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For CDE TAYLOR GWIRAMBIRA, whose nom de guerre was ELIAS CHIMURENGA, joining the liberation war was a quest for vengeance against the colonial government. His father had been publicly humiliated for a crime he did not commit, igniting his determination to fight for freedom. In this instalment, CDE GWIRAMBIRA recounts to our Features and Arts Editor PRINCE MUSHAWEVATO how the injustices of the colonial regime compelled him and other young people to take up arms and fight for the liberation of Zimbabwe.
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Q: Can you start by identifying yourself?
A: My name is Taylor Gwirambira. I was born in 1960 at Farm 140 in Mukuni South division, Odzi, Marange.
My liberation war name was Elias Chimurenga.
I was born into a family of 12 — six boys and six girls. Three of my brothers have passed away. I have four children — two boys and two girls. My wife is deceased.
I completed my primary education at Mafararikwa and Mukunguma schools in Matenganyika, Mukuni South.
Q: How were you introduced to African nationalism?
A: When the war broke out in Mt Darwin, the white man began unleashing propaganda in schools. In 1974, they gathered learners and parents at Mafararikwa Primary School, where they had constructed thatched houses to resemble a remote rural area.
Their aim was to demonstrate the power of the Rhodesian army. They brought helicopters, one of which carried an injured comrade from Mt Darwin. They showed us pictures and encouraged us to report any freedom fighters with similar weapons.
They offered monetary rewards for doing so.
After that, they began firing their guns in public, ostensibly to display their military might. They had two sets of guns: the ones they claimed to use and those they alleged belonged to freedom fighters.
They fired these weapons into cast iron railway lines.
During one of these demonstrations, a bullet ricocheted and injured one of their own soldiers. Shortly after, jets summoned from the Thornhill base arrived to bomb the mock village they had created.
The message was clear: If you assist freedom fighters, this is what we will do to your villages.
As the planes bombed the area, villagers and learners fled for cover. ut the incident further fuelled the anger and resentment the blacks had for the Rhodesian government.
Q: Was this the reason you decided to join the struggle?
A: Partly.
But the major blow came later when my father was falsely accused of stealing cattle from another family in Buhera.
My father actually used to sell bicycles.
During droughts in Matenganyika, the colonial authorities would assess each person’s crops and expected harvests to determine drought relief.
One year, during a drought, my father requested bicycles as his relief package. He used to trade these bicycles for cattle, fatten and sell them for a profit. However, one family later reneged on their agreement to trade a cow with my father.
This resulted in my father being accused of theft and he was subsequently arrested by the Rhodesian police.
After being warned and cautioned, he was asked to identify the type and colour of the cows he had acquired. When he returned home, escorted by the police, he found that his neighbour’s cattle, which had no fence to keep them in, had wandered into our yard.
A white police officer slapped him and accussed him of lying. The officer prematurely concluded that my father was a cattle rustler, even though some of the cows belonged to his neighbour.
Witnessing my father being slapped deeply traumatised me. It was a nasty experience!
To add insult to injury, they called him derogatory names in front of everyone.
This incident motivated me to join the struggle and during the war, I was ruthless precisely because of it.
Their propaganda in the village, far from deterring us, actually gave us an insight into what was happening in other areas and strengthened our resolve to join the fight.
Q: What happened next?
A: In 1976, a group of nine friends and I crossed the border into Mozambique through Chikamba. We passed through Chinyarushoko, near Mambwere, where we encountered an elderly man who guided us to safety during an ongoing battle between Rhodesian soldiers and the comrades.
After the fight, the man advised us to be cautious as colonial forces were heavily patrolling the area. We were unable to cross that day and slept in the bush.
A noise, possibly from a lion, disturbed our sleep. We were extremely terrified.
The next day, we crossed through farms and were stopped by a security guard in one plantation. We told him we were looking for work, as we did not want to reveal our plans to join the war.
The security guard directed us to the manager, who happened to be supportive of the liberation struggle. He welcomed us and provided us with a meal. We were so hungry that we ate quickly while sweating profusely.
We then told him of our intention to cross into Mozambique and he gave us directions through a banana plantation and provided us with a contact to assist us.
Unfortunately, when we met the contact, he was unable to let us in due to enemy patrols in the area.
Q: What was the plan now after being confronted by this predicament?
A: The man gave us bananas and instructed us to leave the area. We complied and proceeded with our journey.
As we were about to cross a river, we encountered enemy fighters bathing. Fortunately, they did not notice us and we ran towards the border. The open grassland made it difficult for us to cross unnoticed, so we sought a different entry point through a thicket.
We faced challenges due to uriri (buffalo bean) trees, which caused intense itching.
One of our companions lost hope and suggested returning home, but we persisted and reached the border again.
We crossed in groups of three but were immediately noticed by one of the camaradas who patrolled the area. He whistled and we were surrounded. They called us over, interrogated us and accused us of being (Ian) Smith’s spies.
The camaradas tried to send us back, but we refused to return home and insisted they kill us instead.
After convincing them, they assigned a comrade to escort us to their base camp. The comrade walked at a fast pace, which was challenging. Upon arrival, we were given food and sent to a larger camp called Chikamba.
At Chikamba, we underwent individual interviews, where accurate information about our birth, parents and rural area was recorded.
One comrade told us that there were enough comrades in Mozambique and that we should return home. However, this was part of the interview process. After two days, comrades from another base camp arrived and selected one of us, me to be precise, to join them as an assistant.
We went to Chikamba Dam, a ZANLA base camp in Manica, where they obtained ammunition during the war. I arrived there in early 1976 and joined a group of comrades undergoing training.
At that time, there were crash programmes, where people could be trained for three weeks and deployed. As a new recruit, I was nervous and received training materials on Mao Tse-tung to help understand the objectives of the struggle.
Next week, Cde Gwirambira will share some of the challenges he faced in Mozambique before being deployed to the front.
Online Reporter