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Fungai Kwaramba
Political Editor
Today Zimbabwe marks the 46th anniversary of the death of ZANU Chairman Herbert W Chitepo, who was assassinated in Zambia on March 18, 1975 through a bomb blast inserted in his car. This was a cowardly act designed by the Rhodesian minority government to halt the liberation struggle’s momentum and demoralise ZANLA forces.
Our Political Editor Fungi Kwaramba (FK) sat down with former ZANU legal advisor Dr Simbi Mubako (SM) who was in the thick of things at the time of the revered nationalist’s death. Below are excerpts from the interview.
FK: As we remember Chairman Chitepo, can you tell us what kind of a man he was?
SM: Chairman Chitepo was the first black advocate in Zimbabwe and as such he was my inspiration and many others to study law. I tried to go to a South African university to study law, but I was stopped by the South African government which did not allow blacks at that time to study law at white universities such as Wits which had accepted me. I eventually went to Dublin and then came back to teach law at the University of Zimbabwe. In all this, Cde Chitepo was my inspiration.
FK: When did you first meet with him?
SM: I looked up to him when I went to Zambia. He was leading ZANU, I worked closely with him and we became friends. I remember on one occasion he asked me to go to Botswana and ask the then President of that country, Seretse Khama, to offer ZANU another front to launch the liberation struggle. However, the government of Botswana wouldn’t allow us to use their country because the President said his country was too weak to defend itself against the Rhodesians and I went back to deliver the message to Cde Chitepo. We continued working closely with Cde Chitepo in Zambia. So he was a man I greatly admired from the beginning for his dedication.
FK: What were some of his remarkable traits?
SM: I looked up to him because of his accomplishments. He practiced law brilliantly. We heard about the cases which he defended while in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia. Not only that, he was invited by the Tanzanian government, when Tanzania became independent, to become their first public prosecutor. They did not have enough lawyers (and) he was recruited because of his successes. He was well known and we were all drawn to him.
While in Tanzania, he was still conscious of the need to liberate Zimbabwe. He was one of the founding members of Zanu when they broke away from ZAPU, acting as the legal advisor. Eventually he left his job in Tanzania to be with the party. He was asked by the party to do that, the party had been banned at home and the leaders asked Cde Chitepo to be the leader of the party outside Zimbabwe and to do that he left his job, that was impressive.
FK: Where were you when Chairman Chitepo died?
SM: I was actually not in Zambia. I was at the Harvard Law School in the United States, doing research, but because the death of Cde Chitepo was followed by the arrest of the party leaders, I was summoned to come and defend the party leaders, particularly my wife Dr Hazel, pleaded with me to shorten my studies to come and assist. I did that and joined the legal team that had been assembled. We organised other lawyers to defend the party leaders, members of the Dare ReChimurenga and the High Command who were accused of murdering Cde Chitepo.
FK: Why really in your view were these comrades arrested?
SM: The charge against them was they had killed their own leader Chitepo and also that they were against the détente efforts wherein Zambia was working with the governments of South Africa and Zambia to resolve the crisis peacefully. The truth of the matter was Zambia was taking advantage of the death of Chitepo to destroy ZANU because ZANU was against their policy of détente in Zimbabwe and that ZANU was standing in the way of ZAPU which was the favourite party for the Zambians. ZANU had at that time launched the north-east campaign and succeeded.
FK: So what really happened to Chairman Chitepo?
SM: The truth of the matter is that Chairman Chitepo was killed by the Rhodesians. Books and books have been written on how he was actually killed, because Chitepo was insisting on continuing the war when the Rhodesians and the Zambians wanted to stop it.
The Rhodesians decided to kill Chitepo as he was the Rhodesian biggest obstacle to ending the war. The Rhodesian intelligence gave the orders to kill Chitepo. Those who killed Chitepo have confessed and it doesn’t make sense for us to continue talking about it. In any case, the Zambian story did not make sense because it was dismissed by their own courts.
Both Chitepo and Tongogara were my friends. I could not believe that Tongogara could have killed Chitepo because the politics of ZANU back then, there were elections in 1971, they were people within the party who wanted to challenge Chitepo and in 1971 it was (the late Nathan) Shamuyarira. He wanted the chairmanship, he actually stood, I was there, it was Tongogara who supported Chitepo and defeated Shamuyarira, who went on to form Frolizi.
Again in 1973, during the elections , this time the one who wanted to challenge Chitepo was (the late Henry) Hamadziripi. I remember two nights before the congress, Tongagara and Hamadziripi came to my house and Hamadziripi wanted Tongogara and the others to support him. Tongogara said Chitepo is a great leader, and it was Tongogara’s support again for Chitepo which defeated Hamadziripi. This actually took place in my own house, Tongogara was clear that he would not support Hamadziripi. That’s how Tongogara became an enemy of Hamadziripi. When you know these things, it becomes strange that the Zambians (would) come and say Tongogara killed Chitepo when Tongogara was the man who was Chitepo’s foremost supporter throughout.
FK: What can the generations of today learn from the legacy of Chairman Chitepo?
SM: Here was a man who was prepared to give up everything in order to liberate this country. He was a hardworking man who applied his intelligence towards the independence of this country and that intelligence, he used to open the north-east campaign which was really the beginning of the success of the liberation struggle.
If it was not for him, and the other people he worked with, it probably would have taken us longer to achieve our independence.
Online Reporter