‘The ethnic and cultural diversity at Mwembeshi was amazing’

WE continue our interview with Dr Peeps Gonde pseudonym, Cde Philip Nkomane. Dr Gonde a retired Colonel in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is now an academic based at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) where he is teaching Software Engineering and also doubles up as the institution’s proctor. In his previous interviews with our Assistant Editor, Mkhululi Sibanda (MS), Dr Gonde spoke about how he joined the armed struggle coming from school at Thekwane Mission. He also spoke about his initiation into military life at Nampundwe Transit Camp in Zambia. Today, he continues talking about his training at Mwembeshi. Below are excerpts from the interview. Read on . . .

 

MS: Last time you were talking about your training at Mwembeshi and you mentioned your instructors, but who were some of the people in your group of 1  200?

Dr Gonde: I trained together with comrades like now Major-General Stanford Khumalo (Cde Madliwa), Major-Generals William Dube and Emmanuel Matatu who are still serving in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Major-General Nicholas Dube (Bhuzhwa), the former ambassador to Mozambique, Major-General (Rtd) Chancellor Diye, Brigadier-General Simo Maseko, George Jubane, Okay Mabhena, Leon Khumalo, Reuben Mqwayi, Andrew Dumezweni, who was an architect. Dumezweni had done his degree in architecture in Poland then came to join the armed struggle in Zambia. I envied this guy the way he was doing his things, a committed cadre who rose to become the ZPRA Deputy Chief of Artillery. After the war, he set up a firm here in Bulawayo and had a farm along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road. We also had Nkosana Dlodlo who   had worked for the Rhodesia Broadcasting Services (RBC). This one was full of jokes and lightened up tense situations with his jokes. I should also mention that I trained with my brothers Justice, Liberty and Godwin Gonde. Also, there were my cousins abakoNtaisi, Bhekuzulu and Nkosilathi.

MS: But how was it training with your relatives, especially when things got hot?

Dr Gonde:  The way the training was handled, all of us in the group ended up being relatives. Despite the cultural and ethnic diversity, we were like a big family.  The next person to you felt just like a brother, so my point is that there was no time when I felt I needed my blood relatives. All of us, we were pre-occupied with fighting the enemy. So, at the end of the day I learnt a lot of lessons from being involved in the armed struggle and from our training. 

MS: So, may you go through the lessons you learnt during that time.

Dr Gonde: When we started training, I didn’t know that we should work in teams. That we should work as a cohesive unit. The I mentality was not encouraged at all, the instructors inculcated in us the WE attitude. The next lesson was that one should be very fit and ready to fight and also be multi-skilled especially on the battlefield. Finally and very importantly, I learnt that as Zimbabweans we are one people, black people, all of us are equal.  We were taught that there is no Kalanga, Tonga, Shona, Venda, Sotho, Ndebele and so on. At Mwembeshi and in ZPRA in general we lived together, carried our comradeship to the fullest up to today. When people are talking about tribalism or use it for certain advantages it is nauseating to me. I feel proud of the spirit of togetherness we practiced and still do up to now, we are proud of that unification. We are just intertwined up to now. We enjoyed and still enjoy in our cultural and ethnic diversity. As recruits,  we were drawn from different ethnic backgrounds, so were our instructors. In instructing us, the instructors used the languages they were comfortable with and that was very interesting. We never lived on the political side. Our close relationship was amazing and I have never seen anything like that. The close co-operation defined ZPRA and it made us unique. We were a unified force that transcended above tribal lines.

MS: You spoke about having women in your group, how did they cope with the demands of the training, which you described as very tough?

Dr Gonde: The women were doing what we were doing and they held their own. They were subjected to the same training as their male counterparts.

MS: After training at Mwembeshi where were you deployed to?

Dr Gonde: Last time I spoke about being part of the group of 30 that was doing extra training as commandos. So, before the training came to an end at Mwembeshi, we were moved to the Freedom Camp (FC). Because of the nature of our war, every move was shrouded in secrecy. So, we were not told what we were going to do when we left Mwembeshi, but it was said in hushed tones that we were heading for Lebanon to specialise in urban guerilla warfare. We stayed at FC for a long time still in the dark of our next move. Then a group of between 90 and 100 was assembled. Some comrades joined our group to push the number to around 100. Those added to us were coming from different areas. There was a group that was coming from operational areas at the front and were battle hardened field commanders such as John Nyamupingidza who had been operating in Hwange, Bulilima and Tsholotsho areas, Carlos Mudzingwa and Baberton Mzwambila (Sibhona). Others in that category were John Garikayi, Phenseli and Mananabela. The other group was drawn from guerillas who had completed their training before but had no field experience while another group were recruits who were awaiting to undergo guerilla training in countries such as Angola. Some of the fresh guys who had been awaiting training were comrades like Todd Mpala, Kenny Ndlovu, Bhebhe, the Nhlamba brothers, Kossam and Charles.  We were sent to Kabwe where there was the Zambia Military Academy (ZMA) at Kohima. So, the initial plan to send us to Lebanon was aborted. That had coincided with the successes scored by the guerillas on the battlefield. The guerillas had covered substantive ground. However, the guerillas’ way of fighting is to hit the enemy at the opportune time.  So, at that time there was a need to train officers who will command the forces as we were moving towards a conventional warfare. We were combining both the guerillas and regular forces, ZPRA was putting into motion the strategy of using conventional warfare that is holding and defending the ground as well as deploying big weapons. Therefore, the guerilla warfare is not designed to fight and defend the ground.

MS: How was the situation at Kohima?

Dr Gonde: It was the usual cadet training course, a tough and demanding one. When we got there, we found a group of about 30 that was already deep into their training as officer cadets. The 30 consisted of Zambians and Tswanas. As for the training programme it was initially tougher for those coming from civilian life while for us who had gone through the guerilla warfare training and those coming from operations, it was better. For some of us, the physical part of it was not an issue as we were fresh from training and very fit. No one could match us in that aspect. In fact, the Zambians prided themselves in hosting ZPRA. 

There was a Zambian who had held a five-year record in a 15km road race competition. His record was shattered by our own John Garikayi who outpaced him. We also had a formidable football team with outstanding stars such as Scotch Madondo (Charles Pilime), Chris Mukahanana and myself in midfield while upfront we had sharp shooters such as Pindai. At times we will play against our colleagues from ZPRA who were undergoing conventional warfare training at Mlungushi. There was a game that was called garamoja, a rugby like, where Nyamupingidza excelled. He would run non-stop.

ν To be continued next week with Dr Gonde talking about his deployment after Kohima.