The Sunday News
WHEN the armed struggle against the racist Rhodesian forces was at its peak various methods were devised to bring down the enemy by the nationalist forces, Zipra and Zanla. On the Zipra side some of the new strategies formulated was restructuring the army and re-drawing of operational areas. Two fronts were created, the Northern and Southern fronts each having three regions led by a regional commander.
In our Lest We Forget Column today our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda speaks to one f the regional commanders, Retired Colonel Watson Tshipa commonly known by his pseudo name John Nyamupingidza. Rtd Col Tshipa commanded the Northern Front 1 (NFI), which comprised three sectors, Jambezi in Hwange District, Tsholotsho and Bulilima districts . Rtd Col Tshipa’s pseudo name Nyamupingidza has stuck to him like glue as many believe it is his real surname and he has gladly accepted it.
In our interview Rtd Col Tshipa spoke about how he was recruited to join the armed struggle, his military training, operations and how he commanded his forces in the NF1 region. Rtd Col Tshipa is not an ordinary soldier or “mere ex-combatant” as after Independence he went on to distinguish his military prowess by executing dangerous missions while serving in the country’s elite forces, the Para Regiment and Special Air Services (SAS), which he was once commander. As a sky diver he successfully completed 3 000 falls and that is not for the faint hearted. However, in this interview he chose to stick to his exploits in the armed struggle.
Read on…
MS: Cde Tshipa when I came here for this interview those who helped me locate you were calling you Nyamupingidza. So who is Rtd Col Tshipa or Nyamupingidza?
Rtd Col Tshipa: It’s true that many people know me as Nyamupingidza, it is very rare to hear someone calling me Tshipa. My war name has stuck to me and I have accepted that, in fact I also enjoy being called by pseudo name.
However, as for my background, I was born Watson Tshipa on 15 June 1950 at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo, my parents being Tshipa Ncube, my father and my mother Sicuphe Tshuma. I then grew up in my rural home at Avoca in Insiza District or Filabusi as some prefer to call it. I was the last born in a family of five. I then started my schooling at Fulunye Primary School that is near Sidzibe in Filabusi. I then moved to Insukamini School in Bulawayo where I did Standard 2 to 6. After that I moved to the then Wankie now Hwange and that was in 1970. I worked here in Hwange as a bus conductor for two years. I was working for Wankie Super Express which was owned by Mr Sibanda. However, in 1972 I was declared persona grata in Hwange. In other words I was given a PI as people call it. I was involved in a fight with some passengers who were refusing to pay the fare, the way I beat up those people led to me being ordered to leave the town for good by the Rhodesians.
MS: Just for public fighting you were banned from the town?
Rtd Col Tshipa: The other reason could have been my altercation with a VID officer, a Mr Smith who was trying to block me from getting a provisional licence, every time he came to Hwange for the tests which he did once a week as he was based in Bulawayo he will use all tactics available to stop blacks from taking the test saying why do you need the licence for as your father does not own a car. It happened that he took two weeks off and was shocked on his return to find me having acquired the provisional licence as the officer who conducted the test, a Mrs Thompson had no problem with the blacks. Things came to head when Mr Smith took me for a road test. He employed dirty tactics to block me from getting the licence and during that time I tried to run over him as I could not take his insults any more.
MS: Let’s come to you joining the armed struggle. How did that come about?
Rtd Col Tshipa: During my time as a bus conductor I had come into contact with freedom fighters in the Sizinda area which is outside Hwange Town. First I met two guerillas, John Dube (JD) who was later on to become Zipra chief of operations but was to die in Nigeria while on a visit and Roger Mtshinini Ncube who ironically took over from JD as chief of operations. That should have been August 1972. I then became their contact and when I told them that I wanted to join the armed struggle they advised me to go through Botswana and that meant going through Bulawayo.
When I got to Bulawayo I then got a job at a company that was called DTA Laboratories and I did that so as to earn money for bus fare to take me to Botswana. While still preparing for my trip to Botswana I met a Kalanga man, Miraleck Ndlovu who was recruiting young people to join the struggle and he was doing that for Zanu. I met him through my cousin Titus Shava who also was preparing to leave the country after being recruited by Miraleck. Other people who had been recruited were now former Attorney-General Sobusa Gula Ndebele and Israel Bhala. We then made plans to leave on a Friday in December just before Christmas, but I could not locate those guys and they left without me. I didn’t see them until after the attainment of Independence as they fought on the Zanla side.
MS: So when did you finally leave the country for Botswana?
Rtd Col Tshipa: In disappointment I went for the Christmas holiday in my rural home and in January 1973 briefly returned to work. I worked for just one week and then crossed into Botswana to join the armed struggle. I left the country alone. In Francistown I was taken to the police later on to the State Prison where I found four guys, two from Zapu and two from Zanu who were also on their to join the armed struggle in Zambia. However, at first I was suspicious of those people and when they asked me which liberation movement I belonged to, I told them that I was not into politics but I had been arrested for failing to produce an ID card. They didn’t buy my story as they said only those who were going to join the struggle were kept there. In the meantime those four kept on trying to outdo each other by singing revolutionary songs. The next day we were joined by two other guys. A Zapu representative then came also and my suspicion about the whole set-up increased.
MS: Why were you so suspicious about everything around you?
Rtd Col Tshipa: The guys in the cell spoke about being flown to Zambia and I could not believe that these two parties, Zapu and Zanu at that time could afford the luxury of flying people, to me I had walked into a Rhodesian trap. When the Zapu guy came who was Cde Normal Matswaha already a trained guerilla my suspicions also increased because he looked young, to me he looked like a Rhodesian detective. However, I began to settle down and one day Cde Mtswaha took us to the airport, six of us on our way to Zambia. Our Zanu colleagues had already left for Zambia as well. At the airport Cde Matswaha gave me six air tickets and said I should give the other five the tickets. He then told us from day we were to assume the names written on those tickets. That is how I got the name John Nyamupingidza because my ticket was written John Nyamupingidza.
The other five guys became Zozo Mntungwa, Benjamin Ruhoko, Felix Huni, Solomon Chirau and Victor Vela. We then flew to Lusaka but Zapu people delayed in picking us and a Zanu member tried to divert us to his camp. At that time I had assumed the leadership of my group and I stood my ground until a comrade from Zapu, Bernard came and took us to Mutendere Township. JD later came and when he saw me he took me to Livingstone immediately, saying I should be involved in operations because I knew the terrain along the Zambezi River well.
MS: How were you supposed to be involved in operations while you had not been trained? Were you to act as a guide for the guerillas?
Rtd Col Tshipa: I was given what they called local training which was an intensive military course and that took two months. It involved the use of weapons and I served under Matshinini who was the sectoral commander. After two months I was deployed for operations under Matshinini and we started making incursions into Rhodesia. In one of the operations I was involved in was when we completely destroyed Deka army camp on the banks on the Zambezi River. As part of a reconnaissance mission Cde Matshinini went to the camp and looked for employment from the Rhodesian soldiers. He was dressed in torn shorts and an old t-shirt. They gave him a piece job of washing and ironing their uniforms after which they paid him I think between $3 and $5. After completing his mission Cde Matshinini then asked us to look for cattle bells which he ordered us to put around our necks when we went for the attack.
MS: What was the rationale of doing that and how many were you?
Rtd Col Tshipa: Besides Cde Matshinini, it was myself, Manyokopo, Maguswini who is now late and Chibhoyi also late.
The reason for putting cattle bells around our necks was to confuse the enemy during the attack. At night we then went to attack the Deka Camp. When the Rhodesian soldiers heard the noise coming from the bells they shouted “ tshaya lonkomo kawena”. They were four tents at the camp and we fired heavily, we had taken the enemy by surprise and the camp was completely destroyed. However, immediately after the attack helicopters with a search light arrived. Fortunately we made good our escape, crossed back into Zambia and we did not suffer any casualties. The following day the enemy forces carried out carpet bombing and made forays into Zambia. In the process they hit our logistics base.
The Rhodesians also made another raid at the logistics camp where they killed 10 guerillas. Cde Report Mphoko who was Zipra’s chief of logistics was away during that time in Lusaka. Within a few days we also made another incursion, this time to carry out a reconnaissance mission to attack Elephants Hills in Victoria Falls. There were five of us. On our way we heard people making noise and when we went to check we found a white soldier without shoes and he was shaving. He was in a very relaxed mood.
MS: What did you do?
Rtd Col Tshipa: We took him by surprise and he had no choice but co-operate with us. I made him wear his shoes in a funny way so that he could not run properly. I ordered him to wear the left shoe on the right foot and the right on the left. We also took away his trousers and then gave him to Chibhoyi to keep him prisoner while we went to look for his colleagues. We didn’t want to kill him because we saw from the onset that he was a top military officer from the South African Defence Forces. If I remember well his name was called Cunni, something like that. We then went to attack the others whom we found playing in water with their guns placed randomly. We didn’t waste time and we finished them off, six of them. However, unbeknown to us there was San man who was perched on a tree whom these soldiers were using as their tracker. He just dropped from the tree and fled.
MS: That was a successful operation I suppose.
Rtd Col Tshipa: Yes, No. Yes because we had done well in killing those soldiers and No because news had filtered through the San guy that that South African officer had been captured and that had reached our High Command in Lusaka and the commander himself, Nikita Mangena drove down to our base which we called the Country House to see for himself the big catch. He was full of praise because the supposedly capturing of Cunni made headlines in the media especially radios in most Southern African countries.
MS: So this guy was not captured after all. What happened?
Rtd Col Tshipa: What happened was that when we started shooting those soldiers who were playing in the water, Chibhoyi not being sure what was happening with us he shot and killed Cunni. When we told Mangena that we killed Cunni he was very angry and disappointed at the same time. He told us that by killing that man we had delayed the struggle because it was important to keep the enemy soldiers for bargaining purposes and also that the international world was going to view Zipra differently and see it as a serious liberation army. On hearing that we buried our heads in shame. Mangena immediately disbanded the whole stick and that was in October 1973. I was ordered to go for full military training but I was heavily warned that I was not to go around telling other recruits that I have seen combat action at the front.
Next week we continue with Rtd Col Tshipa relating to us about his time at the training camps, his re-deployment and operations in areas like Ndolwane in Bulilima, Hwange and Tsholotsho. Don’t miss your favourite copy of Sunday News.
