The Sunday Mail
CDE SONNY SHAMBIRA (SS), whose nom de guerre was Chirariro Masvusvu, was among the thousands of young men who joined the liberation struggle at a tender age. After witnessing the brutality of the Rhodesian regime and humiliating racial segregation while staying with relatives in Salisbury (now Harare), he decided to join the thousands of young people who were trekking into Mozambique to undergo military training to fight the colonial government. This week, CDE SHAMBIRA narrates to our Deputy News Editor LINCOLN TOWINDO (LT) how early nationalist leaders inspired him to join the liberation war.
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LT: Can you begin by introducing yourself to our readers and give a bit of background of how your involvement in nationalist politics began.
SS : My name is Sonny Shambira and I was born on April 7, 1957 in Karimbidza village, Mutoko. I went to school up to Standard Six at Nyamakosi, before dropping out after schools closed because the war had intensified.
In 1972, I moved to Salisbury, where I stayed in Glen Norah A. This was the time my involvement in nationalist politics began.
Nationalist leaders held a lot of meetings close to where I was staying because, as you know, Highfield was a hotbed of the struggle. Many early leaders of the fight against colonialism lived in Highfield and they used to hold a lot of meetings in the suburb.
I would often attend these meetings and this helped me comprehend what exactly was going on in terms colonial repression. Through attending these meetings, I got a lot of political orientation and learnt that we needed to fix what was wrong with our country and free ourselves from colonial bondage.
I remember sometime in June 1975, after the death of Cde Herbert Chitepo, a meeting was organised at Highfield shopping centre (Machipisa).
A lot of people had gathered at the local fuel station, where leaders were going to address us.
When the Rhodesian police got wind of this, they quickly deployed their anti-riot police. Land Rovers brimming with heavily armed police officers were quickly deployed and chaos soon ensued.
The meeting was brutally crushed after the police fired live bullets into the crowd. Many people were injured during those skirmishes. Fortunately, I was unscathed. That was my first encounter with the face of the white man’s brutality.
From that day going forward, life in the city became a nightmare, especially for us, young people.
The Rhodesian government was employing increasingly brutal methods to thwart any signs of nationalist agitation through its police force.
But that did not deter us.
We continued holding our meetings.
At one point, we looted local shops and took out all manner of household property, including large radios and used them to block some streets in Glen Norah.
The police had a torrid time moving the stuff we had used to block the roads before they could get to where we were picketing. But I was increasingly coming to the realisation that life in Salisbury was becoming dangerous.
LT: Was that what drew you towards joining the liberation struggle?
SS : Partly yes. But there were a lot of reasons for that. For example, I stayed in Mbare for a short while.
That was one of the many occasions I witnessed first-hand the brutality of the Smith regime.
We were not allowed to stay in the flats for extended periods unless you had documentation from the authorities.
In addition, the city health authorities conducted daily health inspections targeting those who stayed in the flats.
Some of the health inspections were humiliating, to say the least.
For example, health officers physically examined our private parts in full view of everyone in order to check whether one was infected with a sexually transmitted disease or not.
You could not stay in flats without undergoing this humiliating experience.
This pained me a lot.
But one of the major reasons that pushed me towards joining the war was the humiliating interaction I had with this white man I was working for in Avondale.
I was helping out my brother’s friend, who was employed as a gardener in Avondale while temporarily staying with him. I worked for about a week there.
This other day, his employer approached me as I was going about my duties and exploded in my face, casting all manner of racial insults towards me for no apparent reason.
That really pained me; even up to this day, I still struggle to understand what really motivated that man to be so racially abusive towards me.
So, I decided to go back home to Mutoko and try to find my way into Mozambique for training.
LT: Take us through your journey to Mozambique.
SS : I was 18 years old at the time that I decided to go back home.
I then travelled by bus to Mutoko.
I remember that the bus fare was around 25 cents.
On arrival, I stayed for a few days before joining a small group of local boys who were also planning to cross into Mozambique.
We searched for this freedom fighter called Cde John, whose second name I keep forgetting.
He was the section commander in our area and he was supposed to assist us with crossing into Mozambique.
We were in a group of five, including my elder brother, who is now late.
Coming from Rhodesia, our goal was to undergo training and go back home to fight the white man and take back our country.
We crossed into Mozambique through Nyamapanda in November 1975.
After crossing, we arrived at the receiving base, where we would later be transferred to Tete.
After a short while at the base, we were taken by truck to Tete, where we stayed for only four days before being transferred to Tembwe base one.
LT: We often hear stories of how tough life was at the camps. Can you outline how the living conditions were at Tembwe?
SS: I arrived at the base during the détente period.
Cde Chitepo’s death caused a lot of problems for the struggle because many leaders of the struggle were arrested.
So, life at the base was tough.
There was barely any food or clothing for the thousands of people who lived at the base. People were so emaciated to the extent that they looked like zombies.
Hunger was pervasive.
Comrades were losing hair to lice.
Many were suffering from unknown diseases. Some suffered from this ailment that caused severe hiccups.
There was also this disease we called “hurricanes” that would cause people to stagger uncontrollably and lose control of their legs.
There was also another ailment that would eat into people’s flesh.
Many people died from disease; we would bury two or three comrades every day. Because there was no food, we sometimes went through the day on powdered milk only.
Sometimes we had a little porridge and oftentimes we would eat tree roots.
Luckily, we had no water problems because the base was located very close to a river. People were so thin; many could not walk.
Medication to treat the ill was only available on occasion.
But we soldiered on and waited patiently for the day we would be called up to go for training.
Next week, Cde Shambira will give an account of how he underwent military training and narrowly survived a severe bout of malaria. Twitter: kuntowaz
