Rigours of war

17 Mar, 2019 - 00:03 0 Views
Rigours of war Harvest of Thorns play

The Sunday News

Charles Dube

AFTER the demonstration against black school leavers’ call-up to join the Rhodesian security forces in fighting the guerrillas, Benjamin is expelled from school. We next meet him in a guerrilla camp in Mozambique. He undergoes a routine screening process which involves some bit of “torture”. He is bound by the neck, waist and ankles to a rough wooden frame. He is interrogated by a guerrilla commander. All this is done to weed out spies who could have been sent by the enemy to seek information on the guerrillas.

You had to prove that you genuinely came on your own volition to join the liberation struggle. Like everyone else Benjamin Tichafa went through the same screening process. The guerrillas could not take risks to absorb anybody who came in fear of infiltration by the enemy. Benjamin is asked many questions like who sent him there. Those were not easy questions to answer for a timid young man like Benjamin as evidenced by the fact that he failed to answer some questions only exclaiming “Ah!”

All this was a result of fear. But, to show his tenacity and determination he managed to say, “No!” when the guerrilla commander said he was a Rhodesian spy. Failing to get clear answers from Benjamin except a jerky “I . . . I . . . Ah!” the commander holds a pistol to Benjamin’s head and tells him that he is giving him one last chance. The commander gives Benjamin a final reality check. He tells him that he was foolish to come there. Things are not easy there and he was too young.

Shrewdly, the commander told Benjamin that he was willing to help him and said he was giving him the last chance to leave that place. His men were to accompany Benjamin back to the border. He said he was letting Benjamin off on one condition — he tells him who sent him there. Benjamin’s mind is made up and hesitantly as before he is able to say that nobody sent him there and he cannot go back. However, the commander is not yet done with him as he asks:

“Why? Why can’t you go back? Because they’d kill you for failing to bring the information they need?” Benjamin is equal to the task and responds: “I’m not a spy. I came here to fight for my country. Ah! I ran away from school . . . they wanted to force us to join the army. I can’t go back. Please let me stay. Ah!” Benjamin gives all he thinks might convince the commander that surely he is committed to join the guerrillas. He tells the commander that the police and the headmaster do not want him back.

The test goes on as the commander tells Benjamin: “So you are a common criminal, eh? This is no place for criminals. What did you do? Steal something? Answer me!” Timidly Benjamin narrates a brief story to the commander that when he was a boy, he and other boys burnt down a beer-hall. But, the commander appears unconvinced as he tells Benjamin that burning a beer-hall does not make him a freedom fighter. It does not make him a hero and that it does not prove that he was not a spy.

Benjamin adds more details to fatten his curriculum vitae so as to make him acceptable. He says they went on a demonstration. In a state of fear he reveals that his school went on a demonstration and they already had his name on their records. He explained to the commander that the demonstration was against black call-up. The Rhodesians wanted to train them to fight the guerrillas. The commander was enthusiastic to hear more about the demonstration and asked Benjamin to tell him everything about the demonstration and the rest is history.

The next time we find Benjamin engaged in military exercises doing press-ups with other recruits. All this is punctuated with a lot of sloganeering. Some of the slogans go: “Pamberi NeHondo! Pamberi ne Mass yeZimbabwe! Pasi NaIan Douglas Smith nezvimbwasungata zwake!”

The commander tells the recruits that they are going to talk about a number of things and why they were fighting that war. Even during war time there is space for romance. Benjamin Tichafa meets Ropa who becomes his girlfriend while in the training bases. They meet in a children’s camp where Ropa teaches the children. We get a feel that all was not rosy out there in the guerrilla training camps. Recruits faced a lot of challenges.

Ropa narrates a sad story about the children to Benjamin. She says something is happening to the children — dysentery or diarrhoea. At that moment the Camp Woman comes in and asks if Ropa referred to as Comrade Mistress has any pills. Ropa responds to the negative and Benjamin has none as well. This is a serious problem in the camps, lack of medicines to treat those attacked by diseases. Things are not well in camp as the camp woman speaking in a low voice informs Ropa that three babies and two women died last night and four comrades are very sick.

That was a gloomy situation facing the guerrillas at training camps. Many died but their spirit lived on and inspired others who pursued the struggle to the end.

Book review: Harvest of Thorns Classic: A play by Shimmer Chinodya

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