‘Train hard and fight easy was Mangena’s philosophy’

ON 28 June 1978 a dark cloud engulfed the Zimbabwean armed struggle when Zipra commander Cde Rogers Mangena pseudo name Cde Alfred Nikita died in a landmine explosion planted by the Rhodesians in Zambia.  Therefore 28 June this year would mark 44 years since Cde Mangena’s demise. As tribute to Cde Mangena whom the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa has honoured by renaming the Zimbabwe National Defence University in Harare after him, Sunday News will this month be carrying articles focusing on him. This week our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) spoke to former Zipra field commander, Colonel (Retired) Waison Tshipa aka Cde John Nyamupingidza. Col (Rtd) Tshipa operated in Bulilima, Hwange and Tsholotsho districts and was later on promoted to be the regional commander in the Northern Front One (NF1) that covered those afore-mentioned districts.  Below Col (Rtd) Tshipa gives an insight on what kind of military person Cde Mangena was. Read on….  

MS: This year on 28 June marks 44 years since the death of Cde Mangena. You were one of the field commanders who served under him, what do you remember about him.

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: It’s tricky and painful that Mangena did not live to see an Independent Zimbabwe. I met Mangena probably two months after I had joined the armed struggle in Zambia. It was in 1972 and we were at a camp called Chakwenga and he arrived there with the now also late Zipra Chief of Operations, Cde John Dube (JD) whose original name was Sotsha Ngwenya.  At that time Mangena was the Chief of Staff as the rank of army commander was reserved for the party President, Joshua Nkomo. We had not yet gone for training and some of the recruits I was with included comrades like Jogwe Dlamini, Barbeton Sibona who later on became the frontal commander for the Southern Front that covered Matabeleland South, Midlands districts such as Mberengwa and ideally was supposed to stretch up to Manicaland and also there was Solomon Chirawuro. Our group was made up of 95 cadres and upon completing training, 28 were sent to the Soviet Union for further training.

MS: What were your first impressions of Mangena?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: I saw a man, soldier and revolutionary who was full of life. He was extra-ordinarily full of life I can say.  In him I saw a leader of repute, a natural leader. Later on when I started working under him I realised that Mangena was a born soldier, commander whom people or cadres I mean genuine revolutionaries could follow naturally not by coercion.  I can say with confidence that if leaders were to be nominated by their subjects then Mangena could have been nominated several times. He could have got tired of being nominated. 

MS: Why do you say so?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: I say so because you can tell that there is a leader just by looking at a person. People endowed with  leadership qualities can be seen without much scrutiny. Even if you are to get to a place and find people seated quietly one should not struggle to point out a leader among them. When either walking, marching and even standing quietly Mangena was always a step ahead of his peers, leadership was written all over him.

MS: What about on the military side, how was Zipra during his time?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: He had so much focus for the future of the army that was Zipra. He could explain his vision for the army clearly. He was a great organiser and that was exhibited by the selection of his instructors because Mangena believed that the training of his soldiers was supposed to be efficient, top notch. He used to say ‘train hard and fight easily’. That was his motto. On the selection of instructors you will find that it was a mixture of those with field experience and those with theory. He used various experiences to be inculcated into the recruit and a result Zipra produced excellent products.  He visited us several times while we were at training at Morogoro in Tanzania. When we went to Mozambique for the short-lived Zimbabwe People’s Army (ZIPA), where things did not work according to plan Mangena stood with his soldiers and we were able to get out of Mozambique fully knowingly what was in store for us. That’s a quality that should be found in a commander.  When we returned to Zambia to re-start the war from there his fore-sight came out clearly.  It was at a time when the number of recruits was exponentially growing up. When we left for ZIPA the largest group that had trained under Zipra was the Group of 137 while the one that was on the initial stages of training was the Group of 800.  On realising that the numbers were growing Mangena transformed the army, he went for the creation of a conventional soldier. Before we had been fighting in smaller units, he saw the need for the transformation of Zipra to be a conventional army. An army that will be properly equipped and move in bigger units. That was when he sent Zipra cadres to do an officer’s cadet course at Kohima in Zambia and the training of conventional soldiers at Mlungushi. However, the influx of the number of recruits also came up with its own problems.

MS: What were the problems encountered during that period?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: Some Rhodesian agents especially Selous Scouts took advantage and infiltrated us. They came to disturb and cause chaos. Indeed they caused chaos.  That is when we had some elements that started challenging the orders of commanders which in a military set-up is a sign of high indiscipline. Mangena himself was a victim of that indiscipline as there was an attempt on his life at the Freedom Camp (FC) when he was shot at. In that incident he lost a finger and sustained injuries on his foot. Those injuries led somehow to his death as he was still feeling some pain, that is why he called for his Land Rover   after he had presided over the burial of those comrades who had died in an ambush in the Kabanga area.

MS: What happened to those guerillas who attempted to kill Mangena?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: They just disappeared into thin air. To be honest with you I don’t know what happened to them.  

MS: So how did Mangena’s death affect Zipra in particular?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: I can say  Mangena’s death had serious repercussions on Zipra. Things that he had set in motion became stagnant while some I can say collapsed. I will give an example of the sending of officer cadets to Kohima, that programme ended with the death of Mangena. A total of 97 Zipra cadres including myself were the first and last to be sent there. Out of the 97, 79 of us graduated as officers, myself having been withdrawn from the front where I had been operating. The training of regular soldiers at Mlungushi also ended. After completing their training at Mlungushi the conventional soldiers were kept there for no apparent reason. On getting intelligence on their presence, the Smith regime was bombing them time and again but still they remained there. Zambia has very thick bushes, virgin land where a camp could have been established for them but the comrades were left at the mercy of the Rhodesians. Their counterparts who had been sent to the Soviet Union for further training even found them still holed up at Mlungushi.  If Mangena had not died I tell we could have sent more groups to Kohima and trained more at Mlungushi. As for Mlungushi it was bombed to the extent that the vegetation was completely destroyed, only stumps of trees were left.

MS: Suppose Mangena had not been killed in that landmine explosion, what do you think would have happened?

Col (Rtd) Tshipa: He could have dealt with the high indiscipline that was beginning to manifest itself. Things like commanders being tied to trees by some rogue elements could have been nipped in the bud. Myself I was also a victim when some excited and indisciplined youngsters tied me to a tree. If Mangena had lived long Zipra could have turned out to be something else, his vision for the army was big. The history of the armed struggle could have been different from what we have.

ν Next week we will carry an interview with the widow of Cde Mangena, Mrs Sikhubekiso Madeya Mangena. Don’t miss your favourite copy as she will give an insight on what kind of person Mangena was from a family perspective.