The Sunday News
Last week we spoke to Cde Abel Nsewula who operated in Kezi during the liberation struggle. Cde Nsewula whose pseudonym was Cde Sifiso Njalo or Disco spoke about his training at CGT1 in Zambia, deployment and how it was difficult to move from the border with Zambia to Matabeleland South as he was deployed in the Southern Front 3, a Zipra operational area that covered Mangwe, Kezi, Gwanda and Beitbridge districts.
Last week in an interview with Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) Cde Nsewula was talking about his unit’s arrival in Kezi and how the villagers were suspicious of them because they were all dressed in camouflage, something the villagers were not used to. Below are excerpts of the interview:
MS: So the villagers went and called other guerillas as they were not sure that you were really freedom fighters.
Cde Nsewula: Yes. It was when they saw that our group and the five guerillas greeting each other that they welcomed us. They prepared food for us and all was well. Since we were 20, the old guerillas split us with each of the five leading the new group. That was meant to introduce us to the locals and also to orient us about the situation on the ground. However, after some time like I said others from my unit proceeded to areas like Gwanda while myself and a few others like Screw and Ephraim remained operating in Kezi. We could have been 10 who remained in Kezi. Each section in Kezi wanted a specialist bazooka and a launcher man. Others then moved to Filabusi while some like Zinangeni were taken to the northern part of Kezi, eMatopo that is near the park and mission school, where he remained until the end of the war period. All the incoming units were reinforcing the guerillas on the ground even in far areas such as Mberengwa, Beitbridge and Namane. As a specialist in hitting moving targets my services were needed and after all we were still in SF3, which was the region we were deployed to and was under the command of Cde Mphini.
MS: You spoke about villagers being suspicious of guerillas dressed in camouflage, how were the guerillas supposed to dress?
Cde Nsewula: You know some of the comrades who were deployed earlier on by the time they reached most parts of Matabeleland South they would be dressed in jeans and Stings, although there would be a few with combat clothing. Earlier on it was very rare to see a big unit dressed in combat and in most cases if you saw such people they would be Selous Scouts. I told you earlier on that when we were still playing hide and seek with the Rhodesian forces, in the forests of Kazangula we came across a unit, which was dressed in brand new military fatigue of the Soviet Union armed with brand new AK-47 rifles.
We spotted those people first and it was when I and Chiredzi had lost contact with our main unit. Although we were in that desperate situation we did not go to those people, but sneaked away because even up to today I still believe there were Selous Scouts. So we didn’t blame the villagers, they had every reason to be suspicious.
MS: So dressing played an important part in the operations?
Cde Nsewula: The other reason that made guerillas prefer to dress in jeans was because when the Rhodesian forces learnt that there was a group of guerillas that was dressed in what looked like new combat clothing, they would pursue them because they were aware that the new guerillas were not used to the terrain. Also a new guerilla meant that he had the latest information about deployment and operations, so he had a lot to tell if captured, so the Rhodesians were after the new arrivals whom they also knew were not that battle hardened. The Rhodesians would even ask the villagers how the guerillas they came across were dressed like. If the villagers told them that they were wearing jeans they would not show the urge to pursue them.
MS: Then tell us about your operations, which areas did you cover in Kezi?
Cde Nsewula: I remained at Silonkwe in the group that had comrades like Moffat, Class, Jack and Sijumba. Then came the group, which was operating in Mkuwa, Donkwe-Donkwe, Mankala, Malindi, emizini yaboTafi Moyo, Yengweni, Mavikaneni and had comrades like Vuvuvu Dlamini, Taro or Khaphukhaphu, Samora, Lawrence Murima, Stephen Maqhageni, Mjojana, Twoboy who was killed just near Donkwe-Donkwe Primary School, Mgwambayi and so on. We asked to reinforce them. So I joined that unit with comrades I had arrived with from Zambia like Screw, Makhanyisa, Edward and Thendesi. We crossed Shashane River and moved to Mkuwa, which was sort of their headquarters. Other comrades I came with in Kezi such as Mahlavana we left them operating on the other side of Shashane.
MS: The areas that you are talking about I am very familiar with because I come from Donkwe-Donkwe, so take us through your operations.
Cde Nsewula: Oh. So I was working in your home area. When we got to Mkuwa we broke into smaller units of between four and five. That is how we were working. Those areas were very tricky because they are closer to Kezi Service Centre, which houses the police station, post office, the District Administrator’s offices and all the necessary government institutions. So we were within the reach of the Rhodesian nerve centre in Kezi. However, despite that we managed to make it make difficult for the Rhodesian forces to roam that area freely. You know what, they stopped using their vehicles because we harassed them.
There was a time when they moved into Mt Edjecombe area at night in a bid to drive away the unit that I joined. They came through the Fumugwe area at night and although they had surprised the guerillas, they suffered heavy losses. I had not arrived but I am told although very young, Twoboy and Mjojana were brilliant soldiers. They were outstanding in that battle and the Rhodesians then stopped using that route.
MS: So tell us, who commanded your unit?
Cde Nsewula: We were a platoon and the commander was Amin (Winter Ncube), he is alive and living in Marula area where he was resettled. The section commanders were myself, Mgwambayi and Stephen Maqhageni. Maqhageni is now a Zanu-PF councillor in Kezi in the Sun Yet Sen area. Our section had seven guerillas and as for mine, it was always armed with detactarov, a light machine gun with a disc on top that looks like a record player. I used to carry that weapon and in the latter stages of the war I used it with precision in battles, that is why fellow comrades nicknamed me Disco. However, in the early stages of my operations I would carry the RG7, the bazooka and the AK-47 folded butt. The bazooka was meant to neutralise the enemy while the AK-47 was for assault and finishing the job. In our platoon we also had other machine guns such as the RPD and PK. Despite being the platoon commander Amini was always armed with a PK.
MS: Your group, from the stories I am hearing, killed quite a number of civilians who were accused of being sell-outs. Were there sell-outs for sure?
Cde Nsewula: What I can say is that sell-outs in a war situation always exist. Earlier on I related to you the battle of Mt Edjecombe, do you know that the Rhodesian soldiers were led to the guerillas by a villager who had gone to Kezi to tell them about the presence of the comrades. One day when we were at Silonkwe and I was with Thendesi early in the morning and we just coming out of a homestead where we spent the night we saw a man who obviously had seen us, running away. We asked ourselves what was the problem with him. We later on discovered that he was going to tip-off the enemy forces about our presence. After that we had fierce contact with the Rhodesians. Since the guerillas were many in that area the Rhodesian forces later came and burnt nine homesteads.
MS: In the event of a victory over the Rhodesians what did you usually do?
Cde Nsewula: If we killed a Rhodesian soldier and they fail to evacuate the bodies we would just cut off laces and take away their shoes. They used to wear nice tennis shoes, which did not leave foot prints and we liked those. We would take them and wear them. We also used to take away their kit bags, toothpaste, watches, medicine and even underwear and vests.
MS: War is a stressful exercise, but there should be lighter moments, any you remember?
Cde Nsewula: It was after we had a gathering point (GP) at Silonkwe and about 15 of us decided to enjoy ourselves. So we looked for a homestead with a radio and we started playing rhumba music. Comrades even brought beer, ama-hot stuff. Those who were drinking started drinking and guys were enjoying themselves. I remember one of the comrades, uNzimande had this tendency of wrapping himself with an ammunition belt of the PK and let the weapon rest on the ground while dancing. In the midst of that merry making, Nzimande would dance and pretend to be taking cover as if in a battle situation. I think those Rhodesian soldiers were attracted by the noise of the music and moved closer to that homestead where we were. Just imagine 15 guerillas merry making. Then I think as they moved closer they panicked when they saw Nzimande doing his antics, they thought he was getting into a firing position and they opened fire.
MS: So what happened?
Cde Nsewula: (laughing). It became every man for himself and God for us all and comrades panicked. You know, you will never understand a guerilla or let me say a soldier. After studying where the fire was coming from we all thought of breaking through in that direction. The amount of fire that we directed towards the Rhodesians even made them stop concentrating. I can tell you we made our breakthrough in that direction, I saw a Rhodesian soldier with his face to the ground, firing without looking straight and we jumped over them. However, one of the comrades had a weapon, an RPD hooked by the branch of a tree and he lost it there. We recovered it after some days.
MS: How did you treat him without his weapon?
Cde Nsewula: He asked me to give him my bazooka and I refused and during those days he was just following me. We were laughing at him. We were later alerted by a villager who was working on his field when he saw the weapon and we then agreed that he should not carry an RPD, so we gave him an AK-47. Others had said we should punish him, but others were against that as they said such things could happen to anyone. That was the funny side of the war, comrades dicing with death.
