The Sunday News
BY the time of the ceasefire agreement between the nationalists forces and the racist Rhodesian regime in 1979, Zanla forces, the military wing of Zanu-PF operating from Mozambique had penetrated the country right up to Kezi and Mangwe districts in Matabeleland South Province.
Among the guerillas who operated in Matabeleland South are judge president Justice George Chiweshe who commanded a detachment that roamed in Filabusi and Zvishavane, Zanu-PF director for administration at the party headquarters in Harare, Cde Dickson Dzora who was in Gwanda and Beitbridge as well as Harare High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe who was operating in Kezi and Mangwe districts. The Zanla operational area in Matabeleland South fell under Gaza province. As part of the build-up to the commemorations of the Heroes Day next month we traced Cde Dzora to reminisce to the nation his exploits during the war especially in Gwanda and Beitbridge. Cde Dzora whose Chimurenga name was Cde Obey Dicks Marxims also spoke about how he survived the Chimoio attack by the Rhodesian forces in a military operation codenamed Dingo where thousands of lives were lost. He was one of the guerillas who fought fiercely to save lives during that unfortunate incident.
Below is an excerpt of the interview he had with our Assistant Editor, Mkhululi Sibanda (MS).
MS: Cde Dzora may you please give us your brief history. Who is Dickson Dzora?
Cde Dzora: I was born on 15 March 1960 at Ndanga Hospital in Zaka District of Masvingo Province. I did my primary education at Muzaraba School and for my secondary education I went to Jersey in Chipinge. However, at Jersey I was only there up to Form Two as I left for the war in Mozambique in 1975.
MS: What drove you to join the armed struggle at such a tender age?
Cde Dzora: You see I joined the struggle because I used to hear about the exploits of the comrades from my father. My father was a businessman and he used to travel to Harare and while there he would meet other businesspeople from areas such as Mount Darwin and Chiweshe and they would talk about the offensive of the guerillas. I then got to know about the exploits of the freedom fighters. When I went to Chipinge for my secondary education that is the period that Mozambique attained its independence and since we were close to the border we used to see what was happening across and that inspired us a lot to join the war.
MS: Then you left for the war from school, take us through your journey.
Cde Dzora: Yes we left from school. However, we were not the first as some had done that before and that was around 1974. Some of course were sent back during that period by the Frelimo as they were saying they didn’t have a clear policy on how to handle the people who were moving from our country. However, when we left we were six and our first port of call was Chikwekwete, a Frelimo base where we stayed for three days. We moved to Espungabera we were there for two weeks, moved to Machazi where we spent a month and then headed for Chibabava where we spent the whole of 1975. We then left Chibabava in September 1976 for Chimoio for military training, which we took part in between October 1976 and March 1977. After completing my training I was sent to Tete where I was assigned to be Cde Ziso’s assistant. But when we got to Tete the late National Hero, Cde Josiah Tungamarai, said he didn’t want assistants who didn’t have field operational experience. I was then given to Cde Granger Benhura and were then deployed to the front.
MS: Where really were you deployed?
Cde Dzora: I operated kuMudzi, Mutoko area and then went back after two months to Tete and then moved to Chomoio. I had only been to Chimoio for three days when the camp was attacked and that was on 23 November 1977. I can say I survived that attack by the Grace of God. In fact on the eve of the attack we didn’t sleep as we were talking about our operational experiences. Early in the morning a lady came and told us about the presence of a plane and we realised that we were under attack.
MS: So how did you react to that?
Cde Dzora: I took my bandolino and started moving from the base. First of all when I dashed out to check I told Edward one of the comrades I was with that hondo yauya, mhanya and I headed towards Chaminuka base where there was a 37mm twin barrel anti-air. When we got there with some of the comrades we started fighting back. It should be noted that is the place where President Mugabe used to stay during the party’s congress, but when the attack came the leadership had moved to Maputo. As we were fighting back jets were all over the show bombing the camp. We then started moving and at that time we could see injured comrades. We were now moving to Chindunduma base, which was a base for schoolchildren. Some of the children had been picked by enemy forces and were being dropped to the ground by the planes and that was a very painful way of killing people. As that was happening we were advancing in battle formation and we were five, the children started running towards us. We gave them instructions on how to move behind us while we were advancing. As we were moving we would fire, command the children to advance at the same time giving them covering fire. We kept on shooting till we got to Mudzingazi River. Along the river the enemy forces had deployed stop groups who had killed some of the people who were fleeing from the camps. However, we dealt with them but some of them were firing from the other side. We managed to break through till we got into a cave and by then there were 40 of us, remember we had met the children along the way also. We stayed in the cave from around 11.30am until after 6.30pm when we got out and headed for Chimoio.
MS: Then what happened on your way back?
Cde Dzora: On our way back we met other comrades under the command of the late General Amoth Chingombe whose Chimurenga name was Agnew Kambeu. We were then ordered to join this reinforcement group led by Cde Kambeu and now there were about 100 of us who were armed. We entered Chaminuka where we encountered the enemy and we had fierce exchange of fire. We overran the enemy, killed some while others disappeared. We then started picking casualties and among the dead was Edward, the comrade I had in the morning and I was hurt by his death. His body was right at the door where I had left him. Edward came from St Augustine. After that we started preparing for the Mutare attack, which was a revenge mission on the Chimoio attack.
MS: How then did you move to Matabeleland South?
Cde Dzora: I was among the comrades who were deployed to the Zimunya area in Manicaland and after we moved to Gaza province, which was an operational area that covered Masvingo and Matabeleland South provinces. Some groups of the Zanla forces had been deployed before, some in 1976. I was deployed in August 1977 in Gezane and at first we were in Matibi 1, 2, moved into parts of Maranda. However, areas that really became my operational area were Tide, Manama in Gwanda, Chief Staudze in Beitbridge. We also covered Ntepe in southern Gwanda.
MS: How was the situation in Matabeleland South? Any battles of note?
Cde Dzora: The Rhodesians in Matabeleland South didn’t have bases as such, so what we used to do was carry out a lot of ambush attacks along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway, the Beitbridge-Masvingo road. However, a lot of battles we got involved in were when the Rhodesian soldiers were on mobile patrols. So basically our operations were to seek and destroy. The other issue is that because of the proximity to South Africa, Rhodesian forces operating in Matabeleland South got reinforcements from the South African Defence Forces. Whenever we had a contact with the Rhodesians, they would call for air support from across the border in Messina and in no time helicopters would be on us. At times if the Rhodesians spotted that there were 10 guerillas they could even send 10 helicopters and that was a delicate situation. The vegetation in Gwanda and Beitbridge don’t favour guerilla warfare because during the month of September for instance the Mopani tree would have shed off its leaves and that means there would be no cover, making life difficult for the guerilla. At times we would also raid farms and drive away the cattle, which we gave to the villagers to slaughter. Takadzi tinha mombe dzemabhunu.
MS: So who were some of the comrades that operated in Matabeleland South from the Zanla side and who was the overall commander of the operational area?
Cde Dzora: Some of the comrades are Cde Arafat, the judge president Justice George Chiweshe who was the detachment commander for our forces in Filabusi and Zvishavane, High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe who was in Kezi and worked under the command of Cde Victor Rungani. Others that were in Matabeleland South were Biggie Chitoro, Majority, Retired Colonel Josphat Shumba, the former MP for Mberengwa East, Nzembe and Charles Hokoyo. At one point the overall commander was Retired Brigadier-General Mabenge.
MS: How did the villagers treat you considering that the area you were in was said to be a Zapu stronghold and there were also Zipra forces? Any turf wars?
Cde Dzora: The villagers treated us very well. In Matabeleland South it was very difficult for the villagers to discriminate because there were cases where you would find that in a family, some of the children would have joined Zipra while others had crossed to Mozambique to join Zanla, so the people there supported the two forces equally. A case in point is Mudhara Petshu Sibanda, the father of Jabulani Petshu. Mudhara Petshu had children on both sides and he supported the struggle and he was outstanding in that regard. As for the fights between Zanla and Zipra, those were very isolated incidents. In fact the fights broke out when we mistook each other for Selous Scouts, who depending on the occasion would either pretend to be Zanla or Zipra. They were there to bring such confusion. I am glad to say on most occasions there was co-operation between the two liberation forces as we used to get supplies from Zipra forces who used to get theirs from nearby Botswana because for us Mozambique was too far. The arrangement to share supplies came about after an understanding was reached at command level between the two forces in the operational area.
MS: So how would one distinguish between a Zanla and Zipra guerilla?
Cde Dzora: The modus operandi of the two forces was different. We the Zanla moved with a section of 10 while the Zipra would at times move vari two or three. They only moved in large numbers when they were going for an attack.
MS: Did you operate in Matabeleland South until the ceasefire?
Cde Dzora: In 1978 I got back to Mapai in Mozambique and when we went there we were around 20. Shortly after getting to Mapai we were bombed by the Rhodesian forces using Canberras, five of us survived while 10 died on the spot. I was injured on the head and back during that bombing incident. I was taken to Maputo where I was in hospital for sometime and on 20 December I was discharged, went back to Chimoio. From Chimoio I took 1 000 recruits to Libya and that was 25 December 1978. The whole of 1979 we were training in conventional warfare, which involved the use of tanks, armoured cars, artillery and this was the force that was meant to be deployed in case the talks failed. This was a reserve force and this was meant to safeguard us in case the Rhodesians tried to stage a coup. In December 1979 I went back to Libya with another 1 000 and I only got home in 1981. In all this I was the detachment security commander and my boss was the current Deputy Director in the President’s Department, Cde Nhepera. On my return home I joined the army and was attested as a Major at the Zimbabwe Military Academy. In the army I served at 4:2 Battalion in Masvingo, then moved to the Presidential Guard where I was commanding officer and also at 2 Brigade where I was Brigade Major. I left the army in 1994 and I was still a major. After serving my time in the army I went into export business taking things to Zambia at the same time operating a butchery in Warren Park, kwa Mereki.
MS: How then did you get into politics and your present job?
Cde Dzora: In 1999 some comrades used to come to my business premises at kwaMereki and these included the late National Hero, Retired Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai and Brigadier-General Munemo. At that time we were advising Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi, who was the war veterans chairman. An idea then cropped up among us on why we couldn’t introduce political orientation in the party, Zanu-PF, because we were worried with the direction of the political events that were shaping up. Luckily the late Border Gezi, who was the party’s National Political Commissar said he was prepared to work with war veterans and that is when we were recruited to work for the party. There was then a paradigm shift. We started re-organising the party and introduced political education. Some of us who were retired were employed by the party and I came in as deputy director in the commissariat department. I served in that position between 2001 and 2004. In 2005 I was then appointed director (administration), a position which I am still holding.
