How Sumbo fooled the Rhodesian forces

TODAY we round-up our interview with former Rhodesian policeman, Mr Matthew Masuku who was part of a team that cornered and arrested the late Zipra guerilla in Bulawayo, Cde Albert Sumbo Ncube pseudo name Cde Shungu.

Mr Masuku resumes the conversation with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) and gives an account on how Cde Sumbo Ncube made a daring run from the Victoria Falls Police Station cells where he had been kept naked.

Below are excerpts of the interview.

MS: Sumbo was taken to court where he admitted to the charges he was facing, what happened next?

Mr Masuku: When I left to go and freshen up in preparation for his court appearance, I had also been told to prepare my luggage as I would not return home for some time. So, from the court we took Sumbo straight to Esigodini then known as Essexvale. Sumbo was moved from Bulawayo and kept at Esigodini as part of security measures. There was fear of a rescue operation by the guerillas, so Esigodini was considered safe as no one would imagine that he was being kept there.

MS: With all the publicity and what he had allegedly done, did you still think Sumbo could be rescued by his Zipra colleagues?

Mr Masuku: With security issues you don’t take chances, but Sumbo had already sold out his colleagues and also the fact that he had abandoned his operations, there was every chance that he was looked at as a renegade or dissident by other Zipras. To me Sumbo had ceased to be a guerilla and become a criminal. Wayenga senzi umsembenzi that they had been trained for.

MS: So Sumbo despite being a very wanted man he was never tortured?

Mr Masuku: Etshayelwani umfana lowana when he was singing a song. Like I said when he was shown his picture by uMahlathini, Detective Section Officer Branfield whom we gave that name because he was a very good Ndebele speaker, he revealed everything. There was no chance of beating him up.

MS: Where was all this happening?

Mr Masuku: Our offices were at the Bulawayo Central Police Station but all the interrogations and security checks were done at Ross Camp. Everything was done from there. Even from the raid Sumbo was taken straight to Ross Camp security cells where all those arrested for political reasons were kept. Bonke ababebotshelwa ipolitics would go through there. Those premises were used mainly by the Special Branch. So, when Mahlathini said to Sumbo you are a trained terrorist, he said yes. In our presence he was taken to another room by Mahlathini where there were white officers only. I am not privy to what was discussed there but within a short period of time he was back.

MS: How short was the short period?

Mr Masuku: It was less than 30 minutes lamakhiwa khonangale and was brought back to where I was.

MS: Don’t you think there was a chance to recruit Sumbo during that period so that he became a turned guerilla?

Mr Masuku: Of course, I can’t deny that since I was not in that room, but with the way they were turning guerillas, it was those who had gone through the whole court process, someone who has been found guilty. The guerilla had to have completed the whole procedure in court. But with this one, uSumbo I will say no because he had not gone through all the indications, we had not taken him to places where he had committed the crimes when he was taken into that room at Ross Camp by the Special Branch.

Mind you when we picked him from his parents’ home in Mabutweni, we had not done the search. The search was done later when I had gone to freshen up for his appearance in court. It was another unit that took him back to Mabutweni where a thorough search was conducted. That is when weapons, ammunition and combat were dug out from the vegetable garden at his home. Sumbo is the one who led the security details to his garden where all those things were recovered.

MS: So, you insist that it was not possible to recruit Sumbo by the Rhodesians.

Mr Masuku: There was no chance, he had already made headlines and appeared in court. Also mind you because of the cases he was facing, he was going to be slapped with a death sentence if the court process had gone through. It was a death sentence straight, ukuthi bamkhiphe there was no chance. He had been exposed by appearing in court.

His initial appearance in court was to confirm the statements and not a trial. The trial was going to be done after his indications at places like Victoria Falls. In Victoria Falls he took the Special Branch up to the Zambezi River where he showed them the crossing points used by guerillas from Zambia, where dinghies were hidden before his dramatic escape. People can say a lot of things, but mina ngoSumbo I know a lot about him. I was there. Sumbo was not going to be any use to the Rhodesian system as he had turned into criminal activities.

MS: How long was he kept at Esigodini?

Mr Masuku: We kept him for a week there and during that time he was in the hands of the Special Branch who dealt with him. I was with him there. When the Special Branch was satisfied with dealing with him, they then called and said you can take him for indications. Then Branfield came to collect us early in the morning around 6am. Mina ngangimgcinile. Also, at Esigodini I did not see him being subjected to torture, like I said he was singing and people handling him could also tell that he was telling the truth, so there was no need to beat him up. From Esigodini we went to the then Brady Barracks (Mzilikazi Barracks) where myself, Sumbo and Detective Section Officer Branfield boarded a small plane that took us to Victoria Falls.

MS: Then on your arrival in Victoria Falls….

Mr Masuku: We were picked from the airport under heavy security. The Special Branch and the CID Victoria Falls took over. They are the ones who took him for indications, normally it was the duty of the CID as the Special Branch was to gather intelligence. As for me my duty with Sumbo was to come in when they were questioning him and also to provide food, I was responsible for his feeding. We did that with another detective from Victoria Falls. I was to make sure that he was undressed when being locked into the cells, those were instructions I was given. After locking him up having come from the indications I and this other CID guy we did not take him out, if ever he went out, which I don’t know it was probably when the Special Branch wanted to do something to him. Otherwise, we left him chained to that iron ring in the cell. It means he spent his time sleeping on the floor.

MS: Then take us through that dramatic escape.

Mr Masuku: It was around 7am or so when I and this other detective who was junior to me went to give him food as usual. This other detective then started unlocking the door to the cell so that we give him food and at that time it looks like Albert Sumbo was ready to pounce. Kwakule situbhu emnyango. Unknown to us at that moment was that Sumbo had also been trying to destroy the walls of the cell, which was built from sub-standard material. It was an old cell. In fact, he had removed some bricks from the wall of the cell after realising that the mortar used was just udaka without much cement. I now believe that boy was still going to escape that same day because he had done a lot of damage to the walls of the cell. So, when the officer I was with unlocked the door of the cell, Sumbo was ready to jump. When the door was eventually opened, he used the door to bring down the officer and it happened in lightning speed. Myself I was also affected by this sudden change of things and although I was armed, I could not fire at him.

To be honest that boy was naturally intelligent and well trained. That incident happened on a Saturday and the policemen’s children were within the station’s premises and Sumbo dashed towards those children and used them as a shield to cover himself from the bullets that might be fired at him. I could apply the basic principles of use of fire arms which say if you are in doubt don’t shoot. There were soldiers who had deployed around the camp but they had not been told about Sumbo’s presence, in fact it was never made public where he was being kept for security reasons. People did not know that he had been moved to Esigodini and then Vic Falls.

MS: So, he went through those soldiers as well, but how?

Mr Masuku: When those soldiers who had been deployed outside the camp saw him running towards them, they thought he was a mad man, they let him go. From there he ran towards the Vic Falls low-density houses, jumped into a yard where he found a white woman watering her flowers using a hose pipe while the husband was cleaning his gun. He went straight to the woman and grabbed the hose pipe and started drinking water from it. In panic the woman screamed ‘mad man, mad man’. He quickly took to his heels again and disappeared.

MS: What were you doing while Sumbo was making good his escape, you just stood watching?

Mr Masuku: We tried to pursue him, but you know in Victoria Falls there is a lot of sand, so we could not sprint as much as we wanted. We were being held back by the sandy soil and with him barefooted and having a head-start, he had an advantage. That boy slipped through our hands just like that. Combined efforts by the security forces were made but to no avail, wayese hambile.

MS: I suppose you got into trouble for allowing such a wanted person to escape and also making a mockery of the Rhodesian security system.

Mr Masuku: I was investigated. When they were investigating me, I was sent to Masvingo then called Fort Victoria. After they had concluded their investigations, I was called in by Assistant Commissioner Webb, who was the CID commander for the whole of Matabeleland who told me that I was lucky because it has been proven that it is possible to break the cuffs as there were such incidents before at Salisbury (Harare) Central Prison. Initially they suspected that I had a hand in the prison break of Albert Sumbo Ncube.

MS: So how long had been Albert Sumbo at the Victoria Falls Police Station?

Mr Masuku: One week. It’s a mystery why he was kept that long in Victoria Falls since he had completed his indications in a day, second day wayeseqedile. I think that also helped me from getting into trouble because those whites from the Special Branch were also taken to task on why they had kept him that long in Vic Falls.

MS: Why do you think they kept him that long?

Mr Masuku: In my opinion those white officers wanted to make money. They wanted allowances and also to enjoy themselves in Victoria Falls since it’s a resort area. Sumbo escaped at around 7am and later in the afternoon, there were indications that he was already across in Zambia. All efforts to locate him and recapture him had hit a brick wall. He was gone.

The Zambian intelligence had indicated that he had been seen in Zambia on that afternoon, what those Zambians did was to hand him over to the nationalists. We later learnt that when he got to the Zipra camps he was put into detention pits as they suspected that he had been turned into a Rhodesian spy. After the attainment of Independence, I met him in Hwange, but we did not talk about his escape.