers were burning the camp, they would finish off our wounded comrades. They would use the bayonet to kill those that lay wounded.
Most of the atrocities were committed at a place that we called the HQ.
Here wounded freedom fighters were thrown into drums that had boiling water.
I did what we called cover and crawl and once again got out of the killing radius.
I could hear the cries, moans and groans of wounded cadres. Some had their legs broken while others were in great pain.
In another strange sighting, I saw a duiker calmly walking away from the camp and I decided to follow it. The duiker later on just vanished into thin air.
A lot of strange things happened during the war.
After walking for a short distance, I discovered that Rhodesian soldiers were once again in front of me. I turned around and luckily for me, there was a big anteater hole nearby.
Without thinking twice, I slipped into the hole.
I first placed my legs in the hole, with the rest of the body following suit.
As I was in the hole, I overheard the Rhodesian soldiers chatting as they passed by.
I then passed out since I had lost a lot of blood.
When I regained consciousness, I heard dogs barking and I later discovered that as I was hiding, a hunter happened to pass by and the hunter’s dogs caught my scent and started barking.
The hunter then alerted a group of freedom fighters that had escaped the bombing and were headed towards the next village.
I was dragged out of the hole and as I was being pulled, the group discovered that there were two very big snakes in the hole.
Those that had come to rescue me conducted some traditional rites and as they were in the process, the snakes simply slithered away.
I think I had spent a day or two in the hole.
The wounds were going bad.
I was then removed from the hole and taken to the nearest home where my wounds were cleaned. They tried to give me food, but my jaws had gone numb so I was unable to eat.
Thin porridge was then poured into my mouth. I was then taken to Chimoio Hospital where I was treated.
What happened left me disoriented.
However, Cde Carrington, one of the comrades who had helped pull me out of the anteater hole, always checked on me and encouraged me to be strong.
After treatment, I was taken to Gondola, the gathering point that was established after the Chimoio attack.
It was a temporary base.
We did not stay for a long time at Gondola as we were moved to Pungwe Base 3 where another base was set up.
A training camp was promptly set up and some of us who had been trained were asked to go to the war front where we were going to be war material couriers.
Carrying war materials for long distances was a challenge.
Each of us were required to carry materials that weighed more than 30 kilogrammes.
Apart from the materials, we also had to carry our small bags and guns. It was not easy.
TC: Which areas were you operating in as a war materials courier?
EG: I was operating in Rusape, Gandanzara area.
We were carrying the materials from Mavonde base in Mozambique and we supplied freedom fighters that were operating in Rusape.
I was at Mavonde Base 4 when the camp was attacked during the famous Battle of Mavonde.
We survived because we were housed in one of the many underground bunkers at Mavonde.
I did not see much action during this battle as we were mostly confined to the bunkers.
The Rhodesian army was using deadly weapons that destroyed everything in their path, including trees.
After the battle, we were told that we were going further into the war zone and I was deployed to Gandanzara.
Our commanders in Gandanzara were Cdes Ziso and Cde Anti-Air among others.
My group had two girls and we were operating in areas such as Mount Jinya with our operational zone going as far as the Odzi River.
Our biggest challenge was a lack of cover in Gandanzara, which meant that we were constantly exposed to the enemy.
We will continue our discussion with Cde Gotekote next week as she wraps up her journey of self-sacrifice.
