The Sunday News
WE continue our interview with Cde Stanley Ndlovu, pseudo names Cde Mercy Sigola and Mcben Muthi who was deployed in Lupane and Binga in January 1977. Cde Ndlovu deployed as a section commander was one of the guerillas who immediately changed the situation by keeping the Rhodesians on their toes through laying ambushes and mining the roads in the process restricting the movement of enemy forces.
Operating in small but mobile units they made the Rhodesian forces believe that the guerillas were moving in large numbers. Last week Cde Ndlovu told our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) how he was deployed by then Zipra Chief of Operations, late Major-General Jevan Maseko (Enoch Tshangane) to go and announce their presence in then Rhodesia by destroying bridges, a mission they carried without any incident before slipping back to Zambia for further orders. Today Cde Ndlovu continues the conversation by telling us what happened when they got to Zambia. Below are excerpts of the interview. Read on….
MS: You told us about how you managed to cross back to Zambia after destroying the bridges which in a way was meant to jolt the enemy. Then take us through what happened when you were in Zambia.
Cde Ndlovu: As a section of 10 when we returned to Zambia we had taken some youths from Binga, whom we had recruited so that they could go and train as guerillas. I have to mention that when we were deployed by Tshangane for the initial operation, there were already six comrades who were on the ground, also covering Lupane and Binga.
They comprised guys like Driver, John Chironda, Magwaza, Matshiya, Mthakathi and Mandevu and Majority.
Those comrades had been our predecessors at Morogoro as they belonged to the Group of 137. They had moved further inside that is why we didn’t come across them during our initial deployment. On our return to Zambia after the operation of destroying infrastructure we stayed there for three weeks or so. After that we were sent back to Rhodesia by Tshangane and that is when we were told that we were going to the ground permanently, to live with the masses. We crossed together with the section yaboMafutha and got to Makungu in Binga and then moved to the Kamativi area.
MS: Tell us how you were armed since you had been deployed permanently.
Cde Ndlovu: We were given light arms. We were carrying AK-47 assault rifles, bazookas and PKs, which were the machine guns. Since there were already comrades on the ground, it meant we had to integrate our units into them.
That also meant changing the command structure. Cde Majority took over as commander of our section and I was appointed his deputy. We then started our operations covering Binga, Kamativi, Dongamuzi and Mzola areas in Lupane.
MS: So what was the reaction of the masses?
Cde Ndlovu: It was very good although some were skeptical here and there. As for people in Binga, the Tonga speaking people took the struggle as theirs as well. What also struck us was that people from Binga could keep a secret. Abala zifuba ezakhatshwa ngamadube. Although in Lupane the majority also was very supportive of the armed struggle, there were some elements who did not hesitate to sell out.
MS: How did you deal with that?
Cde Ndlovu: We will get names of those said to be selling out to the Rhodesian regime, but we had to scrutinise and assess the situation first before springing into action. We had to visit those accused to be sell-outs at their homesteads, interrogate them and if found guilty we executed them. That is how the sell-outs were dealt with, babebulawa sibili.
MS: How were the sell-outs recruited?
Cde Ndlovu: The whites would come maybe to a traditional leader, a village head who were known as kraal heads then, osobhuku and dangle something to him like money and useless things such as tinned stuff, (amabhifu) in exchange for information on our activities.
People became enemy agents over useless things and some just a pat on the back like ‘you are a good boy.’ All that happened despite the dire consequences which visited them when we caught them. However, we were happy that a majority understood why we were fighting the Smith regime. We also did a lot of political orientation of the masses.
MS: Tell us about your first battle.
Cde Ndlovu: I was part of a big unit that went for an operation where there was going to be a cattle sale. We laid an ambush in Binga, Manyanda area near Lubimbi where we took up positions and planted a landmine a few kilometres from the cattle sale pens.
The trucks came, we managed to hit the front truck, in fact it was hit by a landmine. It flew into the air and was completely destroyed and the other trucks in the convoy came under heavy fire from us. We used rocket launchers, bazookas and light machine guns in an effort to pin down the enemy. Within the convoy there were cattle buyers being escorted by the regime forces.
At the cattle pens they had also deployed amaDAs (district assistants) to provide security. After the mine explosion, all the cattle bolted out of the sale pens heading in all directions. There was pandemonium with people all running in all directions.
The sale was eventually cancelled due to the operation we carried out. During that ambush we had combined our sections and the comrades felt like rising up from their positions and go for an assault. However, unfortunately not all the vehicles were in the sector.
The enemy forces who were not in the killing zone counter attacked us, forcing us to make a tactical withdrawal. We had agreed that our gathering point (GP) would be at Mzola. So we moved to that area. During that attack we came out without any casualties.
MS: How long did you operate in Lupane and Binga?
Cde Ndlovu: I was at the front until November 1977 having arrived in January of that year. During my time at the front we were reinforced by comrades coming from camps such as Mwembeshi. I also had the opportunity to operate with Cde Assaf Ndinda who later on was recalled to the rear to be promoted to the rank of Deputy Chief of Operations. Unfortunately, Assaf was killed in combat in Zambia when they were ambushed by the Rhodesians in 1978. He was on his way to deploy our troops who had just completed their training in Angola.
MS: You are saying you were withdrawn from the front, what happened after that?
Cde Ndlovu: When I got to Zambia, I moved to Nampundwe Transit Camp where we stayed there for sometime.
Then came a time when Cde Nikita Mangena who was the Zipra commander came and addressed us. I was chosen to be part of a group that was sent to the then Soviet Union for further training. We were divided into groups and taken to the Freedom Camp (FC) near Lusaka.
There, we stayed for sometime after which we left for the USSR. We boarded a plane that took us to Luanda in Angola then from there went via Bulgaria and Hungary all the way to Moscow.
