‘I used to argue a lot with Mthuli Ncube’

TODAY we conclude our interview with former freedom fighter, Brigadier-General (Rtd) Levi Mayihlome pseudonym Cde Lizwe Ndebele. Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome served as an intelligence operative in the National Order and Security (NSO), a Zapu/ZPRA intelligence arm. In our last edition Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome was telling our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about the integration of former freedom fighters into the army and police ranks as well as other security organs. He resumes the conversation from there. Read on……

MS: We were still on the integration period, may we resume our conversation from there. In fact, you were talking about deciding against joining the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) then opting to go back to the Assembly Point at Mashumbi Pools, take us through that process. 

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: When I went to Mashumbi Pools Assembly Point in Guruve, Mash Central Province I found out that the guy who was in charge of Physical security was a former NSO comrade, Partson Makhurane and I was made his deputy. We worked together very well. Then I was chosen to go and do a military police course which I attended at Cranborne Barracks in Harare and passed with flying colours. This was because there was a need to assist us in controlling discipline. Comrades were now doing all sorts of things, some were leaving the APs and failing to conform to disciplinary measures while others were leaving the camps and not coming back. Some were even going to the villages where they were committing crimes, so they (authorities) wanted people who were renowned disciplinarians to do military police training. So we went to Cranborne Barracks  and did a crash course and I passed with flying colours. After that, I returned to Mashumbi Pools where the camp commander was Cde Jerry Mahlangu. But functionally the commander was Joseph Mbedzi who died last year and unfortunately was not accorded national hero status. You see, some of the crème de la creme of ZPRA commanders did not join the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).

MS: Why was that so?

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: Some were probably disappointed that  we (Zapu) didn’t win the 1980 elections. Many of them saw no hope in joining the army that they would not get the status commensurate with their ranks during the war. Others who were business minded or had been businesspeople before the war decided to go back into business. We have people like very senior commander during the war, Cde Toddy Mpisi (Peter Ndebele) who did not join the army but chose to start his businesses in the Midlands Province. However, we had people like Richard Mataure (Col Richard Ngwenya) who joined the army but comrades like Joseph Mbedzi and Rabelani Choeni, late Matabeleland South Zanu-PF provincial chairman who were field commanders and saw a lot of action didn’t. The other reason is that some of them were not comfortable going through the standardization process where they would face their former juniors in class. We had many instances where our former commanders would come out with junior ranks compared to their former subordinates, for instance with  rank of a sergeant because of one’s  limitations in class while a former subordinate would come out as a Major or Lt-Colonel. I remember when I went for integration they put us on an IQ test and there were over a hundred of us.  I was second on the IQ test with Sikhona Malumba coming first. When we went to the then Zimbabwe Military Academy (ZMA) in Gweru I was one of the highest and I came out with the equivalent rank of Lt-Col, that is a battalion commander. Some of the guys who were my commanders in ZPRA, were made sergeants, lieutenants and captains. Some of them were to serve under me including a very brave fighter during the war, the late Brian Mahlangu (Calvin Mashila). He was a Major.

MS: We can benefit from your good memory Brig, who were some of the Battalion commanders from the onset in the ZNA?

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: There was the now late Col Smile Madubeko (Middle), Cde Citizen Ncube the brother to Promise Ncube whom I said we trained together in the Soviet Union, Cde Davie aka Bonus Hlabangana, Cde Cde Brian Hlongwane, National Hero General Gideon Lifa, General  Happyton Bonyongwe the now former CIO boss,  Cde Barnabas Sibanda of the  helicopter fame who is living here in Bulawayo,  Col Sam (Duncan) Samongwe who is now late, Brig-Gen Abel Mazinyane who was based in Kezi, also there was Col Haeather Ndlovu,  Ce Dickson Chauke, Cde Donatos Press, the late Brig Gen Todd Mpala, National hero Gordon Munyanyi  (uSibanda) who served ZPRA and ZIPA in many capacities and was once ZPRA Chief of Military Intelligence.  I can’t remember whether the now late and national hero Harold Chirenda was from the onset also a battalion commander. I am only highlighting those I can still recall and particularly from ex- ZPRA.

MS: Then who were the brigadiers at independence?

Rtd Brig-Gen Mayihlome: Brigadiers at independence there were Generals Charles Grey, Tjile Nleya, Ray Maponga, Single (Kindness Ndlovu) was promoted later as he had been a deputy,  as a Colonel to the late national hero and former ZDF commander, General Vitalis Zvinavashe at 3 Brigade in Mutare. Then the other brigadiers were brigade  Commanders, now Vice-President, Hon  General Hon Constantino Chiwenga (Dominic Chinenge)  who from the onset was appointed commander One Brigade here in Bulawayo while the now late Amoth Chingombe (Agnew Kambeu or Sparrow Kanyama) was Commander Two Brigade and Charles Grey (Mike Reynolds)  was in charge of Four Brigade.  Staff brigadiers were the late nation hero and Commander ZNA, General Edzai Chimonyo, (Operations), Gen Tjile Nleya as Brigadier-General (Administration), National hero General Benjamin  Mabenge as Brigadier-General Quartermaster, the chiefs of staff as Major-Generals were Cdes Jevan Maseko (Enock Tshangane) and Josiah Tungamirai with Lookout Masuku deputizing General Mujuru at the apex of the ZNA. 

MS: Then you worked in the army, take us through that period.

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: I worked in the army for six months as a battalion commander at Conemara, and deputised by the late national hero General Trust Mugoba. I was later moved to army headquarters and because of my training in the Soviet Union, and having done the Intermediate Staff Course it was easy to acclimatise, with my responsibility being assistant to the Adjutant-General, working on amendments to the Adjutant- General Standing Orders. I was later on transferred to the Zimbabwe Staff College where there was Brigadier- General Agrippa Mutambara who was the Commandant. I had known General  Mutambara before, because he had been my senior at the then  Mzingwane Secondary School, now High School. When I was doing my Form One, Mutambara was doing his Form Three.  Also there at Mzingwane were people like Luke Mnkandla who is the Highlanders Football Club board chairman and the late National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lindela Ndlovu.  Coming back to the Staff College I was an instructor from 1984 until mid-1985 when the war in Mozambique started heating up. Then Col Matemachani, then Director of Army Finance recruited me for my integrity and work ethic. He requested  me to join his finance department because I had done bookkeeping up to Advanced level at Ranch House  College, through evening studies. I was then sent to Mozambique as the army’s finance officer responsible for operations up to 1987 when I had been offered for a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Economics. 

MS: Does this mean you had gone back to school in between your duties?

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: Meanwhile, I was doing my O-levels through correspondence with the Central Africa Correspondence College (CACC). I did five O-level subjects and I passed.

MS: Which were those subjects?

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: I wrote English Language, Maths, Accounts, Commerce and Economics at O-level. Then at A-level I did Accounts because I had done Bookkeeping and passed it at Ranch House College in Harare. The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) then announced mature entry and at that time I was doing a National Intermediate Diploma in Business Studies at the then Mutare Technical College part-time which I passed. But at the end of that year, that was 1986 was when UZ announced that it was taking some students through mature entry. If one had O-levels and of above certain age you would be allowed to go and write mature entry exams. 

MS: From the Defence Forces who were some of your colleagues who enrolled at UZ?

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: I went with the now late National hero Brig-Gen Murozvi, Col Josphat Muzenda, then Captain Maravanyika,  Cde Kaseke, Hon Col Dr Murire among others. The group of Col Sobusa Gula-Ndebele (Colonel), Elisha Muzonzini (Brigadier-General), Brig-Gen Mujaji, late Brig-Gen Ray Maponga had started in 1986 while us we went to UZ in 1987. I went through the paces doing a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Economics. That was from 1987 to 1989 and I graduated with an Upper Second Class also known as a 2.1.  In 1990 and 1991 I had been appointed Chief Accountant of the ZNA, which was a very busy desk. That is when I was doing a Master of Science Degree in Economics also with UZ. I was working on a thesis and then the lecturer left for the United States, so that affected my studies. My Masters programme was also affected by the army engagements. However, I did all the modules which I passed very well and one of my lecturers there was the now Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube. He was teaching us Statistic Analysis and Applications. I remember I and Hon Mthuli Ncube used to quarrel a lot (laughing) as I would say ‘explain in the language that I understand’. I would say to him ‘look I am not a youngster, fresh from school, please slow down.’ Then in response Mthuli would say ‘if you don’t understand Econometrics then you are not supposed to be here.’ I will shoot back and say; ‘I’m here because I paid my fees to be here’.  So we would quarrel a lot but he was my lecturer. Anyway as I was still doing the thesis the army then sent me for a commander’s  course at the Zimbabwe Staff College which was effectively 10 months and we were living there. Initially, I took it lightly but I realised mid-stream that I was about to fail the course and then became serious, so I pulled up my socks, and neglected all the studies as I felt the UZ studies were part-time but the army course meant a lot to me as it was my career. I went through the commander’s course and came out as the fourth best student and there was a bit of regret on my part as I felt if I had been serious I could have come out tops, the best student. But anyway I had the best commander’s paper. When I finished at Staff College I was appointed Director of Procurement of the Army. Then between 1996 and 1997 I was recommended by the army to go and do a Master of Science in International Resource Planning and Management at the Naval Post-Graduate School, which is a military academy in the United States of America. We were together with students from developed and developing countries. Besides these degrees, I also hold a number of diplomas.

MS: Then when did you leave the army?

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome: I retired from the army in 2004 as a Brigadier-General and I moved into business as a farmer. When I left I was the Army’s Chief Financial Director. Let me take you through how I became the Army’s Chief Financial Director. I was on tour of duty when we were deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Towards the end of 2000, one fun day on a Friday, the late National Hero and then Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, Gen Zvinavashe came into Congo looking for me. I was surprised. Fox as Gen Zvinavashe was called said to me; ‘Mayihlome I want you in Zimbabwe on Monday without fail.’ I had my own interests established now and had two days in between to be in Harare. All the same I obliged as that was coming from my commander. When I got into the office on Monday the person I was taking over was now Brigadier-General Mujaji and he said to me ‘the instruction is that whoever is leaving should leave now, so I have no time for a handover takeover.’  I said don’t worry. l then called the now Major-General Thando Madzvamuse who is now the country’s Ambassador to Angola who was then one of my subordinates in the department to set everything on the roll.

MS: From the Army you also worked at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).

Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome:  I worked for the NRZ between 2006 and 2014 where I started off as Director Operations, and subsequently Director  Finance and Administration.  As Director Operations I was responsible for the core business of NRZ, that is, all train operations, safety and security, stations, depots outside the Headquarters. I introduced several operations management courses as well as computerized train monitoring systems. As Director Finance and Administration I was in charge of Human Resources and Training, Finance, Information Technology, Supplies and Stores, Real Estate Management. Among notable milestones introduced were the new package for officer career management, SAP Integrated computerized processes in Finance, supplies and Stores, as well as producing strategic policy documents on HR, Finance and Supplies.  Then in 2017, I was employed as Principal Director Finance at the Zanu-PF HQ in Harare, a position I held until election to represent Umzingwane constituency in August 2018.