Vusumuzi Dube
WE continue our interview with former ZPRA platoon commander, Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd) Nimrod Ndlovu who was also known by his pseudonyms Cde Vincent Sakala and Osmond Fomoja.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu was part of the detachment that attacked Mushumbi Pools Garrison in Guruve District, which then was called Sipolilo in Mashonaland Central Province.
Today he resumes his narration by telling our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about his training in Zambia and then in the Soviet Union before deployment to Guruve. Below are excerpts from the interview. Read on…
MS: Let’s resume the con- versation with your training at CGT1 in Zambia. Take us through that.
Lt- Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: Last time I gave a breakdown of the composition of our com- panies during training. Myself, I was in Company C, which was made up of those aged between 22 and 25.
I was in the same company with Cde Barnabas Sibanda of the ZimCopter fame. Also there was the now late National Hero, Lt-Gen (Rtd) Sibusiso Busi Moyo, SB.
As you might be aware SB was part of the pupils who were taken by guerillas from Manama Mission in Gwanda District in January 1977. Because of his age, SB should have been in Company A, which was made up of those aged between 16 and 17.
MS: You spoke of General PV as the commander of the CGT1, how was he like?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: Ananias, as General Philip Valerio Sibanda was called during the war, was very tough but also very understanding. As the commander while we were the recruits we saw him from afar, uPV vele kajayeleki.
Then as for our training, which was guerilla warfare, we covered issues such as map reading, medics, combat tactics, weapon handling, self- defence that is things like judo and bayonet charge, military engineering and so on. However, the camp was later moved to some place located about 40km away.
After six months of guerilla training I was part of the group that was chosen to go to the then Soviet Union for further training. Myself, I went to do the platoon commanders course.
MS: Tell us about the Soviet Union?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: We were sent to Simferopol and we were divided into groups of 15 each with some specialising in engineering, artillery, com- pany commanders course and so on. We left Zambia in a group of 70.
When we got to Simferopol, we found comrades from Umkhonto WeSizwe, which was the military arm of the African National Congress of South Africa.
However, we only stayed with them for two days as they had finished their training. We remained with comrades from the Palestine Liberation Organ- isation (PLO). I was unfortunate that the medics picked something from me and they recommended that I withdraw from the main group while I was recovering.
MS: Where were you then taken to?
Lt-Col(Rtd) Ndlovu: I was taken to an area near the Black Sea where I continued with some form of training. To be honest with you, I wasn’t feeling anything. While there I also did a lot of learning of the Russian language.
I managed to acquire a lot of the Russian vocabulary. I could speak a lot of Russian when I left the Soviet Union. We had gone for a six-month train- ing programme, after which we returned home, meaning going back to Zambia.
MS: On your return to Zambia where were you taken to?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: We were sent to Mwembeshi where we were on our own as the group that had just arrived from the Soviet Union. During that time ZPRA was forming battalions at Emagojini, that is at CGT2 where they were absorbing troops that had been trained in Angola and camps in Zambia such as CGT2 itself.
Some of the comrades who had finished an officer’s course at the Zambian Military Academy at Kohima were being given those troops to command. We were then also moved to Emagojini to take up command of some of the troops. When we got to Emagojini, a detachment was formed and we were told that we were moving to the front for operations.
MS: How was the detachment structured?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: The detachment, which was made up of three platoons, was com- manded by Cde Clive Mataure who was deputised by Cde Mountain.
Myself, now Lt-Col Bhebhe, who is still serving in the Zimbabwe National Army and Twoboy, a guy from Mt Darwin whose real surname is Mukahanana came in as platoon commanders.
Before joining the war, Twoboy had been a well known soccer player in Bulawayo. After the detachment had been constituted we started doing rehearsals. Then came the time when we left CGT2 in trucks, joined the Great East Road and then turned towards the Zambezi River. That was at night.
MS: Take us through what happened when you got to the Zambezi River.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: We were directed by our scou comrades whose role was to assist the newly deployed nav igate the terrain. They handed us over to eight comrades who assisted us in crossing over to the Rhodesian side.
Those eight were also to assist in navigating through the Zam- bezi River Escarpment as they were veterans who had been operating at the front for some time.
The detachment was well armed and kitted. All the troops were dressed in the Russian military camouflage. My pla- toon was the first to cross and we had dinghies which could take about 12 men.
MS: When did you start crossing?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: We started crossing at around 10pm and it went on up to between 2am and 3am the following day. From there we had to go through a rough terrain with a unit under Cde Ephraim which was a reconnaissance and escort unit leading us to the operational area.
Those comrades were of eight or nine. We moved inland and after two or three days we shot two buffa- loes as part of efforts to replen- ish our food supplies. When we left Zambia we had been given rations which were considered adequate. We had a feast of the buffalo meat.
We then moved forward and met the Doma people, they were three of them. They showed us the direction to take but quickly warned us that there were enemy forces near the Angwa River where they had camped.
We returned the favour by telling them that we had left some meat and they were free to go and get it, something I believe they did. We continued moving and when we were a kilometre or so from Angwa River a halt was called and we decided to base there. We spent the night there.
MS: At that point you had arrived within villages, what was the next move?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: The following day we decided to send a small unit to go to the villages and organise food. However, it seems we should have been sold out as that unit came across the Rhodesian forces.
Fortunately our guys spotted the enemy forces first and hid among the reeds in the River. This was because we had been ordered to avoid contacts with the enemy at all costs as we had a serious mission to accomplish.
MS: What were the orders that you had been given?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: The orders that had been given by then regional commander, Cde Rodwell Nyika now late Brigadier- General (Rtd) Collin Moyo to our commanders on the ground such as Cde Jonas Donga (Wilson Dube) and now late Colonel Dan Dutsa was to attack the Mushumbi Pools Garrison, which was being used as a launching pad to cut off gueril- las moving inland for opera- tions. Mushumbi Pools had brought untold damage to our operational plans.
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