The Sunday News
Today we round-up for the time being interviews with Lieutenant-Colonel Stanford Moyo pseudo name Cde Lloyd Zvanananewako or Mabhikwa.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo in the past weeks told our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) how he joined the armed struggle from South Africa where he had been working, training first at Mwembeshi then briefly at Mgagao, moved to Morogoro in Tanzania before his deployment in Binga and Lupane in January 1977.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo was among the 13 guerillas who resumed operations in Lupane and Binga which turned things around on the battlefield and political spheres. The 13 who included the much feared but now late Sandlana Mafutha (Sydney Saul Dube) started off by offering political orientation to the villagers before taking on the enemy on the battlefield.
Below Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo round up his story for the time being. Read on…..
Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Stanford Moyo
MS: You were talking about guerillas getting involved in love matters what became of those liaisons after independence?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: This love trend had the good and the bad side. The side I have already alluded to and the good side being that a majority of guerillas got married to some of their lovers at independence.
As of now the guerillas and their lovers who are now their wives have benefited from those affairs with families intact while the children have grown up. Those guerillas some of them sent their children born during the guerilla war to school and today those kids, some of them are all over the world and supporting their parents back home which have seen their lifestyles changing.
Of course during the war things were not rosy, with negatives as well but those will be said on another day.
MS: Turning to the operations, you spoke of going into a lull as supplies were depleted. Take us through that.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: The lull came to an end as more forces poured in from Zambia. Those units were under the command of comrades whom some we had trained together at Morogoro in Tanzania but had been chosen to go for further training in other countries such as the Soviet Union. Some of us had been deployed to the front from the onset. Some of the comrades who came commanding those units and we had trained together were people like Ntonga and Volunteer Mkhwananzi (Andrew Ndlovu).
MS: Where were those guerillas coming from, I mean the camps.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: Those guerillas came with a lot of ammunition and some had been trained at Mwembeshi and CGT in Zambia. They even came armed with better weapons such as G75 and PKs with belts of ammunition of 200 rounds if well joined. Unfortunately, the G75 was captured by the Rhodesians before it could be used.
The Rhodesians seem to have monitored the big unit soon after it crossed the Zambezi River up to the Tinde area where it came under heavy attack early in the morning where the guerillas had put up for the night. In that area they had received a good reception from the masses.
Cde Andrew Ndlovu
In that area there were people who were financially strong and were capable of taking care or handling any numbers. Some people there were pensioners while some worked for the then government. Those people were Tonga speaking while some had originally had come from Matabeleland South. Some had their kids within our ranks because of the recruitment drive which we had embarked on when we came for operations early in 1977.
They were more supportive of the struggle but still there were enemy agents within. When that unit was attacked they fought the whole day with the Rhodesians but were forced to abandon the big weapons such as G75 because of the Rhodesians’ aerial power. They also left behind the HMG which we needed most to hit helicopters which were giving us problems in attacks which we initiated.
MS: Did they give you the ammunition those new arrivals?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: When they arrived yes they gave us the ammunition but we were demoralised by the weapons which we were yearning for but did not reach us.
My group that I had operated with in Nkayi were saying had those weapons the G75 managed to reach our territory, then Nkayi and Gwelutshena centres would be grounded and those who were operating around Lupane Business Centre were saying the same. The command element in Zambia was disappointed with the capture of those weapons which could have changed a lot on the ground.
They never sent more such weapons to the front among the guerilla ranks. But more reinforcements came which resulted in us operating as platoons which covered areas of Binga such as Magungu, Tinde and Lubimbi as well as Dongamuzi in Lupane.
MS: I suppose specific areas were allocated commanders.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: Yes, for example Dongamuzi in Lupane came under the command of Volunteer Mkhwananzi, uAndrew Ndlovu and he also covered some parts of Mzola, the western and southern parts of that area. Andrew was the first person who could react quickly to changing situations, he was a well-trained guerilla.
Besides being part of our Group of 800 that trained in Morogoro, Andrew also went to train in Somalia and then the Soviet Union.
I cannot remember well, but Andrew’s unit was better organised than all groups at that time. We learnt a better way of operating than using sections. Those comrades to be honest were better trained than us as they had gone for further training while thina we had done basic military training. Andrew and his unit kept the enemy busy and confused. In the end Dongamuzi became a fortress.
MS: How did the Rhodesian forces handle that one?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: The Rhodesians tried by all means to avoid the Jotsholo to Siwale Road in fear of surprise attacks in Mzola or parts of Dongamuzi east.
They were now approaching the area from behind, from Lubimbi but found Andrew’s men ready for them. All the routes were monitored, Lubimbi, Dongamuzi and Lusulu. Lusulu Road became known for the continued gun shots which was a communication strategy as well.
We had no radios by then and sending youths to inform others in different areas, the gun was the only way of communication. It took less than an hour for the information to go through that something to our west was happening to borders of Lupane east.
It did not matter whether the shot was heard by a guerilla or masses, the youths or anyone from the masses would tell that some shots were heard from the west. Details would follow through guerilla channels until someone as far as Nkayi knew what was happening in Lupane west.
MS: So the game changed on the battlefield with the new arrivals.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: The arrival of those groups that is from Mwembeshi, CGT and Angola was indeed a game changer. More hype was created by the group from Angola than any other. Things changed for the best even it took two years.
