The Sunday News
DURING the liberation struggle villagers also played a crucial role in the defeat of the Rhodesian forces by providing logistical support to freedom fighters and also supplying them with the crucial component in any war situation, the intelligence. The villagers became the proverbial water while the freedom fighters were the fish. One of the villagers who was also in the thick of things although at a very young age at 14 is Jaconia Nkatha, now aged 54. A regular reader of our Lest We Forget Column, Mr Nkatha affectionately known as, Nduna, visited the Sunday News newsroom on Thursday last week to give an account of his experiences during the war. He spoke to our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about a battle that took place in the Kafusi area in Gwanda District, Matabeleland South Province in 1979. Below are excerpts of the interview:
MS: Mr Nkatha, you experienced the war of liberation as one of the youths, omjibha, how old were you then?
Mr Nkatha. There were so many battles that took place in my home area of Gwanda and also I had interactions with freedom fighters on many occasions. However, the battle that stands out and it took place in my village was at the height of the war in 1979. I can’t remember exactly the month, but it was the time when the trees had shed off their leaves and it should have been during the winter period. I think that battle happened between June and July of 1979. The battle took place at my village of Ndungwana, Kafusi area of Gwanda District. As for my age I was around 14 as I was born in January 1965. I was old enough to be sent on errands by the freedom fighters working closely with other members of the Zapu youth wing who were a little bit older than myself.
MS: In that particular battle what happened? Take us through on what happened that day.
Mr Nkatha: On that fateful day guerillas were descending on our village, coming from different areas, I believe it was a day for their GP (gathering point). They usually held their GPs in our area because it was far from the main roads, shops, schools and any other institutions that usually attracted the presence of the Rhodesians. My village, Ndungwana is tucked in a thicket far from the roads, so it gave the freedom fighters good cover, it was a safe zone for them.
Even villagers from my area were usually the ones who were sent to go and collect ammunition at the border with Botswana using scotch-carts at night. The Botswana border from my village is less than 40km away. Even the injured comrades were transported either using bicycles or scotch-carts by people from Ndungwana. So on that day as I have said above the comrades started gathering at around 8am, that is when we saw the first group.
That group had about 19 guerillas and among them was one we were familiar with, uHoward. Others that we knew very well such as Makwesha, Lovemore (Howard Ncube), Mdubane, Zvinopisa who was always wearing a hat made out of a jackal skin because he was sort of an inyanga, Mahefu, Dilakoko, Nyoka and Ellington who was the area commander had not arrived by that time. So when those 19 comrades arrived they immediately asked my uncle, Kenneth Ndlovu who was the Zapu youth chairman to go and look for transport from Mr Mpho Nyathi who had a truck about 6km away.
MS: What was the truck for?
Mr Nkatha: Among those guerillas was one who was ill and so they ordered Kenneth to go and get the truck from Nyathi and from there be driven to Mawaza area, about 15km away to get an inyanga so that he could treat their sick comrade. They gave Kenneth two letters, one for Nyathi asking him to provide transport and the other letter was for the inyanga asking him to come to Ndungwane so that he could treat their sick comrade.
All those letters were signed at the end, Zipra Forces. Kenneth then cycled to Nyathi’s homestead, which was near Makokwe Primary School and Nyathi duly provided his vehicle and assigned his driver to accompany Kenneth to go and collect inyanga leyo and it was emphasised that he should bring amayika akhe (the medical kit). So after Nyathi had duly responded positively, Kenneth and the driver took off for Mawaza.
However, when they were about to get to Mawaza, at Ntswangu, most of these are Sotho names, they came across three trucks full of Rhodesian forces. The Rhodesian forces stopped them and among those soldiers some recognised Kenneth who at one point was detained at Manama Rest Camp for his political activities. The soldiers became suspicious and started questioning Kenneth and the driver, demanding to know what they were doing in that area. The soldiers then decided to search the two and they found that letter written to the inyanga in the driver’s pair of overalls pocket. All hell broke loose.
MS: So what happened to the two?
Mr Nkatha: The driver shifted all the blame to Kenneth, saying he had nothing to do with the letter, saying Kenneth had better information on that. So the soldiers bundled Kenneth into their truck, forced him to wear a camouflage jacket and away they drove towards Ndungwane.
They told him that he should lead them straight to where he had left the guerillas. When they got to the village just next to ours, they stopped the trucks and disembarked, leaving some soldiers guarding them. They took off on foot and sensing danger, Kenneth came up with a trick, he walked straight to Ackim Mlilo’s homestead, which was under construction. Mlilo was the local Zapu chairman and Kenneth knew that if Mlilo saw him with the soldiers he would quickly dispatch some youths to go and warn the guerillas about the impending danger.
The soldiers asked Kenneth why he was leading them to that homestead and he said he was getting confused because he has never seen it and was not aware that there was a new homestead in that village. He said maybe he was getting confused and losing the way. Kenneth also started moving in circles, telling the soldiers that they should avoid open spaces as the guerillas could spot them from afar. That was a delaying tactic and Ackim had read the signal well and dispatched umfana to Ndungwane to go and warn the comrades.
MS: While all this was happening where were you?
Mr Nkatha: I was at our village and when the message reached the guerillas that the Rhodesian forces were coming, they ordered everybody especially people from the southern part of the village to leave their homesteads and move towards the direction of the border, that is southwards. All the food that was being prepared, chicken and imihwabha (biltong) was abandoned.
Fellow village boys and I drove the cattle out of the village as well. The sick guerilla was also evacuated. Kenneth and the soldiers eventually got to the village and when they reached the first homesteads, situated on the northern side they heard some noise as people were speaking in high voices. That noise coming from the Mgobo Dube homestead because there was a ceremony for ukulobola and people had gathered there. Traditional beer had also been brewed as well.
The Rhodesian soldiers then decided to go to Dube’s homestead. Also in that homestead another unit of guerillas different from the one that came in the morning had just arrived and they were waiting to be served with drinking water. Those guerillas were about nine, with one of them seated on a wheelbarrow just within the homestead. That guerilla is the one who saw the Rhodesian forces approaching and he sounded the alarm. He was also lucky because when he saw the Rhodesian forces he jumped from the wheelbarrow and the enemy forces opened fire with the bullet ripping the wheelbarrow. Ibhara leyana yatshaywa esiswini. The guerillas made good their escape.
MS: Where was Kenneth while all this was happening?
Mr Nkatha: In than ensuing confusion Kenneth got the chance and disappeared into the bush. That is how he survived. He was determined to leave because he had been severely tortured the first time he was detained and he did not want that repeated again. During that shooting, the Rhodesian forces injured a boy from the Dube family and seeing what they had done those soldiers ordered the family to take him to the village borehole where they said he would be collected by their trucks.
I must add that among those Rhodesian soldiers there was a black soldier called Bhajila who was very rough to the villagers. He usually did patrols in the Gwanda area. To some of us who had fled our homes it was now clear that the enemy forces were within reach and what was good about that was that we now knew which part of our area they were, they were on the northern part. The Rhodesian soldiers now without that person to lead them to the guerillas made a mistake.
MS: What was that mistake?
Mr Nkatha: They moved to our area in a bid to comb it. However, when they got to the borehole they kept left of it and that is where the guerillas in anticipation had laid their ambush. It seems from that 19, more guerillas had arrived as it was the GP day.Zahle zasuka, that battle took maybe 20 minutes or so with the last to be fired being a bazooka as there was a loud explosion followed by thick smoke that engulfed the place where the contact was.
That battle could have taken place at around 11am and the Rhodesian forces trucks only arrived at that place at around 2pm. Although I can’t say how many enemy forces were killed or injured, it seems it was big number as one of that trucks was dedicated to carrying casualties and it was sealed with canvas material (iseyili) and people living along the road saw that. As for us we returned to our homes at around 4pm when the dust had settled. As the youth and being adventurous we went to the site of the contact where we saw amatshudutshudu, which was an indication that some bodies were being dragged and later on loaded onto the trucks. We also saw pieces of camouflage, FN magazines and a belt of ammunition.
MS: What was the aftermath of that battle? Any reprisals from the Rhodesians as you are saying they suffered heavy losses?
Mr Nkatha: Like I said earlier it was either June or July, from then onwards the Rhodesian soldiers never set foot in our village, never. To us the people of Ndungwane the war ended on that day. We became a liberated zone. The only disappointment was that we heard that Bhajila was one of the Rhodesian soldiers who survived. The Ndungwane battle was talked about to as far as Gwanda town. The guerillas continued with their operations and also holding GPs at our area without any more problems.
MS: Then what happened to Kenneth?
Mr Nkatha: At night after that battle, some of the guerillas came to our homestead and spoke to my grandfather and told him that Kenneth was safe at some other village. He stayed there for a while and when the dust had settled he returned home. He is still alive and is living at our rural home at Ndungwane.
