The Sunday News
WE continue our interview with pioneer freedom fighter Cde Moffat Hadebe who on Monday last week during the Heroes Day celebrations was awarded by President Mnangagwa with the Grand Officer of the Zimbabwe Order medal in Harare in recognition of his role in the country’s armed struggle. In the interview today Cde Hadebe tells our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) how they were sold out by a Botswana businessman, resulting in the recapture of his three colleagues, Cdes Keyi Nkala, Elliot Ngwabi and Clark Mpofu. Below are excerpts of the interview. Read on . . .
MS: You spoke about being dropped off by Cdes Mpofu and Mabhena at the 10km peg from Plumtree Town, so from there how did you manoeuvre?
Cde Hadebe: After being dropped off we plunged ourselves into the bush. We were dressed in oversized clothes picked from Daniel Ngwenya’s house. We were barefooted as we had failed to get the right shoe sizes. You can look at the pictures of Keyi Nkala, Clark Mpofu and Elliot Ngwabi in the Chronicle of January 1965 when they were being led into the court after being recaptured, there is something comical with the way they were dressed. But that was the situation we were confronted with when we were fighting for the freedom of our country.
From the Bulawayo-Plumtree Road we walked towards the border with Botswana and because of lack of information little did we know that the authorities had not yet discovered that there had been a prison break. In the morning we were to be told later that it was business as usual as prison wardens sent prisoners to do some tasks like manual labour. In prison there is this system that after those people have been sent to do some tasks, they do a roll call for the prisoners on remand and usually there it was between 9 and 10am.
When they started counting, they discovered that in our cell instead of having five prisoners, there was only one, Wilson Tshuma. When they asked him what happened he said he had tried to raise alarm but was ignored by the wardens. During our time there, there was a prisoner, uMgewu who would spend the night banging doors, he was a mental case. So, Wilson said “hanti ngithe ngilitshela, ngitshaya izivalo lathi ngiyahlanya”.
If we had known that they had not discovered our escape as early as we had anticipated, we could have handled our escape better. We were not going to hurry things like we did. I’m told the prison wardens were shocked to discover our escape at that time. When they saw the hole in the ceiling, they first thought we were still there. One white prison guard took a ladder so that he could check for himself and he then touched some live electricity cables that we had unknowingly exposed and they shocked him. He fell down. His colleagues then thought it was us who had hit him because of the way he had screamed.
They then checked again and discovered that indeed the “terrorists” had escaped. That is how they put into motion the great manhunt for us. We made headlines in newspapers, but while all that was happening thina we were not aware because we had no access to phones and the media outlets.
MS: However, by that time you guys were on your way to Botswana.
Cde Hadebe: Yes, after being dropped off by Mabhena and Mpofu whom we had told that lina phendukani thina sizazibonela, sahle sangena igusu. We moved until we got to Jakalasi Farm, an area around koZimnyama. We found a man who said he was Ndlovu, he was looking after some livestock at the farm. He said to us in Kalanga, “Yebo balume, mobva poni?” and I said, “Tobva kuPlumtree”.
He went on being inquisitive and asked “Mondayi?” and I said, “tonda kuJoburg”. He kept quiet, looked at us and said “okulapha” is not easy. Ndlovu then told us that there were many soldiers deployed and advised us against proceeding. We then said among ourselves can we trust this man. We then agreed to give him the benefit of doubt. We walked for a short distance and hid in the bush. We agreed that we will be rotating in keeping an eye on him from a tree. We monitored his movements, we had asked for food from him. Later on he gave us food.
At around 4pm we heard the sound of trucks leaving where the soldiers had been deployed. After that we proceeded to the border and since it was not far off we managed to cross into Botswana without any incident. However, our feet were by that time swollen, sasesinanayila nje. But as people who were fleeing from the Rhodesian security forces we had no choice, but to soldier on. The following day we got to a place where there was a grocery shop and my colleagues insisted that we go to the shop, that was against my advice. I told them time and again that it was risky to go to the shop.
MS: What was their argument?
Cde Hadebe: They were saying there was no problem as we were in Botswana. They even said there was nothing to fear as we had defeated the Rhodesian government through our escape from prison. I even called Clark Mpofu aside and warned him, but Clark said he could not do anything since Keyi and Elliot were for us going to the shop. They started a conversation with the businessman and said we were looking for transport to take us to Francistown to attend a People’s Party rally.
That was after we had seen a poster advertising the rally at the shop. Little did we know that the Rhodesian propaganda had been spread to Botswana where we were being described as cattle rustlers and rapists, obhinya. In addition to that there was a reward of 250 pounds if one passed on information to the authorities about whereabouts. That Indian, the shop owner already had that information and that was too tempting for him. At that store there was a little girl whom I greeted, I said to her “dumela” in Setswana and she responded “dumela ra”.
Her employer got angry and I could tell that they were brewing something. I got more suspicious but unfortunately my colleagues were relaxed. The Indian businessman then said we could get onto his truck as he was also going to Francistown for the People’s Party rally. We jumped onto the truck and I decided to sit strategically facing the direction where we were coming from.
Next to me sat Clark. After travelling some distance, in fact we were about to reach Bisoli when I saw a truck, which could have been a Land Rover approaching behind us at high speed. I said yeah ngeyamadiri, a code which my colleagues understood. At that moment there was no panic among us. Their mistake was when that approaching vehicle was close to us, the Indian guy reduced speed, so did the approaching car which under normal circumstances was supposed to just overtake us. When it was close I realised that it had the BPX number plates, an indication that it was a government vehicle, especially from the security sector.
MS: What was going through your mind at that moment?
Cde Hadebe: I was tense and making calculations on my next move. I was also very alert. When that car drew closer, I noticed that instead of overtaking at the speed its driver was travelling at, the driver reduced speed, so did our own. I stiffened when I saw a rifle in the other vehicle, I knew that we were in trouble. I did not wait as I somersaulted from the vehicle, quickly regained my balance and took off.
Those people from the other vehicle then started firing their weapons, but that did not deter me. I made good my escape. My colleagues were not so lucky as Ngwabi and Nkala were quickly caught. Clark was captured after offering some resistance as he was caught some distance away from the road. I managed to outpace those Botswana security forces. Physically I was an animal during that time.
MS: So you continued running . . .
Cde Hadebe: I could have continued running for two hours non-stop despite the fact that I was barefooted and my feet were swollen. I then hid in the bush and they started making a comb-up, there was an aircraft, a Dakota that had been deployed as well as the search for me intensified. However, it looks like they had under-estimated the radius that they thought I could have covered because their concentration was restricted to some spots I had already covered. They never thought I could have gone that far.
I hid in the bush until night fall. I then continued moving until I reached Bisoli and by that time I was feeling very hungry. It came to my mind that I should ask for food from the people, but then thought against it as I felt that there was every chance that someone might sell me out again. I then told myself that I had to steal.
MS: How did you carry out that one?
Cde Hadebe: When I got to Bisoli, which was a small settlement with tin structures I found people cooking from fires outside those houses. I then saw a woman with a baby strapped on her back cooking and I targeted her. I moved closer and she could not see me because of the darkness.
I waited for the time she would go into her structure. As expected after she had finished cooking she picked her mealie-meal and took it back to her structure. I then pounced, at lightning speed, I picked her two pots and melted into darkness. However, I did not go far, I took cover nearby, watching the space and when she came out she was shocked and said in SeTswana “dipetsa diyele kae” meaning where have my pots gone to. I enjoyed that meal which was isitshwala lamacimbi.
MS: From there where did you go?
Cde Hadebe: I walked all the way to Francistown where I was to meet a man called Morupi of the People’s Party and then Pios Phuthi. They are the ones who organised that I be taken to a place towards Maun called Natal where the villagers sheltered me from January up to mid-April. During those months I was still wearing the oversized clothes we got from Daniel Ngwenya’s home in Tshabalala.
I still had no shoes. Nganginephuzela nje, I was a sorry sight with an overgrown beard. However, those Tswana people looked after me well in terms of giving me food. It was in mid-April that Cde Maxwell from SWAPO and based in Botswana came to look for me there. He had been in touch with Jason Ziyapapa Moyo who was in Zambia. I then managed to travel to Zambia together with cadres from MPLA from Angola. I had to pull all the tricks in the book to cross from Botswana to Zambia. When I got across the border into Zambia I met Peter Mackay who had been tasked by Zapu to pick me.
He is the one who drove me to the Zapu headquarters in Lusaka where I met other cadres such as Abraham Nkiwane, Gordon Butshe, Dumiso Dabengwa, Ackim Ndlovu who was our army commander during that time, now Retired Colonel Thomas “Menu” Ngwenya and Stephen Parirenyatwa who was the party representative. Since I was looking shabby I was taken for a hair cut and two suits were bought for me.
MS: How did your comrades react when they saw you in Zambia?
Cde Hadebe: Some thought I was a ghost because they had read from a publication called Parade that had reported that I had died in the Okavango Swamp in Botswana. Some of the comrades were genuinely shocked. A day or so after my arrival in Zambia the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that “Moffat Hadebe is believed to be in Zambia”. That shocked me. To me it meant that among us as freedom fighters there were enemy spies. James Chikerema who was the Zapu leader in exile was equally concerned, there was fear that enemy agents might even kidnap me. It was then arranged that I be sent for further training in Algeria. n To be continued next week
