The Sunday Mail
WE conclude our discussion with Cde LINGIWE CHIMBUYA (LC), a former ZANLA guerrilla fighter who made the long trek to Mozambique via Botswana and Zambia to join the liberation struggle. In our previous instalment, she recounted violent disturbances pitting ZANLA against ZIPRA cadres at Mboroma, Zambia. This week, Cde CHIMBUYA narrates to our Senior Reporter TENDAI CHARA (TC) how she served as a teacher at refugee camps in Mozambique.
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TC: We ended our discussion with your account of disturbances that took place between ZANLA and ZIPRA cadres in Zambia. If you can kindly continue from where you left off?
LC : After the shooting, victims were taken to Lusaka where they were buried.
We stayed for a while at Mboroma.
This was during the détente period and all war activities had been stopped.
The shooting incident contributed to the removal of Ndabaningi Sithole as ZANU leader.
When the victims were shot, Sithole was in Lusaka and was briefed about the unfortunate incident.
Instead of taking prompt action, Sithole did not even bother to attend the burial of the slain cadres.
When he was asked about attending the burial, he said he was not going to attend the service because he was busy planning to travel to the United States of America to visit his son, who was unwell.
This response came as a shock to many and did not go down well with ZANU members, some of whom began agitating for his removal as leader.
TC: What then happened after the shooting? Were any corrective measures taken by the Zambian government?
LC : As far as I know, nothing happened.
After the burial, it was business as usual.
We stayed at Mboroma until December when the détente period lapsed.
Military training resumed and my group was flown to Mozambique for training.
In Mozambique, our first port of call was the Chingodzi Base in Tete.
Chingodzi was a transit base of sorts; we were being moved from this base to other bases in Mozambique.
My group was deployed to the border area where we were tasked with transporting war materials from the rear to the front.
We were based at Seguranza in Tete near the Zimbabwe/Mozambique border.
This was well before we were deployed to the camps for military training.
For months, we were transporting war materials to the front.
Then one day, Cde Rex Nhongo paid us a visit and addressed us.
He told us that women were to go for what we then called a “retreat”.
Cde Nhongo told us that the Rhodesian army had gathered that we were based near the border and was planning an attack.
The Rhodesian army considered female cadres easy targets that they would capture and interrogate.
We were then removed from Seguranza and taken to a camp called Battaliao.
From Battaliao, which was in Tete, we were then taken to Tembwe military camp, where I received training in 1976.
After basic military training, I was posted to the education department, where I was a teacher.
I taught a lot of cadres, some of whom became prominent citizens in Independent Zimbabwe.
I trained Cde Chokuwamba, who is a senior Government official.
I also trained a lot of cadres, some of whom are members of the Zimbabwe National Army.
Together with six colleagues, we were posted to Mavhudzi Refugee Camp, which was located in Tete Province.
We built classrooms from scratch.
TC: How were the living conditions at the refugee camp?
LC : Living conditions were never good during the war.
We had a serious shortage of educational material.
We had children who were motivated to study and some went to attain degrees after the war.
Some of them are much better off than us, their teachers (laughs).
TC : Was it not difficult to motivate the children during the war?
LC : It was not.
We often told them that to have better jobs in Independent Zimbabwe, they had to study hard and pass.
From 1977 up until 1979, we were at Mavhudzi.
I need to tell you some of the things that I witnessed during the war which prove that the liberation war was not a stroll in the park.
At one time, I got very sick whilst at Mavhudzi.
What happened was that I fell in love with a fellow cadre and I fell pregnant and gave birth to a baby.
I then fell sick and I was referred to Tete for treatment.
I still remember that day.
It was on December 26, 1978.
I was supposed to go to a hospital that we called MaTids.
As soon as we got to Tete, I was not immediately taken to MaTids, but was admitted to another hospital.
While at this other hospital, we learnt that MaTids had been bombed.
I then stayed in hospital for five days before being released.
I was then directed to go to another camp close to the bombed MaTids.
As I walked towards the new camp with my four-month-old child, I noticed Rhodesian planes bombing the base where I was headed.
I watched as the planes dropped bombs, return to their base, and then return to drop more bombs.
I hid behind an anthill as the bombs rained.
Beside me was an armed comrade.
I remember screaming to the comrade, telling him not to fire his weapon because that would expose me and my child, Millicent, to the Rhodesians. The Rhodesians later on stopped the bombing.
I had my first child during the war.
I met her father Mr Matongo at one of the camps.
TC: Was it easy to raise a family during the war?
LC : Raising a family at a refugee camp was very difficult.
My husband, who was under the transport department, was operating from another base, which was a bit far from where I was stationed.
He would visit whenever he had the opportunity.
I also visited him whenever I had the chance.
I then returned to Mavhudzi Camp, where I taught children up until 1980.
After independence, I went to Lerato Mission where I stayed briefly with some of the children that I had accompanied from Mozambique.
From there, I moved to Harare and was employed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and worked at the Passport Office.
At the moment, I am a full-time farmer based in Bindura.
TC: Before we close, there have been reports that some female cadres were sexually abused by their male colleagues during the war. Are these reports true?
LC : Such cases are bound to happen where there are many people.
Even today, we have incidents where women are being raped and sexually abused.
Such cases will always happen at places where there are men and women.
Not all female cadres were abused during the war. Also, not all men abused their female colleagues. The abusers often targeted new recruits. After spending some time at the camps, the girls became more vigilant and could not be easily abused.
