The Sunday News
MONDAY last week (19 October), marked the 42nd anniversary of the bombing of Mkushi Camp in Zambia, a Zipra military facility for women, which was attacked simultaneously with Freedom Camp (FC) by the Rhodesian ground and air forces.
The Rhodesian raids into Zambia were a reaction to the downing of the passenger plane, the Viscount Flight 825 on 3 September 1978. The Zipra forces shot the plane using a surface to air missile (SAM-7) as they believed that the Rhodesian military commander, General Peter Walls was aboard the aircraft when it took off from Kariba. However, Gen Walls who had been holidaying in Kariba had been aboard another aircraft that took off from Kariba within minutes of Flight 825.
Flying the Viscount Flight 825 was Captain John Hood of Bulawayo who also served the Rhodesian Airforce on a voluntary basis. With regards to the bombings of Mkushi and FC a lot of questions have been raised on the protection of those military installations with some blaming the Zipra command element for lack of vigilance. On Friday last week our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) spoke to the first commander of Mkushi in a telephone interview from his rural home in Gwanda District Cde Highten Khuluma Nkomo aka Billy Mzamo.
Cde Nkomo said he was not surprised that the Rhodesians had a picnic at Mkushi and FC considering the poor security that was there. Below are excerpts of the interview. Read on . . .
MS: Cde Nkomo a lot has been said about the bombing of Mkushi. You as the first commander do you think the security at the camp was adequate?
Cde Nkomo: Yes, it’s true that I was the first commander of Mkushi Camp with my chief of staff, who was effectively my deputy being Cde Farai Lawrence Makwarimba whose pseudo name was Cde Moses Phinda. Phinda passed on recently in Harare. I was deployed to Mkushi in 1977 coming from Mwembeshi where I had been an instructor alongside comrades like now national hero, Stanley Gagisa. Before going to Mkushi I had been to Nampundwe Transit Camp where I was camp commander as well. From Nampundwe I returned to Mwembeshi before being posted to Mkushi to take over as camp commander of that camp, which was populated by young girls. So, with my team we are the ones who introduced those girls to the tough military life and I think the first group had about 1 000 recruits and the number was to rise later on to 2 000. So that meant creating two camps as the first group that had completed training was moved to a new facility, leaving the new recruits going through the rigorous training. I stayed at Mkushi for a year as I left in September 1978, a month just before the camp was attacked by the Rhodesians. When I left Cde Phinda (Makwarimba) who had been my deputy was promoted to the rank of camp commander. So, when the camp was attacked, Phinda was in charge there.
MS: There is talk that Mkushi was poorly protected, as someone who was once its camp commander were you satisfied with security arrangements there?
Cde Nkomo: From day one when I took over command of Mkushi I raised the red flag that I was not happy with the security at the camp. For example I was taken aback to find tents placed next to each other, which to me was a recipe for disaster. We had to make some changes there where we could. I immediately made my reservations known to the senior commanders that I was not happy with the situation on the ground, there were not anti-air weapons and other heavy armaments to protect the camp. But no one listened.
MS: To whom in particular did you raise your concerns to?
Training and also with members of the security department. To my utter disappointed nobody cared and to be honest with you I was not surprised with what happened when the Rhodesians raided Mkushi. There was no protection at all. The feeling with those at the top was that the camp was beyond the reach of the Rhodesians and also for the fact that it was a cantonment for women, so the enemy would not dare do such a callous thing. How wrong people were. You know some of the things are disappointing, but we have moved on from the days of the armed struggle, so I can’t say much.
MS: As the camp commander were you satisfied with the level of training of those women and the way they adapted to military life?
Cde Nkomo: The reason why the Rhodesians failed to wipe out those girls was as a result of the level of training we had given them. There was quality and talent there. They were well trained that is why the number of casualties from the camp of those that had been trained was low. Among the trained cadres we lost between 91 and 97 while from the new recruits the number was around 500. Under such circumstances the few girls who were armed fought fiercely against the enemy. If they had been properly armed the Rhodesians could have been in for a big surprise. But still they were surprised with the pockets of resistance they received from the girls, some Rhodies have written about it that the Mkushi girls put up a big fight on that fateful day. I am also of the view that we could have done things differently.
MS: Like what?
Cde Nkomo: There was a need to keep changing sites of the camp to confuse the enemy. We should have been evacuating recruits and placing them at different sites from time to time instead of staying at one place. Then after the Mkushi massacre I was chosen to go and preside over the burials. I spent a month or two there, picking limbs here and there and burying them, it was a horrific sight.
MS: Then who is Billy Mzamo or in your official name Highten Nkomo?
Cde Nkomo: I was born of Zimbabwean immigrants on 12 January 1952 in Lusaka, Zambia. What happened was that my grandfather left his rural home of Tsholotsho with his three sons, one of them who was my father and a daughter to settle in Zambia. However, he left behind one son and two daughters. The other interesting aspect of my family history is that my grandfather was a sibling to the late Vice-President Dr John Nkomo’s father. So, I was born in Zambia, grew up in the Chief Mungule area and attended schools in Kapopo and Mutakwa which were under the Zambian Central Province.
MS: As someone who was born and bred in Zambia what motivated or influenced you to join the armed struggle?
Cde Nkomo: As someone with roots in the then Rhodesia we used to come across a lot of literature on the Zimbabwean armed struggle. We had access to publications that were produced by the Zapu publicity department like the Zimbabwe Review and People’s Voice. There was also the issue of Zambia attaining independence and that had great influence on me as I also wished that my own country should also be free from the colonial bondage. I was active in the youth ranks of Kenneth Kaunda’s party, UNIP so the revolutionary spirit was upon me. It should be noted that what I felt at that time what was felt by many children of Zimbabwean immigrants.
MS: Then how did you join the armed struggle?
Cde Nkomo: When I was in Form One in 1967 I left home for the Zimbabwe House in Lusaka in a bid to join the armed struggle but my father Abraham Nkomo was not happy because he wanted me to pursue education so he reported the matter to the Zambian police. He confronted the now late Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo armed with a shotgun and a meeting was arranged at the Police Headquarters which was also attended by then Zambian Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Milner. It was decided that I should go back home and my father found me a place at a commercial college in Lusaka. However, the following year when I was in Form Two I disappeared again and my father did not make a follow-up. I then hooked up with other recruits at Luthuli Camp which housed both ANC and Zapu people.
MS: Who were some of the comrades that you met at Luthuli Camp?
Cde Nkomo: Some of the comrades that I met there were Ben Stewart, a coloured guy, John Khanye, Stanley Gagisa, Cornelius, Busobenyoka, Base, Nzimande, Nzula and Tjalobwa. After some time we moved to Chakwenga which was about 100km from Lusaka. Chakwenga was a transit camp for those going for training and operations. The camp commander was Albert Nxele while now Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri was the chief of staff. During that time the military wing of Zapu was known as the Department of Special Affairs. From Chakwenga we were moved to Morogoro in Tanzania and that was in 1969. We were joined by other recruits such as now Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane, Enoch Tshangane (the late Major-General Jevan Maseko), late national hero Retired Masala Sibanda and Retired Brigadier-General Tjile Nleya. We started real military training around March of 1970.
