The Sunday News
THE Lest We Forget Column has been synonymous with accounts of guerillas who fought for the attainment of the county’s Independence. However, since the field of journalism has evolved into audiences having a say in content production, there have been calls from readers, former guerillas included to also capture stories of those who worked for the Rhodesian security forces so as to tell the other side of the story.
On Friday last week our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) managed to trace Mr Matthew Masuku who worked for the Rhodesian police force in units such as Ground Coverage (GC) and sabotage to be later called Law and Order that dealt with political activities of the nationalists.
Mr Masuku, now 79 spoke about how he joined the police force, monitoring of nationalists and how he managed to corner a Zipra guerilla at Kamativi Tin Mine in January 1971. As the armed struggle intensified Mr Masuku was to be involved in the capture of the late Zipra guerilla Cde Albert Sumbo Ncube pseudo name Cde Shungu who in 1976 had allegedly killed Bishop Adolph Schmitt and a Catholic priest as well as five other people.
Cde Sumbo Ncube was to later on make mockery of the Rhodesian security forces among them Mr Masuku when he made a dramatic escape from Victoria Falls Police Station where he was being detained under heavy security guard. Cde Sumbo Ncube who was kept naked and chained round the clock made good his escape dressed only in underpants. The first wall he breached was that of Mr Masuku and a fellow policeman who had gone to his cell to give him food. Below are excerpts of the interview. Read on….
MS: Mr Masuku before we talk about your time in the police force, let’s have your background.
Mr Masuku: I was born on 27 November 1942 in the farming area of Fort Rixon, that is in Insiza District,
Matabeleland South Province. My father was a labourer at a farm there. He was a cook for a white family there. I started my schooling there but because they could only take pupils up to Standard Three I then moved to
Ntabazinduna. At Ntabazinduna I stayed at Mr Zinyemba’s homestead who was a teacher. They were my relatives as my cousin was married to one of Zinyemba’s sons. The school I attended was St Cyprians now called Nhlambabaloyi, that is where I completed my Standard Six. It was during that time that I got interested in becoming a policeman.
MS: Where did that love for police work come from?
Mr Masuku: I used to see policemen doing their patrols in our area and also from films that were from time to time brought to the community. I marveled at their dressing, so I set my eyes on joining the police force. I can say to me working as a police officer was a calling. After doing Standard Six at St Cyprians, I moved to Bulawayo and enrolled at Mpopoma Secondary School which at that time offered lessons up to Form Two. That should have been 1960 or 1961. The only schools in the city that catered for blacks up to Form Four was one in Pumula, probably it was St Bernards but I am not sure and the other one is now called Bulawayo Polytechnic.
So, after completing Form Two at Mpopoma I joined a local firm, Premier Electric. I was still interested in becoming a policeman, but because of age I could not join. One had to be 21 to join because that was the age of majority then. I then started being involved in political activities on the Zapu side in Mpopoma suburb. We used to carry out violent activities as youths such as stoning houses belonging to oTshombe, a name for sell-out derived from Moise Tshombe, a politician who led the secessionist state of Katanga in Zaire now called Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We then became a target of the Rhodesian CID and to avoid arrest I then made a follow-up in joining the police force.
It was in 1963 when I went to Ross Camp where I found a white policeman and as I had done interviews, the process to join the force was initiated. I was told that I would be travelling to Salisbury (Harare) that same night. So, the white officer gave me a token to go to Lobels Bakery to collect a half loaf of bread, which was to be my food on the journey.
MS: Just a half loaf of bread.
Mr Masuku: That was that. I was to eat it on the train. Joining me on the journey was Alexander Mbulawa Dlodlo, a son of Chief Siphoso from Tsholotsho. Myself I was referred to as Chief Mzimuni as my father and Chief Mzimuni were siblings. I met Mbulawa at the Main Railway Station and we travelled together to Tomlison College, later to be known as Tomlison Depot.
MS: But joining the police force at that time was it the right thing to do?
Mr Masuku: To be honest with you like I said I was just fascinated by the dressing and didn’t even know exactly what it entailed to be a policeman.
MS: Then take us through the process of joining the police force as a black person.
Mr Masuku: I arrived at Tomlison on 1 October 1963 and we found some people who had been there for up to six months waiting to undergo training. That was because when one got to the Tomlison there was a need for clearance. Letters were sent to one’s last school, parents or guardians as part of the vetting process. Those days letters were sent through the post and if there were delays it meant one’s training also would be delayed. Those letters were to come back with testimonies that those people knew you and as for parents that they were blessing your decision to join the police force.
Knowing my parents, I directed that my letter be sent to ubaba omncane (uncle) whom I had confided in that I was joining the police. I knew that my father was not going to allow me to join the police. There was a tendency among communities in Matabeleland to be against government institutions especially those of security nature. In our group of 50 recruits only four were Ndebele speaking. Most youths like what is happening now preferred to go and work in South Africa. Back to training, it did not take long for me to start training as my response did not take time. So, one day I was called to an office for an interview.
MS: Continue taking us through that…
Mr Masuku: At first, I thought I was being arrested for my political activities. I was ushered into an office where there was this huge white policeman whom I was to learn was called Bradfield, the deputy commander of the camp. I was shocked to hear him saying ‘kunjani mntaka Mzimuni, Zikode, Mlondo’. The whole interview went through in pure iSiNdebele. He then told me that I had been cleared to join the force. Training was six months and when we finished, we remained at the depot for three months as we were involved in an operation that was carried out to round up nationalists as they were being sent to Gonakudzingwa that is the Zapu side and Sikombela those from Zanu.
However, we were not involved in arresting the leaders of the nationalist movements, we picked their juniors. We then had our pass-out parade in July 1964. From there I was deployed to Bulawayo, but was glad as I was quickly moved to Wankie (Hwange). I was very uncomfortable working in Bulawayo as I had been a political activist. From Wankie I was also immediately transferred to Dete where the police station there had just been opened. There were two white officers while us blacks we were five.
MS: What sort of criminal activities did you deal with?
Mr Masuku: Initially we dealt mostly with poaching of game by the local community from then National Park. They poached small game for the pot. There were also crimes of murder where people killed each other for petty issues. People would fight over game poached from the park and kill each other. It was easy to arrest them because some even handed themselves in after committing murder. I was then assigned Ground Coverage (GC) duties.
MS: What does that involve?
Mr Masuku: Ground Coverage or GC involved monitoring political activities, so I had been moved to do security duties. It meant dealing with political cases. I was working on those cases with George Siansali, whose father was Chief Siansali of Binga. The Rhodesians like I alluded above recruited mostly from families of chiefs, remember I spoke about the son of Chief Siphoso and how I received special treatment compared to other recruits during training because of my links with Chief Mzimuni.
So, I and George kept an eagle on politicians, monitored those families whose children had left the country to join the armed struggle. On families with children who had crossed the border to join the armed struggle we wanted to find out whether those who had left the country were making visits after their training, writing letters and whether other forms of communication happening. In, short we wanted to find out whether they were in touch. Our code name for such people was the word expatriate. As for politicians we closely monitored their movements.
MS: Do you remember the names of those politicians?
Mr Masuku: There was one Zapu activist who was a problem. Muntanga from Tinde area in Binga whose area fell under our jurisdiction. He was very stubborn despite the fact that we carried out numerous raids on him. At some point he even became armed. There was also Washington Sansole, the late former judge of the High Court and other Sansoles. They were active in Zapu structures.
Also, there was Alexious Chiyasa, a Dete businessman. The current Speaker of Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda was there as well and was also a young teacher at St Mary’s near Hwange Town. His rural home is around that area. Then in 1971 on New Year’s Day I came face to face with a guerilla whom I managed to capture.
To be continued next week with Mr Masuku narrating how he captured the guerilla at Kamativi Tin Mine and his deployment to operational areas that were teeming with guerillas.
