The Sunday News
IN one chilly July night of 1977, the cleric Father Angel Arnaldos commonly known as Father Syankuku found himself in a nerve-wracking situation when he was held hostage in a bush on the border of Gokwe and Nkayi districts with his fate in the hands of five young heavily armed men.
The five were part of a unit of 44 ZPRA guerillas who had descended on Kana Mission in Gokwe where Fr Syankuku was stationed, having been posted there in 1973. Fr Syankuku who arrived in this country in 1960 from his native Spain said at the end of the day he learnt one lesson from that tense situation that the Zimbabwean armed struggle was not about race but a colonial system that had thrown the locals on the peripheries of the national economy. He said in that nerve-wracking situation he could not believe his luck when the guerillas let him free the following day after learning who he was.
He was loved by the community who believed he was not a racist and was on the side of advancing the lives of black communities. On Monday last week our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) spoke to Fr Arnaldos who gave him an account of his encounter with the guerillas. Below are excerpts of the interview. Read on….
MS: You were not part of the war but I am told you rubbed shoulders with the freedom fighters. Maybe you can start giving us your background before we venture into your encounter with the guerillas.
Fr Arnaldos: I came to then Rhodesia in 1960. I was coming from my native country, Spain where I was born on 8 July 1936 in Murcia Province, situated in the South East. I had attended a seminary school there for future priesthood. In 1955 I had decided to do missionary work outside Spain, that is how I found myself here.
My first posting in this country was at St Mary’s Lukosi where I stayed for a while before being moved to Number One, Lwendulo in the then Wankie, now Hwange. I then went to Number Two, Madumabisa and later Number 3, Makwika. From Hwange I was posted to Binga’s Kariyangwe Mission. I covered areas such as Siachilaba and Siabuwa.
It was while I was at Kariyangwe that we had first Tonga girls to attend school as before the tendency was to send boys to school and leave girls at home. At first the girls were just few, but the number eventually grew. It was during my tenure in Binga that I fought for the recognition of Tonga as a language. In fact, I wanted Tonga to be an official language. It was while I was in Binga that I had an encounter with the freedom fighters.
MS: Take us through what you saw.
Fr Arnaldos: It was at Musenampongo School that the guerillas came there, but did not stay. They passed through. It was in the late 1960s when they came early in the morning and asked for directions. While they did not say that they were freedom fighters we could tell by their conduct and luggage. We did not see the guns, but they were probably concealed in their bags. They were four or five of them. They asked for directions and we gave them. From Binga I moved to Victoria Falls where I spent six years or so.
Then in 1973 I moved to Kana Mission in Gokwe. The mission is on the border of Nkayi and Gokwe. Kana River is the boundary. In Gokwe my missionary work covered areas such as Chief Jiri, a relative of the late philanthropist Jairos Jiri, Chief Mukoka, a Tonga and part of Chief Sayi who are the Shangwes. It was during my mission work in Binga that I got the nickname Father Syankukhu.
I was given the name by one Munkuli, an old Tonga man who said I had become part of his clan. He said to me now you are a Ngwenya as the Munkulis’ totem are Ngwenya or Crocodile. Munkuli then said to me since you are a Ngwenya like us, you will no longer eat anything from the water such as fish, but I am giving you chickens in my home. They now also belong to you. So, from today you should be known as Syankuku, the owner of the chickens.
That is how I became Father Syankuku, a name that has stuck up to now. The old Tonga man became my grandfather and Syankuku became my second name for him and all people up to now. Go to Gokwe you will hear this second name, not the others.
MS: The 70s was when the political temperature was at the boiling point, tell us what you saw.
Fr Arnaldos: The freedom fighters were now among the people. I remember one day I came across them, it was in 1977. They were disguised as ordinary people, but I could tell that they were freedom fighters. They were three of them. I was driving a Land Rover, they asked me to take them to Mateta, Mawisa, Choto until I left them at Muchakaka. It looks like they were going to Binga. Then in July 1977 they came to the mission, this time not on friendly terms.
MS: This time what was the problem?
Fr Arnaldos: During the day I had gone to Chief Jiri’s area where I had spent the day having meetings with the people. We were trying to find solutions on how the people could be assisted and so on. Then in the evening while in the company of Father Joseph Mkhwebu who was the priest-in-charge at Kana as I was his assistant and Lawrence Nyeri, who was a seminarian, the guerillas came.
We were having supper when there was a knock on the door, which was closed but not locked. Then three men with guns burst into the house, with their guns pointed at us. Those men were guerillas and they did not interfere with others, they ordered me to raise up my hands. They then ordered me to come out of the house. Their commander was outside and he told his men to take me away, but emphasized that they should not kill me immediately. So, we went.
MS: Where and what was going through your mind?
Fr Arnaldos: I thought they were going to kill me, I was very nervous naturally. Altogether those guerillas were 44, that I learnt later on of course. Among that unit some knew me, with one being a Tonga boy who came from a community I had served under. However, those who took me away and were supposed to be my executors were five.
All the way we didn’t speak much. To answer your question, they took me to a place that was about six kilometres from the mission and was located towards Nkayi.
MS: What were you being accused of?
Fr Arnaldos: It was not a direct accusation, but they were complaining about the fact that black people were suffering in their country because of the whites. It was a very tense moment. They even asked me whether I knew Joshua Nkomo and I say yes, I knew him. During the night they asked me a lot of questions. However, in that tense situation one asked me whether I wanted a cigarette and I said I needed one, he gave me.
While I was being kept captive by the five, some had gone to the local shops to get clothes and food from the business people. Then I spent the night in that nerve-wracking situation, not sure when they would decide to kill me. Then at dawn, we heard some noise, boots stepping on dry leaves.
At that moment one of the guerillas stuck his bayonet on my shoulder, injuring me in the process, he was ready to kill I suppose. They thought those people were the enemy forces. A signal was made and then they realised that those approaching were their comrades, so they relaxed. Those other comrades were three and they started talking to each whether they should kill me at that moment.
I could hear them saying I had not tried to escape and had answered their questions very well, so it was better that they take me back to their commander. At hearing that I was Syankuku they decided against killing me and also followed the orders of their commander who had said ‘do not kill him now till further orders”. We then left, taking the direction of the mission, but to be honest I was very confused, I could not tell where we were going.
I was led by three of the guerillas to their commander, two at the front and one following closely behind. While I was away some had gone to my room and found a Tabernacle, which is a place where our communion is kept. They had wanted to destroy it, but one of the guerillas who I was to learn later had embarked on being a priest in Binga, but abandoned that route for the war stopped his colleagues, explaining that it was purely for religious reasons.
MS: You were led back to the commander, what happened next?
Fr Arnaldos: We found them camped along the Kana River. They had also gone to the school where they took all radios, each classroom had a radio. They had also taken mine, a radio cassette I had brought from Spain. The commander then said we are no longer taking the radios for the children, but this one, referring to mine we are taking.
He said they were taking it because as they were living in the bush they wanted to listen music and news. He then told me that they were going to intensify the war and the area around the mission would witness a lot of serious fighting.
He said because of the pending situation we had to evacuate from the mission, in other words they were closing the mission. However, the commander said while the mission should close including the school, we had to keep the mission hospital open. He insisted that we had to make sure that happened. I was released but still confused as I could not tell the direction of the mission, also I had that fear that they could shoot me from behind.
MS: I think your colleagues were surprised to see you alive, considering you had left under uncertain conditions.
Fr Arnaldos: Word had gone around of what had happened to me. The other priest, Father Mkhwebu and the locals were in fact wondering where they would find my dead body. As ordered by the guerillas we evacuated, closed down the school as well. All staffers, teachers, nurses and other workers also left as quickly as possible. Myself and Father Mkhwebu we left for Bulawayo via Nkayi.
MS: The guerillas had ordered you to make sure the hospital remained open, what became of it as everybody was running away.
Fr Arnaldos: When I got to Bulawayo, I had the unenviable task of looking for nurses to deploy at Kana. I eventually found one, who despite the tense situation agreed to go there. That woman then managed to run the hospital with the assistance of nurse aids from the surrounding communities. The hospital was operational until the ceasefire period. Father Mkhwebu was there as well.
MS: Why do you think the guerillas wanted the hospital to remain open?
Fr Arnaldos: It was a strategic move on their part as the continous operational of the hospital meant they could have access to the medical kits and other supplies. It was a clever move. I only returned to Kana after independence. People were surprised to see me back after the trouble I had gone through in 1977. In 1991 I went to Sengwa to start a new mission.
MS: But was your impression of the guerillas after they spared your life?
Fr Arnaldos: They treated me fairly well under the circumstances. It was also an indication that they were fighting a system not the colour of the skin.
