The Sunday News
At the peak of the armed struggle in the 1970s thousands of people responded to calls to leave their homes, education and jobs to join in the fight against the racist Ian Smith regime. Some people left their jobs even in the Rhodesian security forces as the revolutionary spirit caught up with them.
One of those to be seized by the revolutionary spirit and leave the regime’s police force was Cde Zephaniah Moyo who joined Zipra forces in Zambia. Cde Moyo, whose pseudo name was Cde Jeckonia Zulu then rose through the ranks of the Zipra intelligence unit, the National Security Organisation (NSO), which was headed by Dr Dumiso Dabengwa to Deputy Director of Public Security deputising the now late, Cde Noah Mvenge, who was the brother of former Zanu-PF chief whip and Member of Parliament for Mutare Central, Moses Mvenge. In our Lest We Forget column Cde Moyo, a man who speaks authoritatively on intelligence issues but does not give much away spoke frankly about his stint in the British South African Police (BSAP), the reasons for leaving to join the armed struggle and the way he was treated when he arrived in Botswana and Zambia in 1976.
After Independence Cde Moyo was to play a prominent role as part of the Zimbabwe Joint Military Command comprising Zipra and Zanla officers that was responsible for laying the groundwork for the integration of ex-freedom fighters into the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), prison services, Central Intelligence Organisation, military intelligence, customs and immigration. Below are excerpts of the interview with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS):
MS: Cde Moyo, readers will be interested to know your background. May you please run through it.
Cde Moyo: I was born Zephaniah Bhata Moyo on 7 March 1950 in the Makukubele area, Whitewaters in Kezi. As a result of the colonial government my family was forced to move to the southern side of Kezi closer to the border with Botswana where I started my primary education and that was in the Beula area. The family moved again to Cawunajena in Tsholotsho District where I continued with my education but I was to return to Kezi and that is where I completed my Standard Six at Gohole School, which is near what is now called Maphisa Growth Point. It was at Gohole that I started my political activities. I was part of the youths that were arrested for stoning a Ministry of Information team. During the attack we also extensively damaged their vehicle. That team was going around showing films “amabhayisikopo” to villagers, which was part of the regime’s propaganda machinery. We did that because we were politically conscious as we were being fed the political diet by our teachers such as Martin Simela, a Mr Tshuma and Duncan Dlodlo. We were then rounded up and taken to Kezi Police Station and since some of us were classified as juveniles we were released but after getting a stern warning from the authorities.
MS: After that what then happened to you?
Cde Moyo: After my completing my Standard Six I came to Bulawayo where I continued with my education through correspondence enrolling with CACC. In 1967 I then joined the veterinary department based in Hwange as a wages clerk covering Kazungula up to Point 22, which is at Sihubu, where the borders of Bulilima and Tsholotsho meet. It was during that time that I witnessed the Wankie battles, which involved a joint military operation carried out by Zipra and Umkhonto Wesizwe guerillas against the colonial forces. I was at my rural home as I was on leave. From our village we witnessed planes hovering and we could hear bomb blasts. In other words we witnessed the Wankie Campaign.
MS: When did you join the police force?
Cde Moyo: It was in 1969 that I joined the British South African Police (BSAP). I went to train at Tomlinson Depot in Harare. I trained when McIntosh, a British economic spy was captured and the British in their cunning ways sent their agent, Spencer who joined the prisons service. He was to help McInotsh escape although he was re-arrested in Mozambique. However, Spencer managed to evade the intelligence agents and return to the United Kingdom.
MS: Okay, you joined the police force in 1969, how was it for blacks then?
Cde Moyo: During training that is when we came face to face with colonial oppression. Blacks trained separately and the highest rank that a black person could attain was that of being a Sergeant Major. A majority of blacks were just constables.
However, after graduation in 1970 I was deployed to Mbembesi Police Station where I worked as a constable. A few months later I was attached to the ground coverage unit which can now be equated to the present, Police Internal Security Intelligence . That meant I was going to be operate in civilian clothes and only answerable to the commanding officer as I was now dealing with political issues.
MS: You were now keeping an eye on the political activities happening in your area of operation. Tell us more.
Cde Moyo: I was watching some political active people whom we called carded individuals and they included Ndzombane, Mloyiswa Ndlovu and Sikhabe in Ntabazinduna. My area of operation also covered places like Fort Rixon, Esigodini and Inyathi. The carded list also included those who had left the country to join the armed struggle and some of the individuals were people like Mabhuku, Mkhatshana and David Mpongo. My duties were just to keep an eye on them and not arrest as we did not have arresting powers because people who could arrest those involved in political activities were from the Special Branch, which was mainly staffed with whites.
MS: But were those people aware that you were watching them?
Cde Moyo: They knew that I was a policeman and we started developing some good relations. Working closer with them meant that I was also cultivating my political activities and I must say I learnt a lot from abadala labana (those elders). I found myself working with such senior political figures although I was supposed to be monitoring them and at the end of the day they became very open to me. Even the likes of Chief Khayisa Ndiweni used to tease us policemen that while the whites were using motor bikes and cars during operations, black policemen were sweating it out by cycling around. He used to say this because of course by then I had a drivers’ licence so at times I used to drive. In terms of looking at political activities at Mbembesi it was myself, Chihota and another one whose name I have forgotten. Then after some time I was chosen to join the CID and at that time you were chosen on the basis of being a little more intelligent. I came to Mzilikazi Police Station near Renkini where I was put in the residential section where we dealt with house breakings and later moved to stores, which also dealt with break-ins but at business premises. When you were in the CID you could go outside Bulawayo when doing cases.
One time we spent three months out there pursuing a man who had stolen $120 000 from a local company. He had fled to Gutu but we found him in Gokwe. That man was a messenger.
MS: But in your duties in ground coverage wasn’t there any harassment of political activists?
Cde Moyo: Not all, that is why I said I ended up having good relations labadala. What we used to do was to monitor them in such a way that they didn’t get in touch with fighters. But for politics it was the Special Branch who would take them to places like Gonakudzingwa which was a restriction camp at the time before it became a prison or detention camp. In monitoring we would watch what these people were doing, who they were meeting, what gatherings they attended and what was discussed in those gatherings. We were not arresting anybody, I don’t recall arresting anyone for political activities. Then around 1975 when the political temperature started picking up we could be attached to the Special Branch and it was then that I was deployed to Masvingo.
MS: Now what were you duties?
Cde Moyo: I was part of a unit which was responsible for escorting convoys of cars coming from Beitbridge. I was part of the guys that gave escort to the convoy from the helicopter with members of the Special Air Services. There were also teams that gave escort on the ground.
MS: Why was it so?
Cde Moyo: This was because there was now a heavy presence of guerillas on the ground, so it was not safe for motorists to use the Beitbridge-Masvingo Road as they could be ambushed anytime. So motorists were now travelling in a convoy which was given escorts by security forces at different places. It was during that time that I felt it was time to leave and join the armed struggle. I had worked in the police force for five years under very difficult conditions where blacks were discriminated against. However, a particular incident led me to leave while I was still in Masvingo.
MS: Tell us about that incident. What happened?
Cde Moyo: One day when we had handed over our escort duties to another team I noticed that we were flying very low and we were towards Maringire turn-off and there was this homestead that belonged to an elderly couple. The pilot decided to fly low and proceeded to that homestead where we landed and disembarked. I didn’t know what was happening but my white colleagues ran towards that homestead where we found an elderly couple. The man could have been in his 80s while the wife was in her 70s. The white guys then started beating up that couple at the same time asking them questions on the whereabouts of the guerillas. The sad part for me was that we did not see anyone running away to show that there was any activity but it was just an elderly couple seated at their homestead. At that point I asked them why they were beating up those people. They said that when I saw them beating up black people I should just join in. I told them in no uncertain terms to look at my skin. I said I would never do that and there was a standoff. They then stopped and we got back to the aircraft.
MS: How was the situation after that?
Cde Moyo: It was tense. Then there was this section officer Queen who was in charge of the operation who started accusing me of behaving like a politician, saying I support terrorists. I told him off and said my understanding was that we treat people like human beings and the people being harassed were Africans like me. So immediately they sent a signal to the Deputy Commissioner of Police at that time, Webb who was in charge of CID. They were instructed to allow me to proceed to the camp and that they should not try to disarm me because at that time they were no longer sure what I could do. I had become unpredictable. Immediately after that I was sent back to Bulawayo because that side did not want to work with me. On my way to Bulawayo it was then that I decided to leave the police force and I wrote a resignation letter. In some sections of the police I had become a marked man because I was no longer taking instructions such as washing cars for white officers. I had told them that I could wash a car I had driven. They then tried to persuade me not to leave and they used someone called Zephania and I refused. I had set my sights on joining the armed struggle.
MS: So when did you finally leave the country?
Cde Moyo: I left in 1976 and a year before that there had been an incident of a police officer in Gwanda, Dickden Sebatha who had set free political prisoners from cells and drove them to the border to join the armed struggle. In a way that incident also inspired me, so I left Bulawayo by train to Francistown in Botswana. When I got there I went to the police station knowing that as a former police officer in the Smith regime I couldn’t go straight to the refugee camp knowing that would create a problem. I was going to be mistaken for someone on a spying mission. The Botswana police officers then detained me thinking that I was a spy. The following day, two Zipra men Cdes Mayisa and Mehlo came and they took me to a bushy area in the northern part of Francistown where they interrogated me the whole day assisted by the Botswana Special Branch. I told them that yes, I had been a police officer and that I had left the regime. I was taken back to the cells. I was not really physically harassed but they insulted me saying because they were about to attain Independence I was now joining the struggle. A lot of insults were hurled at me. Then after four days in the cells I was released, blindfolded and taken to what later on turned to be the airport. There was a Red Cross aircraft that used to go to Lusaka and that is the one we used with other recruits to fly to Zambia.
MS: Now you are in Zambia where we understand people like you who had worked for the Rhodesian security forces were given a hard time by the military intelligence officer, how was it?
Cde Moyo: When we got to Nampundwe which was a transit camp, it was raining the whole night and in the morning came these intelligence officers, Bango, Madondo, Mudzi, Kaizer and Tafara to screen the new arrivals. We were badly treated but with me it wasn’t all that bad. They knew that I was a former policeman and accused me of being in Zambia to spy for the Rhodesians. They did not put me in the pits because there was an urgent signal from Dumiso Dabengwa that I should go to Lusaka and see him. So those guys didn’t have much time to harass me.
MS: Why did Dabengwa want to see you, why a sort of special treatment given to you, did you know him before?
Cde Moyo: I don’t know why Dabengwa wanted to see me and up to now he has never told me. Of course I knew him from the police records, he was one of the carded people as in my police duties I had covered Ntabazinduna, his home area. Dabengwa comes from Ntabazinduna, but of course they later moved to Gwatemba in Insiza where his father had bought a farm in the African Purchasing area.
MS: When you came face to face with Dabengwa what did he say?
Cde Moyo: When I was taken to Lusaka and found him he instructed that I should be taken to Chilenje. He then followed and he started asking me a lot of things.
He looked more interested into a sort of an update of the Rhodesian security forces structure and operations of course. In an uncompromising mood he said I should give him the enemy strategy straight away. As an intelligence person he knew a lot about the Rhodesian activities but he wanted me to tell him. So I told him what I knew, the activities of various army, police and intelligence units. I told him about the crucial departments. I told him about the activities of ground coverage units, Special Branch One and Two, Police Anti-Terrorist Unit (PATU), later to be called Support Unit, Law and Order section which worked closely with the CIO and the district assistants. I also gave him information on the operations of the army.
He then left but he kept on coming back, I think for five days he was still digging for information from me. Later on I was allowed to join others. However, I didn’t stay long in Zambia as I was part of the 29 who were chosen to go and do a nine-month course in intelligence training at the Moscow Academy of Intelligence Studies in the Soviet Union.
Our group which was led by Cde Joel Sijila had comrades like Aleck Ndlovu, King Madida, Nkosana Dlodlo and Stephen Mbizo.
Next week we continue our interview with Cde Moyo speaking about NSO operations, deployments and its structure as well as the attack on its headquarters by the Selous Scouts.
