The Sunday News
On 27 May this year, we carried an article under our Lest We Forget column about how two elderly women, Loiusa Ndlovu and Eveline Ndlovu who are in their late 80s, witnessed the battle that took place at Tjewondo in Kezi around November 1978 between Zipra forces and Rhodesian forces.
The two elderly women were left bruised both emotionally and physically in the course of that battle as they found themselves on the receiving end of the brutal Rhodesian forces when they descended on their village.
Gogo Louisa Ndlovu now aged 90 was thoroughly beaten by the Rhodesian forces for failing to respond with speed when they summoned her to where they were, while for Gogo Eveline Ndlovu (89), the Rhodesian forces set alight her homestead after they had suffered a heavy loss on that fateful day.
One of the guerillas who was involved in that battle where 11 Rhodesian forces were killed was Cde William Ncube pseudonym Cde Lovemore Mpofu whom we have been featuring in this column in the last two editions. In the last two editions Cde Ncube has been relating how it was difficult to walk all the way from the Zambezi River to Matabeleland South for deployment.
The interview with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) continues with Cde Ncube talking about his operations in Matabeleland South under the operational region Southern Front 3 (SF3). Below are excerpts of the interview.
MS: After arriving in Gwanda and escorting the 200 recruits in the company of the guerillas who were already on the ground, what did you do then?
Cde Ncube: Our mission was to make sure that we open the route so that those going to join the armed struggle could have an easy access to the border with Botswana. There were so many people coming from all over the country who were passing through Gwanda, Kezi, Mangwe and Bulilima so we wanted to clear the area by reducing the mobility of the enemy forces at the same time recruiting heavily from the villages. So we concentrated more on the recruitment drive because we wanted to add the numbers of those joining the war.
MS: What methods were you using in your recruitment drive?
Cde Ncube: We applied methods like encouraging school boys and girls to jump the border into Botswana and we would also liase with bus crews from Pelandaba and Shu-Shine bus services to bring more people boarding their buses in Bulawayo and drop them a certain points in Gwanda and Kezi. We would then escort those people to the border. We took the recruitment drive a step further by raiding weddings where we knew there would be a lot of people.
MS: Do you mean you would walk into a wedding and drive away people against their wish?
Cde Ncube: It was during the war and we had to take advantage of such occasions such as weddings and take away the people, the groom, the bridal team and those in attendance all the way to Botswana to join the war. Sasithi uzaqedisela umtshado wakho eZambia.
Anyway it was not that bad as people were possessed by the revolutionary spirit and babekuthabela labo. In the Sankonjana area in Kezi a wedding was raided and people were escorted to join the war. You know when we arrived for operations in Gwanda there were few guerillas on the ground so we had a lot on our hands in terms of educating the masses about the importance of the war and the role they were supposed to play in assisting us, the fighters.
So in Gwanda in addition to those comrades whom we found on the ground in 1977, we divided the operational area — some on the other side of Tuli River and others across. My unit, besides Gwanda would even move to Kezi, reach out to places like Fumugwe, Mkuwa, Ratanyana and so on while in Gwanda we covered Halisupi, Tshoboyo, Sitezi and Gwandaville.
Our commander then was Toyitoyi, ijaha lakoNyathi elakhele eGqalaza khathesi. In terms of operations we would lay ambushes there and there, we wanted to be as mobile and effective as possible. Our aim was to confuse the enemy, give an impression that we were many and they seemed to believe so. It worked in our favour.
MS: What about operations, which big battle do you remember?
Cde Ncube: It was the Tjewondo battle and that was in 1978. It was one of the biggest battles I was involved in and the operation was clinically carried out.
MS: Is it the same battle where villagers whom we spoke to in this column say 11 Rhodesian soldiers were killed?
Cde Ncube: Yes. I read about it in your paper and ogogo labana whom you spoke to, uMrs Ndlovu, uLouisa was referring to me when she said one of the guerillas asked her what happened after she was beaten by the Rhodesians forces. I am the one who spoke to her.
MS: That’s interesting, so take us through what happened that day.
Cde Ncube: As I have said before my operational activities were concentrated in Gwanda, but on that particular day my unit and not even my unit, some of us happened to be in Kezi because we were escorting the regional commander, Cde Mphini (Adam Dube) who later on died in combat at Ratanyana in Kezi.
From the comrades operating in Gwanda, Mphini had picked me and Mapholisa to add to the four guys who were moving with him. This was because we knew the area well and some villagers even knew us.
Around dawn I went to the homestead koNdlovu, after we had arrived in Tjewondo.
MS: What was Mphini doing?
Cde Ncube: He was in Kezi because he was in the process of re-organising our operations as he wanted to deploy some of the units on the ground to Mberengwa. He wanted those operating from Ngwanyana in Mangwe, parts of Kezi, Gwanda and Beitbridge to move to Mberengwa District as he felt there was a need to push our operations eastwards.
It was his feeling that those areas were to be filled by troops who were coming from the rear while those on the ground should push eastwards.
So when we got to the Ndlovu homestead, umama womuzi said to me so uLovemore nguwe, amakhiwa ahlala ebiza ibizo lakho, balithatha ngaphi? In response I said yikuthi yini elibatshelayo mama, ngisitsho jokingly. I sat in a hut and then had a short nap.
When the sun was rising I asked them to cast chicken feed while I was moving out of the homestead so that the chickens could destroy my spoor. You know eTjewondo there is sparse vegetation, but it was during the rainy reason so there were thickets here and there.
MS: So where were others?
Cde Ncube: They were also in neighbouring homesteads but I caught up with them in a nearby bush. When we reached the nearby river, we saw umama (Gogo Louisa Ndlovu) egijima.
She had been beaten up by the Rhodesian soldiers and she was bleeding. She said to us “amasotsha”. On hearing that uMphini said let’s go for them. You know Mphini was so brave that at times he used to put troops into tight situations. We then decided to follow the river as there was vegetation along it that gave us good cover.
Sanyenya until we reached the spot where the enemy forces were. Some were starting to prepare their breakfast. However, on the way we saw uNdlovu who was driving his cattle out of the pen and he was now in between us and the Rhodesian soldiers. We used signs to tell him to move away. We then moved towards the enemy and there was one Rhodesian soldier who I think instinctively turned and saw us, me in particular. He aimed at me and I fell down, taking cover.
Cde Mphini shouted “dubula, dubula!” and the fighting ensued. The contact did not take long, but the amount of damage we caused was out of this world.
That battle should have lasted less than 10 minutes but sasebenza. We quickly melted into the bush and immediately we heard sounds of helicopters and I think they were coming from Maphisa.
We made good our escape and since that battle had happened just within the village, some villagers were rounded up and the Sutha Ndlovu homestead set alight. Villagers saw the Rhodesians picking up 11 bodies. It was one of the most successful battles that I was involved in. We then moved to Marinoha where one of the villagers brought us a calabash of traditional brew and we gladly accepted it to celebrate the good day.
MS: To drink in the midst of such a tense situation . . .
Cde Ncube: Lapho sasibizwa sisabele. On that day even cattle broke free from their yokes as people were working in their fields. But villagers were badly beaten by the Rhodesian soldiers who arrived at the scene of that battle. We were also told that people were stopped from going to Antelope Hospital. That was meant to make sure that ordinary people would not see the dead Rhodesians.
