The Sunday News
WE continue our interview in tribute to the life of Jason Ziyapapa Moyo (JZ), an outstanding nationalist who was killed by a parcel bomb in the Zapu offices on 22 January 1977 in Lusaka, Zambia. Among the injured in the blast were Jane Lungile Ngwenya, the late Vice-President John Landa Nkomo and Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, also late. The death of JZ, as Moyo was affectionately known, brought some theories to the fore with some saying it was purely a Rhodesian intelligence operation while some said it was an inside job. Up to date JZ’s death is still shrouded in mystery. It was against this background that our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) spoke to former Zipra Chief of Military Intelligence, Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane to capture the life of JZ and what measures were taken after his assassination. In our last issue Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane, who was accompanied by the former Deputy Zipra Chief of Operations, Cde Stanley Nleya aka Gagisa spoke about the social life of JZ and today picks up the conversation from there. Below are excerpts of the interview.
MS: You speak about JZ as someone who related well with others, but we heard that at times he could lose his temper.
Rtd Brig-General Mazinyane: That’s very true. There were many stories of him being combative. There was a case of him and his colleague, Edward Ndlovu. The two were very temperamental and it is said before they crossed to Zambia to lead the struggle there, they had a heated debate, I am not sure what it was about. It looks like in their argument there was no winner, so at night a livid Edward Ndlovu decided to settle the matter through speaking in hands. Cde Ndlovu then armed himself with a knobkerrie and went to JZ’s home, which was in Makokoba to settle the issue. When he got there, JZ stood his ground and it almost turned ugly as the two started trading not so pleasant words. However, they managed to resolve the issue amicably and Cde Ndlovu ended up putting up for the night at JZ’s home. They had reached a stalemate. There was another story that JZ and the late former President, Cde Robert Mugabe during their Zapu days, were sent abroad to mobilise the resources for the party. The two also being combative in nature, no wonder JZ was Cde Mugabe’s best man when then former late President married Sally, after failing to garner anything from the host country decided to be naughty.
MS: What did they do?
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane: They came up with a plan of hitting back, so they decided to leave water taps in their rooms running. They went and sat at the reception. After satisfying themselves that the rooms were flooding they disappeared. That was the other side of JZ. Even in meetings he spoke his mind and that made him a darling for some people not only in Zapu and Zipra, but even in Zanu. He used to tell us that because of his popularity within the nationalist movement, some people were of the feeling that during the split of 1963 he was going with those who formed Zanu.
MS: Can you take us through the Zapu internal crisis, that saw leaders like James Dambaza Chikerema and George Nyandoro leaving to form Froliz.
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane: Some of us were at training in Morogoro, but we were told that when things went bad, even the traditional Zapu backers, the Soviets at first were in dilemma as to whose side to take. At first the Soviets could not be seen to be supporting a junior as Chikerema was the party’s Vice-President and leader in exile. However, at the end of the day JZ emerged the winner because he was a man of integrity and was tactically astute. (Gagisa interjects and says when things were hotting up Chikerema said he was going to sink the ship, meaning Zapu and JZ shot back and said he was not ideal, because as the captain of the ship, it meant that Chikerema will sink as well). So JZ resisted Chikerema and got assistance from leaders of other liberation movements such as Sam Nujoma of Swapo and Neto of MPLA who were also in Zambia. From that Zapu emerged very strong, strong organisational but not in terms of manpower because there were few people. When Chikerema left Zapu there were just 10 recruits in Lusaka who were awaiting to be sent to training. Initially JZ was arrested by some Zapu guerillas who mutinied under the banner of the 11th March Movement led by the now late Walter Mthikhulu. The mutiny was only stopped when the government of Zambia intervened through Aaron Milner, a Minister under a Cabinet Minister in Kaunda’s government then. All the belligerents were taken to Mboroma where Milner demanded that they all declare their allegiance to either of the warring factions. He said those for Zapu this side, Froliz that side. Those who professed neutrality were deported to the Rhodesian government. Among the deported were recruits. Leaders of the 11th March Movement were given scholarships as refugees in the United Kingdom.
MS: After that, that is when JZ started re-organising Zapu?
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane: Very true. JZ set up new structures to re-invigorate Zapu and its military wing. He became the chairman of the Revolutionary Council and that gave him authority to command the army on behalf of the Commander-In-Chief, Joshua Nkomo who at that time was incarcerated at Ngonakudzingwa with other nationalists. When they re-organised the army in 1971 that is when the name Zipra came up. We are some of the people who moved from what was called the Special Affairs Department to Zipra. The decision to transform the Special Affairs Department was made at Mboroma where the internal revolt was settled. It was emphasised that Zipra as the Zapu army was a fully fledged department of Zapu with full rights, before it was under the office of the Vice-President of the party. Also before the army did not report directly but it went through the VP. It could not report directly in a gathering, but they could do so through the VP’s office. Hence the Revolutionary Council was predominantly people from the military, it catered even for commanders from the camps, it brought in a lot of people from the military. Other organs that were part of the Revolutionary Council were the party’s National Executive. Revolutionary Council meetings were also attended by heads of other departments, members of the executive and trade unions. Then there was the conference of militants, which was like a congress but dominated by the military personnel. It brought delegates from all camps. But at times you will find some comrades coming forward, after choosing themselves and that brought some minor challenges, which, however, were quickly dealt with.
MS: So all these decisions took place at Mboroma?
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane: Yes. It was the Mboroma Conference that established the Revolutionary Council, Zipra and the Conference of Militants. What should be noted is that the Revolutionary Council was the main driver of the armed struggle externally. The Zipra High Command was the main planning body of the armed struggle. The Conference of Militants was like a minor congress outside Zimbabwe. Delegates to the conference were all members of the National Executive, all members of the Zipra High Command (as ordered by the commander), heads of departments of the party and delegates from various Zipra camps. It spelt out the policy which was interpreted to a liberation strategy by the Revolutionary Council and converted to military planning by the Zipra High Command and executed tactically by the Zipra forces during its operations.
MS: This contentious conference of militants was held after how long?
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane: It was held after every three years. The first one was held in 1973 at Mwembeshi and delegates came from as far as Morogoro. The second one was in 1977 at Freedom Camp (FC) and people were already impatient. JZ had died and things were held late. The Conference of Militants did not have a secretary, but was nominated at the conference. However, I remember at Mwembeshi, Dumiso Dabengwa was nominated. He was the Secretary of the Revolutionary Council while Ethan Dube was the head of the party intelligence, which then was called the Zimbabwe Intelligence Services (ZIS). Then JZ chaired the Revolutionary Council and Conference of Militants. So RC used to sit possibly every week, it involved issues like finance. JZ influenced that the whole organization should focus on Zipra and his argument was that Zipra as the army was the reason why people were outside the country fighting the Ian Smith regime, so it should take precedent over everything else. It was the main thing that could see Zapu accomplish its mission, he was very clear about that with the motto “Everything for the front and the soldier comes first”. The issue about prioritising operations he took it personally. If you were seen eating tinned stuff at Zimbabwe House, you will get into trouble, he had set a rule that tinned beef could only be eaten by soldiers at the front, not at the headquarters in Lusaka. Those were the people who had that privilege.
– To be concluded next week
