The Sunday News
WE continue our interview with Lieutenant-Colonel (Rtd) Jack Thuli Matiwaza pseudonym Cde Jackson Chokwadi or Njabulo Mtolo, who during the war was one of the battalion commanders ZPRA conventional forces.
As the war against the colonial regime intensified ZPRA formed a regular brigade stationed at Mlungushi in Zambia where five battalions emerged from. Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza commanded the third battalion, the first by now Major-General (Rtd) Stanford Khumalo (Madliwa), the second taken care of by Cde Moffat Tshuma, the fourth under the stewardship of now late former military attache to Malawi, Colonel Polate Maphenduka Moyo (Soneni Mdlalose) and the fifth led by Cde Butho Nkomo.
Last week in an interview with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza was talking about his training in the then Soviet Union as a battalion commander. He picks his narration from there. Below are excerpts from the interview.
MS: May we resume our interview from your time in the Soviet Union. Please take us through in your training as battalion commanders, what did you cover?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza: We were at Odesa Red Banner Military School in the Ukraine, which then was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Our training basically focused on Combined Arms Warfare with an emphasis on a mechanised infantry battalion. Therefore, we covered rifle company management organisation, armament and employment in all the four phases of a battle. These four phases being attack, advance, defence and withdrawal. You should take note of the fact that there are three rifle companies in a mechanised battalion, with each company usually having 90 men. A rifle company which is commanded by a Major has three platoons with each platoon under a Lieutenant. A platoon has three sections with each section commanded by a Corporal. In addition to the infantry men a mechanised battalion also has an anti-tank platoon of three anti-tank guns such as Gun-75, Gun-56 and B10. The anti-tank platoon is manned by three crews which each crew having five men. Then there is a Mortar platoon and in the Soviet Union we covered the mortar 81mm. In this case there are three crew guns operated by five men. Other attachments in a battalion are the engineering squadron which is of a platoon strength usually commanded by lieutenant and it has three sections. Then there is the machine gun section which would be usually armed with HMG, Desheka, there is the medical troops, security, logistics and reconnaissance. So these are the things that we were covering and after completing the battalion commander’s course we returned to Zambia.
MS: When you got to Zambia where were you deployed?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza: We moved to CGT which was commonly known as Emagojini. At CGT we found guerillas who had come from different training camps there. Some had been trained in Angola while some were coming from camps within Zambia. It was a brigade, the commander being Cde Goronga. Myself I was appointed Brigade Chief of Staff. It was while we were at CGT that we were bombed by the Rhodesians but they were easily repulsed because the camp was well-armed with the guerillas dug in. CGT was very fortified. Then one day the now late Mike Reynolds (Brigadier Charles Grey) came to CGT with orders that we should report to Mlungushi Camp, which was where regular forces were being trained. There were more than 5 000 men there. Mike Reynolds’ orders were directed at us as commanders. We were moving to Mlungushi to form battalions which we were to command. That is when the five battalions that I spoke about previously were formed. Myself I was given the third battalion to command.
MS: Okay. So how was the third battalion structured in terms of officers below you.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza: My Chief of Staff was Cde Amos Ndlovu, battalion commissar was Cde Elliot Shoko who is still serving in the Zimbabwe National Army and is from Mberengwa District. My deputy was Cde Cletus but unfortunately he is now late. Then there were three company commanders.
MS: So how big was the battalion?
Lt-Col Matiwaza: It had around 1 000 men. This was because as a mechanised battalion it had attachments such an artillery unit, engineering, reconnaissance, security, communications, etc. We had Cde Sitimela as the battalion chief of security while the now late Colonel (Rtd) Ray Lazarus Ncube whom we called Cde Hlelo was my chief of reconnaissance. There was also Cde Mthimkhulu as the guy in charge of engineers while Cde Nyathi was responsible for communications. In terms of armament the battalion, something which I believe applied to all of the five battalions, was adequately armed. When the Rhodesians got wind of the situation at Mlungushi they started bombing the camp in a bid to pre-empt and disturb the build-up. I think there is no camp that faced a barrage of bombings like Mlungushi. The Rhodesians would bomb us in the morning, lunch hour and evening. At times in consecutive days. However, they found it difficult to penetrate because of the deployment and fortification of the camp. We had all sorts of arms at Mlungushi including Surface to Air missiles. Then towards the end of 1979 ZPRA started inching towards its operation, ZERO HOUR which if it had been carried out could have seen us storming Rhodesia with our conventional forces.
MS: Facing such a barrage of attacks from the Rhodesians how was the mood like from the troops?
Lt-Col Matiwaza: Their morale remained and they also got confidence that after all the Rhodesian army was not invincible. The troops started relishing the day they would face the Rhodesian infantry units, they were itching for a fight. Those bombings had hardened them. Then one day the Chief of Staff, Enoch Tshangane, the now late Major-General (Rtd) Jevan Maseko called a meeting of battalion commanders where he told us that we moving from Mlungushi going for deployment along the Zambezi River. Being deployed along the Zambezi River was part of preparations to enter Rhodesian by the regular forces. The first battalion kaMadliwa was deployed near Kariba while ekaSoneni was stationed eFeira. Mine was on the southern part on the right side while the fourth was on the left. The third and fourth battalions were stationed about 10km apart.
MS: So if the plan to storm Rhodesian had come into fruition which areas were going to come under your attack?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza: We were going to move to areas around Hwange and Victoria Falls. From Mlungushi we were ferried in trucks to our new deployment area. We were ready for anything because we were well armed. We had everything. From anti-air weapons to anti-tanks. Our behaviour was that of a regular force. As the battalion commander I was allocated a vehicle, a truck for use with a driver. I would travel to Lusaka to the rear for meetings when the need arose.
MS: You spoke about being properly armed, what type of weapons were at your disposal?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Matiwaza: Besides the usual AK-47s and machine guns we had amaB10, which is an anti-tank weapon, Gun-57, Zegues an anti-air weapon, and in addition to that we had the Grad-P which can hit targets 10km away. All the five battalions were armed with the Grad-P. That’s the situation that we had reached as a military force at that time. The troops were very excited.
To be continued next week
