The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
STERLINGTON Shumba, after his torrid time seized the opportunity to visit his family in Bulawayo which he was seeing for the first time since his departure for Zambia in 1976.
However, his problems were not over as the political situation was far from peaceful. The homecoming lasted a whole four weeks and was characterised by lavish parties attended by both friends and relatives. After the lapse of 28 days Shumba packed his bags and found his way back to his Assembly Point which was code-named Assembly Point Papa. The Assembly Point had changed its name from Rukomechi to Mashumbi Pools.
“On arrival at the camp I found that a unit was prepared for integration and I was quickly put into it as a Medical Assistant. The integration exercise took eight weeks and the first four weeks were for senior officers and the rest of the time was devoted to junior and non-commissioned officers. After the first phase I was given the rank of Warrant Officer II and appointed as Ward Master for the Battalion,” he recalls.
The course was held at the Zimbabwe Military Academy (ZMA) in Gweru in 1980. Their squad was made up of equal numbers, 12 from ZPRA, and the same numbers from Zanla and the former Rhodesian Army. The senior officers, after completing their training at ZMA proceeded to Mbalabala, then known as Balla Balla to meet the men they were going to command.
It was during that time when they were at Mbalabala that fighting between ZPRA and Zanla cadres erupted at Entumbane where forces from the two guerrilla movements had been brought from rural assembly points. Entumbane Township, four kilometres from the city centre, was a new township in Bulawayo still under construction. ZPRA and Zanla combatants lived in separate but neighbouring cantonments.
“It was a Sunday and Zanu-PF officials held a rally at the nearby White City Stadium. The officials instilled a spirit of enmity in the Zanu-PF people against PF-Zapu people. When the rally ended the Zanu-PF youths started throwing stones and beating up people. Zanla forces opened fire on the ZPRA forces at Entumbane. The clashes continued up to Monday morning. Again, on Monday evening the clashes continued and spread to neighbouring townships, ” said Shumba.
The clashes disrupted work in the whole city and one outcome was the delayed appointment of Bulawayo’s first black Mayor, Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu. He and other councillors were appointed only in 1981 after their counterparts in other cities had been in office for quite a while. Efforts were made to douse the flames. Only on Wednesday did the clashes end.
“The hospital mortuary was full of corpses and caskets were seen leaving Bulawayo for various areas. These clashes disturbed our integration exercise at Mbalabala as the Zanla forces feared for their lives and decided to run away to Mashonaland provices. We had to stop the exercise (integration) until the clashes had stopped. After completion of the integration exercise most officers were sent on leave but some of us had to go for integration into our respective corps such as Signals and Medical corps.”
The Medical Corps ran medical training at Llewellyn Barracks, later Imbizo. Shumba and others went there for the initial course in medicine.
The army medical corps had, as its basic course, the Troop Medic (First Aider) course known as Medical Assistant Class 4. The course lasted four weeks with tests being run on a weekly basis. At the end of the course the marks were added together following which a certificate was issued.
“To me that was child’s play and I emerged with an average of 94%. After that we were sent to our Battalion, 2.3 Infantry Battalion in Mutoko. The 2nd Brigade of which our Battalion was part, was headquartered in Harare, then known as Salisbury. Upon arrival in Mutoko we were granted 21 days leave and I straight away proceeded home on holiday. After expiry of my holiday I returned to Mutoko where there were 3 NCOs from BMATT who were attached to the Battalion. Men being integrated proceeded to train in various courses. In May 1981 I proceeded to the Medical Training School (MTS) for a second course in Medicine. Once again there were fortnightly progressive tests which were aggregated. I scored 78%. I went back to Mutoko to join my Battalion as Medical Master.”
At the time the political situation was deteriorating fast. There was insecurity in many parts of the country but it was worse within the integrated units. More and more battalions were being created as the integration exercise proceeded. Shumba found himself being transferred to Murewa where 2.8 Infantry Battalion was being formed early in 1982.
The new Battalion had no Medical Officer so Shumba took that post of Ward Master. The Battalion comprised former Entumbane inmates and the political atmosphere was tense. Particularly spiking the political temperature then was the discovery of arms caches on Zapu/ZPRA on some of their farms. The ruling party concluded the arms were earmarked for use at a later date to overthrow the Government.
“In response the Government quickly arrested ZPRA’s top brass and some members of the former ZPRA General Staff during the liberation struggle. They were detained under the Emergency Regulations Act which allowed their indefinite detention without trial. At the same time Government was mobilising a 5th Brigade which was to be known as Gukurahundi. This unit received its orders from the Prime Minister and not Army Headquarters. The unit was trained by the Koreans and not the British as had been agreed upon at Lancaster.”
