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LAST week, CDE CHIPO MARIWO chronicled how she crossed into Mozambique to join other comrades who wanted to fight for Zimbabwe’s independence. She had, however, earlier been discouraged from doing so by family members and friends. This week, she tells our Political Editor KUDA BWITITI about some of the battles she was involved in during the liberation struggle.
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Q: Where were you deployed after receiving military training at Maroro in Mozambique?
A: I was deployed to Nyanga. A lot of battles were fought in that area. I operated particularly in the Katerere area in Nyanga.
Q: What role did you play at the front?
A: When I started, my role was mainly to carry ammunition to give to cadres at the front.
Q: Tell us some of your experiences at the front.
A: On some days, lorries would come to fetch us to carry the ammunition. However, on most days, we would carry the ammunition on our heads, walking for long distances. At times, we would carry the ammo from Mozambique to Nyanga. It was not an easy task because we are talking of heavy weaponry, like machine guns and mortars.
I lost a lot of hair whilst carrying the weapons. We also lost many comrades in the process of carrying the ammunition. One sad moment during the war was when I lost my best friend; she died on duty.
The ammunition became too heavy for her. When she got tired, she was not allowed to stop. The rule was that if the ammunition got too heavy, you would be asked to leave it and give it to another person. So, you would be left in the bush if you were not able to carry the weapons. So, my friend, whose name was Cde Chatonga, got sick as she was carrying the ammunition. Our commander told us that we had to leave her at that spot and continue with our journey. So, we left her there, even though she was ailing. We later learned that she died not far from the place where we had left her. She was buried in the bush. She is one of the comrades still buried in the bush.
Q: Who are some of the comrades you gave the ammunition to?
A: The freedom fighters who operated in Nyanga include Cde Mabhunu, Cde Tinorwa Hondo, Cde Tichatonga and Cde Muchadura.
Some of the comrades would change names after some time because it was possible to have two comrades with similar names.
My own Chimurenga name was Cde Trymore MaGorira. This is a name I chose for myself.
Q: How were you able to survive during the struggle?
A: It is not by choice that I survived during the war; I had many near-death experiences.
Q: Tell us about these.
A: In 1978, I was coming from Maroro in Mozambique to Zimbabwe. We met some Rhodesian security forces. They were entering Mozambique while we were returning to Zimbabwe. Luckily, we saw them before they saw us after one of our mujibhas identified them.
He informed us that they were heavily armed. I had just returned from training, so I was not well-armed like the enemy.
It would have been folly to take them on, so we decided to retreat.
However, as we were retreating, there was another group of comrades that was also going towards the same direction from where the enemy soldiers had come from.
We informed them about the approaching Rhodesian forces.
This group of comrades was better armed than us.
They told us the best way to attack was to put the enemy between us.
So, while we were on the other side of the bush, our better-equipped comrades devised a strategy to get behind the enemy.
They gave us some of their weapons and encouraged us to wait for the enemy in front, whilst they came from the back.
We fought the enemy gallantly and won resoundingly.
I believe we were lucky on that day because, if the enemy forces had met only us, they would have killed us.
Our better-armed comrades saved the day for us.
We learned later that the enemy forces were on a mission to bomb some of our bases in Mozambique.
After the victory, we were able to regroup, and I carried the ammunition for the victorious comrades.
Next week, Cde Mariwo tells us about her other near-death experiences, as well as the final days before independence.
Online Reporter