The Sunday News
This is the district (Gwanda) together with its neighbour Matobo or Kezi, Matabelelanad South province that at times witnessed unorthodox methods of recruitment by freedom fighters such as “kidnapping” of people at wedding parties including the groom and his bridal party and leading the reluctant group across Shashe River into Botswana en-route to Zambia for military training. Gwanda is also the district where one of its boarding schools, Manama was raided by Zipra forces in January 1977 and hundreds of pupils led to Botswana.
As a result of such political activities, the spirit of fighting colonial bondage swept across the district, resulting in even youngsters some aged between 13 and 15 years finding their way into Botswana. The district also shares the border with Botswana.
One such youngster then is Cde Ezra Wadenga pseudonym Cde Trust Moyo of Gungwe Village under Chief Mathe who while waiting for his Grade Seven results made his way across Shashe River en-route to Zambia.
Our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) spoke to Cde Wadenga to gives us an account of his experiences during the armed struggle. Below are excerpts of the interview.
MS: Cde Wadenga you went to war at such a tender age, what drove you to do so? Maybe before you answer that question, briefly run through your background.
Cde Wadenga: I was born at Gungwe Village under Chief Mathe on 2 October 1961. I started my primary education at Gungwe, then between 1971 and 1972 I was at Mankonkoni which is near an irrigation scheme under the same name.
However, I was to return to Gungwe and that is where I wrote my Grade Seven examinations in 1976. As fate would have it I left in December that year for Botswana on my way to Zambia to join the armed struggle. It was after the war that I proceeded with my education, writing my Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC) in 1992 at Tsandzangu Secondary School in Rusape as I was based at 3:2 Battalion.
I proceeded to do my Ordinary Levels when I had moved to Headquarters Four Brigade in Masvingo. Coming to your question on what made me leave the country to take up arms, there were a lot of political activities in Gwanda with Zapu structures very much alive. I should say it was in 1975 that I started hearing stories about the war from the radio and I was in Grade Six then.
There was also a man called Brown Morwala who used to go around the villages buying goat skins and in doing his business, he was also doing commissariat work for Zapu. He was encouraging boys to leave the country for Zambia so that they could be trained as guerillas.
Then one day there was a Zapu team made up of six or so people that came to Gungwe Business Centre to address a party meeting. They sang a song that went like this soja raNkomo sunga hutare. That was captivating.
MS: Interesting, that was the situation at village level and it charmed you.
Cde Wadenga: I felt ready to leave the country and train as a guerilla. There was also talk doing rounds that the Ian Smith government was planning through its call-up exercise to raid villages and take teenagers like myself to join its ranks. I told myself that there was no way I could serve the Smith government, there was also talk and strong belief that guerillas were more powerful compared to the Rhodesian army.
I realised that if I was to be forced to join the regime army then it meant being killed by the comrades, so the best way was to leave the country. Also some guys from our village had from 1975 been leaving for the war and they included my own brother, Lovemore Wadenga and a neighbour, Fackson Bhedza.
So I teamed up with Karabo Selome, whom you featured recently in this column, his elder brother, Leavitt and my own brother Wellington who unfortunately did not return from the war and we secretly left for Botswana and that was December 1976. We left at 2am on that early morning and after sunrise we were at Takaliewa Business Centre where we pretended as if we wanted to buy something from the shops and immediately left.
We got information that an army truck had passed through the area the previous day and that did not in anyway deter us and we soldiered on. When we got to Shashe River we pretended to be herdboys as there were cattle around and after being satisfied that everything was okay, we crossed into Botswana.
When we got to Gobajangu we went to Selome’s aunt who was married there and she advised us that it was not proper for brothers to be part of the war at the same time, but we explained to her the situation on the ground back home and she was convinced. From there we moved to Bonong where there were government trucks that ferried people to Selibe-Phikwe. By that time we had been joined by other groups. Scores of people were pouring into Botswana to join the armed struggle.
MS: In your own assessment how did the Botswana citizens take those who were going to join the armed struggle?
Cde Wadenga: I should say they fully co-operated although their government did not allow armed guerillas in their territory. Like when we got to Bonong word was quickly sent even to the traditional leadership about the presence of our people and they would activate their structures to make sure everything went according to plan. When we got to Selibe-Phikwe the Botswana security forces made their investigations to ascertain that we were genuine in joining the armed struggle.
Then from Phikwe we were taken to Francistown where there was a Zapu facility and a few weeks down the line, it was the beginning of January 1977 when we were flown to Lusaka in Zambia. From the Lusaka International Airport we were taken straight to Nampundwe, yeyi and that is where things changed. I have never seen anything like that.
MS: You don’t seem to have loved the place, take us through your time there.
Cde Wadenga: At Nampundwe although it was a transit camp, ask any former Zipra who went through that place. That was hell on earth. It was at Nampundwe where one was introduced to the tough military life. The instructors such as Busobenyoka (face of the snake) and Thodlana were something else. Fresh from a village life, suddenly one is thrown into doing tough military exercises such as number nine (frog jump) for a distance of at least 100 metres.
There was also the toyi-toyi. What made things difficult was that there was no time to gradually introduce those tough military exercises, people were immediately thrown into the deep end. There was also the problem of food, there were shortages but still when it came to physical exercises, it was business as usual. You at times would not recognise someone you knew after being taken through those rigorous exercises.
MS: Didn’t you at that point regret joining the armed struggle?
Cde Wadenga: Not as such. I was still committed to seeing Zimbabwe free, but the situation at Nampundwe could break any man. You know while you had to contend with the physical exercises there was also the issue of food shortages, that made things tricky.
I should though admit that at one point the four of us, myself, Karabo, Leavitt and Wellington sat down and said if it was not for the Zambezi River we would try a way of going back home. It was a feeling shared by many, the tough handling of recruits at Nampundwe by the trained personnel could have seen people disappearing from the camp, but it was a non-starter because there was the Zambezi River to think about, so at the end of the day you just tell yourself that yekela ngiqinisele njengabanye.
The Zipra training was not child’s play. I should mention that those schoolchildren who were taken from Manama found us at Nampundwe. Then came a time when we were chosen to go for proper military training and the four of us were part of the group of about 500 that was taken to CGT1 for training. That group also included those who came from Manama Mission.
Article first published on 10 May 2020.
