The Sunday News
IN this week’s Lest We Forget column we look at the trouble freedom fighters, especially those who operated in the western parts of the country, had in reaching their operational zones from training camps in Zambia and Mozambique.
One of the freedom fighters, Cde William Ncube whose pseudonym was Cde Lovemore Mpofu was deployed to the Zipra operational area, the Southern Front 3 that covered districts in Matabeleland South Province. Cde Ncube speaks to our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about the long journey he and 20 other guerillas embarked on from their crossing point along the Zambezi River soon after their deployment up to their operational zone, which was Gwanda District. Below are excerpts of the interview:
MS: Cde Ncube, the name Lovemore Mpofu has been mentioned time and again in this column by former colleagues of yours especially those who operated in Gwanda and Kezi. So who is this Lovemore?
Cde Ncube: I was born William Ncube on 7 July 1952 in Lower Gweru, that is the Midlands Province but I grew up in Silobela also in the Midlands. For my education I went to Heany Junction near Bulawayo where my stepfather, a Mr Mguni was employed. Then in 1964 after completing Standard Four I returned to Silobela, with the aim of enrolling at Lerato Mission but because of financial problems I could not do that. My mother wanted me to continue with my education but the hindrance was money. I then started herding cattle, so from 1965 to 1967 ngangisenkomeni.
I then moved to Zibomvu to live with my grandmother’s younger sister and that was until January 1970. On the 3rd of January 1970 I moved to Bulawayo to look for employment. I got a job at Hamara Farm, worked a bit there, then Lyons where I was unfairly dismissed after participating in trade unionism. In fact it was at Lyons that I almost committed murder as I wanted to stab a white man who was a manager there. I was not happy because despite the fact that we were being unfairly treated, the Labour Office connived with our company bosses and that infuriated me.
MS: May you highlight some form of discrimination that you witnessed at Lyons?
Cde Ncube: The environment was so bad and as for ice cream vendors, oma ayizi-cream, if the ice cream melted they were made to pay. It was because of such oppressive environment at the workplace that myself and colleagues such as Time from Marondera and Ivy organised a protest. We were eventually sold out by some colleagues, resulting in us being fired. From Lyons I joined Perkins where I worked for a while. In 1975 I was travelling to Mvurwi with my boss when we came across a road block and I was ill-treated by Rhodesian forces.
Immediately after leaving the roadblock, the white man accused me of being a “bloody terrorist”. I confronted him there and demanded that he pays me all my benefits and drop me off his car since I was a terrorist. On my return I left the company, Perkins. I got another job but at that time I was already neck deep into politics as a Zapu youth leader in Magwegwe.
I then decided with my friends, Dumisani, Philip and Ndumiso to leave the country to join the armed struggle and that was in September 1975. I then left for my rural home to leave my property and when I came back to Bulawayo I found them gone. I was very disappointed. I finally left the country just after the Christmas day of 1975. So what happened was that after Christmas we had a party in Magwegwe, lami ngangibheja njengabanye sikholisa then the following day, my uncle asked me to go and pay his account at a furniture shop in town.
From there I went straight to Renkini Long Distance Terminus where I approached a Pelandaba driver, uNcube. He said “wena William, your friends have long left, do you want to go as well” and I said was interested. He then gave me an ID card and advised me to memorise the numbers and that is how I left the country to join the armed struggle.
When we got to Kezi at Mabonyane, a few kilometres from what is now Maphisa Growth Point, we were asked to disembark and that is when I saw other four guys who were going to join the armed struggle. Now we were five and that made it a little bit better to embark on the journey. We travelled until we reached Beula Seula which was the final destination of the bus.
The bus crew asked us to sleep on top of the bus and they placed a canvas sheet on us — iseyili. That did the trick because at night the Rhodesian forces arrived in a Jeep and questioned the bus crew about the whereabouts of the “terrorists” and they were told that they saw some people passing by. The Rhodesians fell for it and immediately left.
The driver then called us and told us that we were very lucky, he then prayed for us. The guy who was supposed to show us the way then chickened out. We then decided to split our group and agreed to use a handkerchief as part of our signal when communicating.
MS: How did the journey continue?
Cde Ncube: We continued with the journey, there was no going back. We walked until we reached a homestead that belongs to a man called Tshabalala who we had been told would assist us. He told us that a number of vehicles belonging to the enemy have been spotted. You know the villagers and bus crews especially the Pelandaba bus crews played a crucial role in the liberation struggle, sheltering the guerillas and also assisting the recruits to cross over to Botswana. Kezi, Gwanda, Mangwe and Bulilima were the corridors which the people going to join the armed struggle used. Tshabalala told us that the situation was tense.
MS: So what did you do when you learnt of the heavy presence of the Rhodesian forces?
Cde Ncube: We still continued with the journey and when we were crossing the river to Botswana, the enemy forces spotted us and they fired but we managed to run away. As we ran in different directions we ended up losing each other. I remained with a guy called Nzara and we managed to get into Botswana. Luckily we got a ride from a scotch cart we found along the way which took us straight to Bobonong.
When we arrived in Bobonong we were apprehended by soldiers. As the soldiers went back to check what had happened we remained behind only to be joined by the three others. I remember it was on a Saturday. Later we were moved to Silebi-Phikwe. We found 15 other recruits there to take our number to 20 and all the time we were kept at the prison as a security measure.
MS: How long did you stay at Phikwe?
Cde Ncube: We stayed there for almost six months and there were six girls in that group. Among us was a trained person, Philip who took us for exercises and things like judo and forward fall-summersaults.
After about six months we then left for Zambia and our first port of call was Nampundwe Transit Camp. There were 300 of us there and people kept on coming.
MS: Nampundwe was a tough place, I am told. How did you find it?
Cde Ncube: Very true, it was tough. The conditions were very tough, it prepared one for military life and one had to undergo transition from being a civilian to a soldier. We were woken up early in the morning everyday for exercises and given logs to carry around, which the instructors emphasised one should not lose as it represented your weapon.
That prepared one to always have his firearm at hand, if you lost it you were heavily punished. We were made to roll, frog jump which was called number nine and press-ups which were called number six were part of the cocktail of exercises. People vomited heavily because of these tough exercises, life there was hell.
When it came to bathing, we were only allowed to jump into the water and move out as quickly as possible. I think we stayed at Nampundwe for two weeks and then we were moved to Mwembeshi for full military training. Our instructors were Stanley Gagisa, Phinda, the late Eddie Sigoge, Jack Mpofu, Busobenyoka and Ananias Gwenzi (General Philip Valerio Sibanda). We were about 1 000.
MS: How long was your training programme?
Cde Ncube: We took six months doing both guerilla and conventional warfare, but 39 others and I were chosen to go for further training there at Mwembeshi, this time doing a special course in commando. However, one comrade dropped out. After we were done with the training we were deployed to Freedom Camp and we stayed there until April 1977 after which we were deployed to the front.
When we left we were 21, 20 newly trained guerillas and the other was a veteran who had been to the front, Cde Makwesha. He was in charge of our group while I deputised him. We carried landmines, AK-47s, bazookas, food and loads of ammunition. We then met Cde Todd Mpisi who was the regional commander and he is the one who directed our platoon to go and operate in Gwanda.
In fact when we left the Freedom Camp there were plans to take us to an urban area since we were commandos, but Mpisi changed all that and directed that we go to Gwanda where there were other guerillas who were already on the ground. We were told that our gathering point (GP) was going to be Halisupi. We were going there to reinforce in the Southern Front, increase the numbers in that operational area.
MS: Who were those guerillas who were operating in Gwanda?
Cde Ncube: There were eight of them, they included comrades like Mdubane, Ellington, now Retired Colonel Buster Magwizi, who at that time had been trained locally and he was in the thick of things as well. So off we went but we had difficulties moving from the Zambezi River to Gwanda. It was not easy, in fact it took us more than 21 days to reach Mayezane area in Gwanda.
To be continued next week.
