‘Thekwane Mission churned out freedom fighters’

DURING academic processions at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) guests would obviously be attracted by the institution’s Chancellor, the Head of State and Government, President Mnangagwa.

However, there would also be a man carrying what appears to be a long staff (mace), which also draws the attention of onlookers, who often wonder what his role could be.

That man is the varsity’s senior proctor and while he might look like any other academic, he is a war veteran and former senior army officer, Colonel (Rtd) Peeps Gonde.

The story of Col (Rtd) Gonde pseudonym Cde Philip Nkomane is an amazing one as he after abandoning his education in October 1976 to join the armed struggle while a Form Two pupil at Thekwane Mission in Bulilima District in Matabeleland South Province came back after the attainment of Independence in 1980 to continue from where he had left off.

After Independence Col (Rtd) Gonde was attested into the newly created Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) where he retired in 2005 with the rank of Colonel, but by that time he had covered a lot of ground in his academic studies.

Today he is one of the senior academics at Nust, where he is the university’s Acting Director of the Centre for Continuing Education and is also teaching Software Engineering, Operations Management and commercial courses.

Col (Rtd) Gonde is a proud holder of a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. On Friday our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) spoke to him to find out how he joined the armed struggle and what motivated him to do that. 

MS: As the norm may we start the interview with you giving us your brief background. Who is Dr or Colonel (Rtd) Gonde?

Dr Gonde: I was born Peeps Gonde on 12 December 1961 at Plumtree District Hospital in Matabeleland South Province. I come from Thekwane area of Bulilima District, that is where my rural home is.

As for my education, I started off at Thekwane Primary School before moving to Thekwane High School for my secondary education. I started Form One in 1975, but the following year that was in 1976 in October I left school while in Form Two for the armed struggle.

Major-General Emmanuel Matatu

MS: What drove you to leave school and join the armed struggle?

Dr Gonde: Thekwane was a hotbed of the armed struggle, many students were sneaking out of the school and crossing the border into Botswana to join the armed struggle. Thekwane Mission churned out freedom fighters.

A number of my seniors and relatives from home had left before and that on its own inspired me to follow in their footsteps. My seniors at school who left ahead of me to join the armed struggle are the now Major-General Emmanuel Matatu, who is currently the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Chief of Staff Administration Staff, the Zanu-PF National Political Commissar, Cde Munyaradzi Machacha, his brother, Munashe Machacha, Themba Mguni, Austin Chirisa, Sambulo Maphosa, Leon Khumalo and Patrick Mahomva among others.

As for my relatives, some who were at Thekwane Mission while some were at home also joined the armed struggle before me were Nyaladzani Nleya, Joshua Gonde, Israel Bhala, the brother to the late  Maclean who died when he was Acting  Vice-Chancellor of Lupane State University.

However, the most significant development was when my cousin, Tinahe Ntaisi whom we were good friends walked out of Thekwane Mission to cross the border into Botswana en route to Zambia.

I could have left with him had it not been that I was ill at that time. When he left for the war he came to my dormitory and told me that he was leaving to join the armed struggle. I woke up from my bed and accompanied him until we were close to the school gate. We shook hands and I went back to sleep.

Cde Munyaradzi Machacha

 MS: Then tell us how you finally left to join the armed struggle.

Dr Gonde: On the day I left for the armed struggle we had gone to South Nata Council premises for some recreational activities. Among the boys were guys and relatives such as Bhekuzulu, Nkosilathi Ntaisi and Justice Gonde.

Between 5pm and 6pm when we joined the main road from Plumtree Town we came across Rhodesian soldiers. They were coming from a farm that was owned by a white man, koWula.

They asked us who we were and we said we were all cousins from Thekwane. They accused us of telling lies and started beating up Justice Gonde. Justice then started crying from the beatings meted to him. When they left us, we decided there and there to leave the country and join the armed struggle. We were angry over that incident.  

MS: Tell us how you travelled.

Dr Gonde: We continued walking as if going home and walked past the school gate. We pretended as if we were going to our homesteads. There was no going back at that moment.

However, since I was the youngest the guys tried to talk me out of going to the war saying I was still too young, but I insisted until they allowed me to travel with them.

We moved down as if going to Dombodema and the rain started falling. By the time we crossed the road to Dombodema it could have been between 3am and 4am.

We then realised that we were east of the Red Hill and we heard the sound of the train. We started debating on whether the train was coming from Botswana or from Pumtree.

That was meant to give us pointers on whether we were moving towards the border. Others said the train was coming from Botswana while some said it was from Plumtree.

Bhekuzulu who was older argued that the train was coming from the direction of Botswana. Myself I had always trusted Bhekuzulu’s wisdom. 

We then decided to split with others taking a different direction. Myself I went under the guidance of Bhekuzulu. When we left we had been a group of 14 and after splitting we were left as a group of seven or eight.

We then continued walking and fortunately for us we had taken the correct direction. We crossed the border at about 9am. We had walked throughout the night.

Across in Botswana we approached villagers and they cooked isitshwala for us. From there we were taken by the police to Tsetsebe Police Station.

We spent one night there and the following day we were taken by the police again, but at that time to Francistown Police Station. At Francistown we were asked which side we belonged to that is between Zapu/ZPRA and Zanu/ZANLA.

To be honest I was just following what my brothers were doing. We chose Zapu. We were then taken to a refugee camp where we stayed for some weeks before we were flown to Zambia.

We heaved a sigh of relief when we got to Lusaka International Airport as the facility fascinated us, remember it was our first time to be on a plane. We were more than 70 when we left Botswana for Zambia.

Thekwane Mission in Bulilima District in Matabeleland South Province

MS: Then tell us about what you encountered when you got to Zambia.

Dr Gonde: We arrived at the Lusaka International Airport in the evening. From the airport we were driven in Zapu trucks to Nampundwe Transit Camp where we got there at night.

When we got there we were just shown the bush where to sleep and told that early the following day we were going to meet the ZPRA Commander-in-Chief and Zapu President, Cde Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo.

We were very excited that we would meet Nkomo. We slept with all that anxiety of seeing Umdala the following morning. We were then woken up very early the following day.

We were put into a formation of three lines and ordered to start running towards a hill. When we got to the hill we were ordered to climb it using the number 9 drill, which was the frog jump.

When we got to the top of the hill we were ordered to go down while rolling. That was a nasty experience I tell you. Some people started crying while some were vomiting as the drills were repeated over and over again.

I had been a sportsperson at school but doing the frog jump for a distance of 100 metres or so could break anyone. It was nasty. So the talk that we were going to meet Nkomo was a traditional ruse that was applied by the tough instructors to all the new arrivals at Nampundwe. It was their way of initiating the recruits into the military life. After going through those drills everyone would just be disoriented and confused.

To be continued next week with Dr Gonde talking about his guerilla training at Mwembeshi and later on being chosen to undergo Cadet officers training at Kohima in Zambia.