The Sunday News
Last week we were speaking to a former Zipra artillery commander, Cde Victor Ndlovu pseudo name Cde Cold Chivi.
In that interview Cde Ndlovu who was in the company of another former guerilla, Cde Ignatius Mabuza spoke about how he joined the war from South Africa, his training and the bombings he survived in Zambia. He mentioned that the military aircrafts that bombed Mkushi Camp on 19 October 1978 flew over Mwembeshi, the camp he was based at but because there were orders that party President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo would visit the camp together with the Cubans they did not shoot at the enemy, a decision he described as a lost opportunity. Today Cde Ndlovu picks up the interview with our Assistant Editor, Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) from that incident.
MS: Cde Ndlovu, you are saying the enemy choppers flew over the camp and you did nothing, but just watched.
Cde Ndlovu: Like I said we had been told that the party president, Dr Nkomo was coming with the Cubans and so at first we thought they were the ones who were coming to the camp. However, we were surprised to notice that those were Rhodesians. Their helicopters were flying so low that we could tell that those were Rhodesians. I can tell you that we locked our eyes with them. Sathi diba diba but we let them go. If we had shot at them we could have downed all of them. Ngathi hayikhona mani, ngamabhunu la, they were wearing Smith’s uniform but then we said Nkomo is coming and if we shoot we might hit the Cubans. They were flying so low that you could tell that this is a Rhodesian uniform. It looks like they were studying the camp for the attack the following day. If we had fired at them we were going to cause much damage but as orders had been made that Josh was coming, we did not want to create a messy situation. Those orders that Dr Nkomo was coming confused things. Kanti kusasa ziyabuya, ziyabuya. We felt bad in the evening when we learnt that there was a massacre of our girls at Mkushi and those choppers were coming from there.
MS: That was tricky and do you think there was an internal hand that deliberately confused things?
Cde Ndlovu: Like I said something was fishy but there are many things that happen in a war situation that you will never understand. It’s still a mystery up to now. (Cde Mabuza also chips in and says he himself and others also did not understand how they were disarmed on that day and moved from the camp when it was common knowledge that the Rhodesians were crossing over to Zambia for the deadly attacks.)
While the helicopters were flying over Mwembeshi a spotter and some jet fighters flew over the infantry unit that had been told to go and meet Cde Nkomo along the Great East Road. At the camp only the artillery unit remained. Although the infantry had been told to go unarmed I had raised that my concern with Cde Silas Chenjerai who was the camp commander that at least we should give them a Zegue to cover them. So what happened is that while they were at that parade along that road the Rhodesian planes arrived. I am told a spotter flew past and then two jets were heard zisithi tswiii, one was breaking. Cde Bheki fired with the Zegue and hit it. The spotter looks like it had Green Leader.
MS: What happened after that confusing episode?
Cde Ndlovu: As commanders we held a meeting that evening and it was agreed that we evacuate the base. The Rhodesians had spotted everything. We left at night and during the break of dawn we heard the spotter planes, two of them. We continued moving, pulling the Zegues and ready for everything.
The infantry unit was also fully armed with AK-47s, amaGroonov, PK, LMG. The number of machine guns was okay. When the sun was about to rise, the helicopters arrived and they came straight at us. We were six kilometres from the camp. I can tell you we were angry with what had happened the previous day and to provoke the situation I fired at the helicopter using my AK-47, the enemy returned fire quickly targeting me. I then shouted “mount, mount, mount” to the artillery unit. I crawled, changed position. I then asked the gunner to give me the Zegue. I was inching for a fight. A fierce battle ensued and we fought heavily non-stop the whole day. Helicopters were harassing us. The anti-air guys did a good job. We held our position and kept the Rhodesians at bay. That evening we ate from the scraps of the helicopters as we had no plates. Zegues and Deshekas did their job.
At 4pm they had fled.
We did a good job. We spent that night there on the scene of the battle, we were running out of ammunition. However, more ammunition was brought at night. Then we told ourselves ukuthi ababuye sibaphinde futhi (let them return so that we hit them again).
MS: Were you satisfied with your performance?
Cde Ndlovu: Very satisfied because we had managed to damage the Rhodesian forces military hardware. Like I said we ate our dinner from the scraps of helicopters. That day 20 October 1978 changed the direction of the war. It was the first time that we had stood eyeball to eyeball with the Rhodesians. We did not run away as we fought fire with fire. We were also motivated by the statement Dr Nkomo had issued after the Mkushi bombings. He had sent a message directed to the Rhodesians that ‘hambani kubo sowenu (go to your agemates), they are only 40km from Lusaka. I have armed them’. He meant us, the units that were at Mwembeshi.
MS: I understand the Rhodesians came for the second time.
Cde Ndlovu: There was a lull after our victory, then for sure they came again. This time the battle was deep inside Mwembeshi Camp, which we called the Fox Hole. The first attack was around 8am and this time we had more sophisticated weapons, the surface to air missiles (SAM7). We fired one and a Rhodesian jet fighter was downed. We thought they had gone, but they came again at 10am, at that time I was talking to Cde Silas Chenjerai about the situation and just when I was leaving a spotter came. Sensing danger I went straight to my position, took over the gun. The spotter returned, with a Desheka I shot towards the direction it was going and I maintained my fire in the direction it was heading to. The pilot applied brakes and I hit him, thatha, thatha, thatha. It went up in smoke. Then the jet fighters came following a river and in a battle formation. However, they went straight to the Zegue crews. Only one released a bomb, but that was followed by heavy fire from our guys and all the six were hit.
MS: Are you telling me that you hit all the six jet fighters?
Cde Ndlovu: We downed all of them. We had a good view of them. That was the last time the Rhodesians attacked Mwembeshi. The fire was too much. After that battle the Russians remarked that Zipra from among the liberation movements they had armed was the first to down enemy fighter aircrafts with a Zegue one barrel. From there some troops from Mwembeshi were sent to Mlungushi as it was during the time when conventional battalions were being formed. Some of us then joined the unit that attacked Mana Pools.
MS: Tell us more about the battle of Mana Pools.
Cde Ndlovu: That camp was being used by the Rhodesians as a launch to our camps in Zambia and also to prevent us from crossing into Rhodesia. That unit was under the command of Cde Rodwell Nyika (Retired Brigadier-General Collin Moyo), who was the frontal commander for the Northern Region, which stretched from Bulilima in Matabeleland South to Mashonaland Central. The unit that attacked Mana Pools had many attachments, the artillery units, which I was part of, engineering, intelligence and infantry. It was a complete force. So what happened was that we, the artillery forces, were deployed across the Zambezi River on the Zambian side. Mabuza (pointing at him) is the one who led the reconnaissance unit to gather information on the set up of the camp. Mabuza’s team of eight had comrades like Walter, Obert, Morris and Chunk. They did a good job and gave us the map of the camp to study it. So on the day of the attack as the artillery forces we had three amaB10s, mortar 82mm and Zegues.
MS: How was the camp attacked?
Cde Ndlovu: We the artillery unit launched the attack at around 4pm — we used B10s and mortars. The Zegue crews were supposed to be on standby in case the enemy brought its aircrafts, but they soon joined in shelling the camp as soldiers at times get excited when others are firing. By hitting the camp from across the river we gave the infantry units time to cross the Zambezi. At 12 midnight the infantry units started the attack and Rodwell himself was among those who crossed the river as he wanted to command physically. However, he was injured during the battle and I think he lost part of his finger. For us across the river, we were listening to the heavy gun fire and by 3:30am we could hear the sounds of B10s, PK, Groonov, sase sitshaya ukhwelo (whistling). That camp was overrun and in the morning only a spotter plane came and quickly went away. Then the vultures descended on the camp to feast on the bodies of the Rhodesians. A majority of our guys withdrew from the camp, others combed it and some from there were deployed to areas like Hurungwe. After the Mana Pools battle I was deployed to VC, a women’s camp with my Desheka but spent only three weeks as I was further deployed to the front eNkayi.
MS: Tell us about your operations in Nkayi.
Cde Ndlovu: When we crossed into ekhaya we arrived in Lupane where we met veteran guerillas such as oMafutha (Saul Dube) laboVolunteer Mkhwananzi (Andrew Ndlovu). However, we moved further inland and operated in Nkayi. I became the platoon commander and part of my mission was to prepare the groundwork for bigger units and heavy weapons as we were preparing for the zero hour. In Nkayi I served under the command of Cde Castro. At the attainment of the ceasefire I moved to Mike Assembly Point at St Paul’s in Lupane, then Entumbane and finally Gwayi River Mine.
I was then attested into the Zimbabwe National Army where I served under 1:7 battalion which was based here in Kezi at Bhalagwe. I opted to be demobilised. In the liberation war I fought alongside my younger brother, the late Crispen Hakuna Ndlovu who later on became the Zanu-PF DCC chairman for Matobo.
