Nikita Mangena was the Cde Fidel Castro type

WE continue our interview with former guerilla fighter Colonel (Retired) Ernest Mganda Dube pseudonym Cde Bookless Chizororo. In our last edition Col (Rtd) Dube spoke about how he left Johannesburg in South Africa to join the armed struggle. By the way he operated in Hurungwe District in Mashonaland West Province from March 1978 until around September 1979 when he was redeployed to the Southern Front specifically in Kezi. Today he continues his narration by talking about being moved to Boma in Angola for military training. Col (Rtd) Dube was part of the 2 000 plus recruits that formed the first group to be trained in Angola by Cuban instructors with officers from the then Soviet Union coming in as advisors. Below Col (Rtd) Dube continues his conversation with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS). Read on . . .

MS: Last time you were talking about your arrival at the Freedom Camp (FC), let’s pick the conversation from there.

Col (Rtd) Dube: We stayed at FC until the time came when we were taken by the Cubans in 30 or so trucks which we called amaGaz. Our route was rather queer as when we got to Kafue National Park we found the Zambian Army in a pitch battle with the  Mushala Gang. The Mushala Gang was a rebel military group that was fighting the Zambian government, so we had to stop in the Kafue Park for approximately two hours. 

We then took another route, turning north towards the Copperbelt. We eventually arrived four days later at Luso, Boma in Angola. When we arrived at Boma, we were then selected into companies. A total of 12 companies were formed. I happened to be in Company 9 which we called Gun Ocho-Ocho. My company was specialising in anti-tank weapons called Gun-75. Companies 1 to 8 were infantry companies whereas  company 9 anti-tank that is where I was deployed into. Companies 10 and 11 were engineering and mortars respectively with company 12 being for military communication, that is signals. 

Besides the Cubans and the Soviets, ZPRA had also sent its own officers and so from our side our camp liaison commander was Cde Tjile Nleya, esasithi nguDubhu. This is the same Tjile who came from my rural home and inspired a lot of youths to leave the country after leaving his teaching job around 1967 or 1968 to join the war. While growing up koTokwana in Bulilima stories were told about a young teacher who had disappeared and rumours had that he had left for the war. I recall one morning in 1968 seeing four low-flying jet fighters to which the elders in the village started talking in low voices, saying they were looking for the likes of Tjile, Lancelot, Manata, among others who were now invisible but being seen around. 

This was the same Tjile Nleya I met in Angola as a senior ZPRA commander working in shaping our army together with the Cubans and Soviets. However, the overall  commandant of Boma was a Cuban. Due to the strict ZPRA Disciplinary Code of trainer-trainee relationship I never personally talked to Cde Tjile Nleya throughout my stay at Boma Camp. As for the Soviets there were five or so. So we lived under the command and instructions of the Cubans who were advised by the Soviets.

MS: Then your training, how was it?

Col (Rtd) Dube: Life at Boma was really tricky because food was not adequate, so we lived on small portions like just a tin of beef, small portion of rice so we will supplement that  by looking for mangoes which we would mix with rice. In the Cuban doctrine of training, complaining about food known as comiro in Spanish was the last thing they would like to listen to. 

Instead, their answer was if Cde Fidel (Castro) ate camel meat to survive, why not you. That was the kind of life we lived there while the programme was at another level. It was tough as we also had to avoid falling into the hands of UNITA as well as the quest to survive hunger.  As for the training ours was not the Hit and Run guerilla tactics,  it was what we call Semi-conventional Warfare because we were being taught to hold the ground and fight. 

The Philosophy of Training was Avante, which was Spanish meaning advanced guerilla. We were training in bigger numbers and expected to move in bigger numbers. We were trained to occupy positions and move in larger groups, which was a departure from what other groups had been subjected to in Tanzania and Zambia. Against enemy air attacks, our training emphasised in every fighter to stand under a tree, point the gun upward and open a volley of fire to stop the aircraft diving down.  

MS: Besides Cde Tjile who else was there from the ZPRA side, I mean the instructors?

Col (Rtd) Dube: Others were Botsheni who struggled to speak in iSiNdebele and Sotsha Mpunzi who was our commissar while Simplicity and Ben Matiwaza now Brigadier-General (Rtd) were Russian interpreters. Then came time of the pass-out parade.  We were very excited that we were going to have a pass-out parade as we were told that the ZPRA Commander-In-Chief, Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo was going to be the reviewing officer accompanied by the army commander, Cde Nikita Mangena. 

That excited us a lot that the Commander-In-Chief himself, uMdala uNkomo would grace the occasion. Indeed he came. It then happened that after the pass-out parade I was not among the group that was selected to remain at Boma as instructors. From our group some comrades were chosen by the Cubans to join them as instructors. 

We returned home (Zambia) this time manoeuvring through south-eastern Angola, a route which was threatened by UNITA of Jonas Savimbi. Our departure was two days before Christmas of 1977 exactly six months after we had started our training in Angola in June of that year. As we settled at Freedom Camp, probably as the largest ZPRA contingent, there were so many expectations from our guerilla colleagues, they looked at our behaviour, that is discipline and  changed fighting philosophy. 

I happened to be in the group that moved to occupy a camp situated along the Great East Road which was called CGT, which was commonly known as Emagojini. We found two guerillas there, uMugabe and Tekenya  waiting for us. The following day the rest of the members arrived and we realised that there was another group yama artillery commanders who had earlier on arrived from USSR. 

We then saw another group of officers trained in Somalia. So we stayed there, the camp was now some garrison, deployed close to the front. The deployment of some of our colleagues whom we had trained together in Angola started. 

Two groups were deployed with one going  to Dongamuzi in Lupane in Mat North and the other to Hurungwe in Mash West. Then it was on 5 March 1978 when descending from our hill position to fetch water I found others on parade and I secretly joined without anyone noticing that I was from another company. We were then told that we were going to the front, cautioned against deploying with one’s brothers and we drove at night going for deployment. We were told that our area of operation would be Northern Front Region 3 that covered Mash West. However, the issue of my brother whom I didn’t disclose his presence would haunt me  in mid-1979 as I was the one to see him dropping in a battle fight. 

MS: Then take us through your journey to the front.

Col (Rtd) Dube: We arrived at Feira which is in Luangwa District, south-east of Zambia at daybreak having left Emagojini at 10pm the previous day. It was very early in the morning. As we approached the camp I realised some two Gaz trucks had been burnt and the bush around the area was charred. The sight of two burnt trucks scared us but no one bothered to explain to us that we had entered the war zone where the airspace was under the control of Rhodesians, not Zambians.  

We moved, changed into the direction of the base.  We were then ordered to  stop in a forest somewhere. I think after 10 minutes we were joined by Cde Nikita Mangena who then took over the command, telling us about the situation. He told us that there had been an attack by the Rhodesian forces from the 4th going into the 5th of March hence called for vigilance. ZPRA guerillas who were occupying the camp were almost fleeing after a pitch battle of three days. 

That was to become known as the Kavamalanja Battle, the first raid by the Rhodesians into Zambia. From that battle ZPRA lost 28 comrades while the Zambian army which was providing protection suffered 26 losses. The atmosphere was very tense. You can imagine after such an incident with others injured how the situation was. Thina our reinforcement could not be helpful as the bombing had been carried out already and our comrades had disappeared into unknown bushes. 

MS: What was your impression of Mangena in that tense situation?

Col (Rtd) Dube: Mangena to me, was the Cde Castro type that the Cubans liked and respected a lot. He was in the mix of things, brave, intelligent and courageous. While we were still trying to come to terms with the situation and being our first deployment, Mangena ordered us to spread out and  sweep through the forest area he pointed to us. As we spread into a formation we saw a parachute and we realised that we were now in the battle theatre. 

Before we could move for more than 50 metres we heard the sound of helicopters flying low at tree-top from the east and moving towards the west. Then Mangena shouted at us, ordering us to take cover and we duly obliged. The helicopters then hovered over our heads and immediately flew past our positions. We realised that they were coming from the enemy side. In such a tense situation Nikita shouted “everyone come back.” 

That was how our sweep was called off because the situation was still tense. We also learnt that the Rhodesians were still occupying the Kavalamanja Base. We were then told to move to the north but on foot. Where were we moving to? We were moving to a position 10km inland, far from the Zambezi River to establish a harbour base called Nkume (Scorpion) Base. When we got there we found others including the now late Rodwell Nyika (Brigadier-General Collin Moyo) who was the regional commander waiting for us. I later learnt that Joseph Mbedzi, uSibuko the zone commander who died in November last year had been shot by a fellow comrade. I was then appointed security commander of the base which we immediately established and we took up positions. 

Two to three days later I was moving towards the front with Rodwell to check at the former logistics sites that were left along the Zambezi River. On our way back and reaching Nkume Base I found the group going for deployment. This was on the 12th of March. I was part of the group going to the front. 

This was a company under the command of Cde Mlobisi, a Somali trained with three platoon commanders, Cdes Reggie, Chidakwa and Vincent Nleya. I fell under the platoon kaReggie. As we moved towards the river at our first halt, one of our comrades called Sabelo moved into the bush to answer the call of nature. We then heard the gun sound so close. Everybody then said “buya wedwa”, little did we know that he had been shot by the enemy. He had fallen into the ambush yamaSelous Scouts. He was very close to me, we buried him in a shallow grave and left.  From there we continued to cross the Zambezi River under yet another enemy air environment similar to that of 5 March’s “baptism of fire”. 

To be continued next week