The Sunday News
WE continue our interview with pioneer freedom fighter and former Nkayi Member of Parliament Cde John Maluzo Ndlovu, pseudonym James Moyo. In the past two instalments Cde Ndlovu spoke of how he started his political activities in his rural home of Nkayi alongside his father, a move that led to their arrest and being thrown into prison for nine months with other seven villagers and his recruitment to undergo military training. Today Cde Ndlovu speaks to our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about his training in China and deployment to the front. Below are excerpts of the interview:
MS: After you were cleared following the intervention of the party representative in Egypt, Cde Trynos Makombe, where were you taken to?
Cde Ndlovu: We had been held at the airport around 5am and following the intervention of Trynos Makombe we were cleared at around 10am. From the airport we crossed the Red Sea and were taken to a hotel called Zamalek where we were hidden. We stayed for some days until one night when we were taken to the airport and boarded a plane that took us to Moscow. We arrived in Moscow in the evening and I remember from the airport we were driven to a place where we crossed a river and then afterwards arrived at our destination where we were accommodated. We also stayed for sometime. We were moved again in a military aircraft and landed at Omski International Airport, from there we were accommodated at yet another place. After some time we proceeded to the Siberian Peninsula where we met the Cubans. From there we flew to the People’s Republic of China. It was a hectic journey. We arrived in the People’s Republic of China, that mountainous country at around 4am and there was a big surprise waiting for us.
MS: Big surprise, what big surprise?
Cde Ndlovu: When we got the airport at Beijing we found the leader of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman Mao himself waiting for us at the airport. We were the first black people to touch their crown, that explains the huge interest. We were given their tea, yona leyi engela tshukela thina saphongu ginya kuphela. Chairman Mao then gave a moving speech, laying bare to us that the journey we had chosen to embark on was a torturous one. Although the speech was delivered in a tough tone, it was also punctuated with light moments, like when he said we were in China for military training, so we were not allowed to have wives but if we wanted to marry Chinese girls we should first liberate our country, after which we could return and get the girls.
MS: Take us through your training programme.
Cde Ndlovu: During our first days we were shown places of historical, cultural and economic importance very dear to the people of China like the Great Wall. After being taken on tours of such strategic places, serious business that we had gone there for began. We were trained at Jinga Mountains where their own soldiers were also trained. The training was very nasty, cruel and tough but since we were dedicated to free our country from the yoke of colonialism we had to go through it. The instructors would tell us that bafuna ukukhipha inhliziyo zesiKristu bafake ezika-satan. They also told us we could only achieve our set goals of freeing the country if we were a bit cruel. The Chinese instructors explained that we had to undergo such a rigorous training because they said one soldier should represent a thousand men. They said we are giving you this training so that when you go for operations there should be change on the ground. We were being trained to be proper, effective and mobile guerillas. We were trained in all kinds of weapons. The Chinese training hardened us and we became the typical guerillas. We were trained in many things such as making explosives, grenades, landmines, operating arms, and in different types of weapons. But as you might be aware the weapon that became the darling of guerillas was Adam Khumalo.
MS: Adam Khumalo!
Cde Ndlovu: Yes. I mean the AK-47. A standing for Adam and K for Khumalo.
MS: You learnt a lot in China.
Cde Ndlovu: It was a rigorous training programme not in military side of things as we also went through things like being drilled in political strategies. We went through things like how to deceive the enemy and disguise ourselves. We used to attend their parliamentary sessions, so there was a programme for governance issues as well. It was a complete package, we were taught to be armed politicians, but like I said the training was nasty, terrible to say. The whole of 1963 we were in China. So sesivelale sasesiyizinja ezichithisiweyo.
MS: The year 1963 was the year that saw differences emerging within the nationalist movement, resulting in some of the leaders leaving Zapu to form Zanu. Were you guys affected by that?
Cde Ndlovu: We only learnt about the split when we came back. Otherwise during training there was no problem, we were united than ever. I think it should have been when we were about go back home when we learnt that Sithole (Ndabaningi) had been around in China. But we only noticed the split when we arrived in Cairo, Egypt. There were two representatives there, one for Zapu and the other for Zanu, who happened to be Trynos Makombe. The Chinese could have kept the information from us on the political developments in fear that it might have distracted us from our training programme. So we were in Cairo for a few days, after, which we flew to Tanzania. In Cairo we had remained a united formation. But it seems the Chinese were also not happy with the split in the nationalist movement although they did not tell us.
MS: Why do you say so?
Cde Ndlovu: During our training there was a time when they said we should come up with a leadership structure among ourselves. So Felix Rice was chosen as the commander while I became the political commissar, then they said it was enough. In hindsight it looks like they wanted us to come up with a structure that was supposed to go on and take over both the military and political side of things. However, that did not happen.
MS: So what happened when you got to Dar es Salaam?
Cde Ndlovu: When we got to Dar Saleem in Tanzania, Cde Benjamini Madlela who was the Zapu representative in East Africa welcomed us by saying it was good that we were back, but quickly told us to go and get proper rest, so we went to sleep. But his facial expression told a story of a man who was not all that happy, you could tell that uyathaba kathabanga. The following morning after breakfast, Madlela then called us. He said “gentleman I can see that you are in the dark.” He went on to tell us that Sithole had formed a party called Zanu and said he was making the announcement so that sikhululane. He said those who wanted to join the new party, Zanu were free to go, those who also wanted to remain in Zapu were also free to do so. Felix Rice, Lloyd Gundu, Charles Dauramanzi and the fourth one whom I cannot remember said they were joining Zanu. So that is how we went separate ways. We were later to leave Tanzania for Zambia. When we got to Zambia, TG Silundika and JZ Moyo said “gentleman, thina kasiboni, we are not sure of what is happening, so at the moment you are the ones in a better position to give direction.” They then said since you guys want to go for operations back home, at least give us two comrades from your unit. That is when I chose Gordon Butshe who was later on to become a senior intelligence officer, working as a director in the National Security Organisation (NSO) that was headed by Dumiso Dabengwa. The other comrade that I seconded to JZ and TG was Luke Mhlanga. Butshe and Mhlanga then remained.
MS: It looks like you were now in charge, making such crucial decisions.
Cde Ndlovu: Yes of course, I was and during those days I was very tough and cruel. I was not what I am now, ngangimubi lenhliziyo. If there was a need to kill, I would just do so. I would kill.
MS: Then tell us about your deployment.
Cde Ndlovu: I was deployed in Mashonaland with Amen Chikwakwata because we had divided ourselves into three fronts: Mashonaland, Midlands and Matabeleland. That is where we operated from, carrying out sabotage activities, recruiting and so on. At one point Amen and I recruited 16 boys from Highfields. Those boys were later on captured and they are the ones who said there were people among us who were neither Ndebele nor Shona. They said the jackets and hats we were wearing were not familiar. Word spread that the Russians were in Rhodesia. Even a newspaper published a story saying the Russians had been sighted. So we would carry out operations in Harare then Salisbury and then move to the rural areas. We were deployed in 1964 and did our operations till 1965. We gave the enemy the impression that we were many when there were only two of us.
– To be continued next week with Cde Ndlovu talking about his dramatic capture. Don’t miss your copy of Sunday News for that riveting historical account.
