dyton mupawaenda
THIS WEEK, CDE AMBROSE MUTINHIRI concludes his account by chronicling his final days with Nikita Mangena and Jason Moyo, with whom he shared close personal relationships. He recounts to our Society Editor PRINCE MUSHAWEVATO how the deaths of his compatriots affected him and, to some extent, ZAPU.
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Q: Last week, you highlighted unfortunate developments that led to the disbandment of ZIPA and the departures of James Chikerema and Robson Manyika from ZAPU. Can you continue from there?
A: When ZIPA disbanded, remember that I was part of the five men who came from ZIPRA to join the other five men from ZANLA in its formation. We returned to ZIPRA. Around that time, Jason Moyo decided I would no longer return to training. I was appointed Chief of Staff of ZIPRA, becoming second in command to Nikita Mangena. Initially, Nikita was my junior. However, under the new setup, he became my senior.
Q: Did you receive any explanations for that development?
A: No! No one said anything and I do not know what criteria they used. I simply became second in command. When Nikita died in 1978, I was the obvious successor, but things did not happen that way. They appointed Lookout Masuku. Again, it puzzled me. Just like the first instance, there was no explanation as to why that happened.
Q: You worked closely with Nikita Mangena. Can you briefly tell us about his death?
A: Prior to the incident that led to Cde Mangena’s death, a convoy carrying weapons and reinforcements, heading for the Zambezi, was ambushed on the Zambian side by the Rhodesians. A number of comrades were killed, including a member of the High Command named Assaf. Cde Mangena decided he would bury the comrades himself, as he was the overall-in-charge. We tried to discourage him from travelling because we knew that after such an incident, the Rhodesians would expect a high-ranking official to oversee the proceedings during burial. Besides, there had been a previous attempt on Mangena’s life, and we were unsure who was behind the plot. He lost a finger and was injured on his thigh during that prior attempt. Personally, I stalled his travel plans because I felt something was wrong.
However, after noticing my delaying tactics, he approached me and told me that we would “cross paths” if he failed to travel because of my interference. To be precise, Mangena said to me: “We will end up sworn enemies if I do not travel because of your interference.” I noticed he had become incensed, so I promptly ordered my guys to facilitate his travel arrangements.
Q: You can carry on.
A: He defied everybody, despite the dangers that loomed. He eventually travelled and reached his destination in Zambia, where he buried the comrades. On his way back from the burial, the wound he sustained on his thigh became painful . . . They were travelling on foot to where they had left the parked cars. Noticing that he could hardly continue walking, he ordered his car to be brought closer to the shrine. The car had been left at a considerable distance, and he wanted to get back to Lusaka on time for other commitments.
As per his orders, the car came to transport him. However, it hit a landmine after he had boarded, and they were on their way to Lusaka. What is surprising, though, is that his driver survived, as did the late Major-General Jevan Maseko, who was in the same car.
Only Mangena and his two bodyguards perished. Mangena died pointing a finger, as if he was talking to someone. He perished on the Zambian side.
Q: Can you briefly tell us about the initial attempt on his (Mangena’s) life?
A: The first attempt was at a camp in Zambia. I was with him, but in a different car.
I drove into the camp first and moments later, his car was shot at. He survived the encounter but was injured in the process. The people who initially attempted to kill Mangena were later identified and were said to be staying at the State House (Zambia). Some of them are still alive. When Nikita died, I was the first to tell Joshua Nkomo, but he did not show distress or even keenness to get finer details about the unfortunate incident. There is also Jason Moyo; he was killed by a letter bomb.
A gentleman called Jack Ngwenya used to open his mail and other parcels. But on the fateful day, he received a special mail from his girlfriend and decided to open it alone. He opened the letter with his hands in a drawer, fearing it was a bomb. While opening the letter, he remarked that it could be a bomb, which the letter proved to be. There was talk that a parcel was coming from a girlfriend and when it did come, it was given directly to him without the necessary and usual security checks. There were a lot of theories about the incident. Jack Ngwenya was only spared from execution because he was in the same room with Jason when the letter was opened, leading to the explosion.
Q: Can you briefly take us through your journey at independence and the years that followed?
A: Throughout the struggle, I was overlooked for key appointments on several occasions, as I indicated earlier. I felt I deserved a senior post, but for some reason, I always ended up playing second fiddle, even when I was the obvious successor of a leader at that particular time. This scenario played out even after independence. There was supposed to be an equal share of the number of generals, colonels, et cetera, coming from ZANU and ZAPU for military integration. So, when we came from outside, it was as if Dumiso Dabengwa was the head of our military wing (ZIPRA), a position he never held. After returning to the country, I was completely left out of the selection process. I went to check with Joshua Nkomo about what was wrong and why I had been overlooked during appointments and he referred me to Robert Mugabe and the Minister of Defence. I then went to Dabengwa and he bluntly told me that “they had no room for me”.
What that meant was that I was left unemployed in 1980.
Q: Do you have an idea what caused this and how did you handle the situation?
A: To be honest with you, I did not know then, and I still do not know now. I found myself in a tricky situation. The security (intelligence) back then did not take it as though I had been omitted. They assumed that ZAPU was planning a revolt, thus they had left out some senior commanders like myself from official Government appointments so that we could lead the uprising from outside. Meanwhile, I was genuinely unemployed and suffering. I was not in the army at that time. It was only when I went to a function, I think it was the Mozambique independence celebrations, that I met the then-Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe.
He asked me what I was doing and why I was not in the army. I told him that I had been informed that there was no vacancy for me in the post-independence military.
When Nkomo noticed that I was talking to Mugabe, he walked over and said to him (Mugabe): “Robert, you are talking to this young man? You give this young man an inch, he will take a yard.”
I got so angry with the remark and walked away, joined the crowd and started drinking.
A guy called Mazivisa, who was the principal secretary to Robert Mugabe when he was Prime Minister, looked for me in the crowd and told me the Prime Minister had requested that we keep in touch.
I asked him how I was supposed to stay in touch with the Prime Minister and he told me through him.
Q: What happened next?
A: I had no office or fixed place of residence, but that is exactly what happened. After some weeks, I received instructions to go to an address in Borrowdale at a specific time. I did not know who I was supposed to meet or the purpose of the meeting. I drove there with a friend of mine, Chirenda (Harold), a national hero. When we arrived at the house, it appeared deserted, with only a single guy milling around. I told him my name and he opened the gate for me. He told me there were people waiting for me.
I told Chirenda to drive away if I did not return in 30 minutes, since I did not know what I was walking into. When I went in, I found Cdes Emmerson Mnangagwa, Josiah Tungamirai, Solomon Mujuru and a fourth guy in a room. Cde Mnangagwa asked me why I was not in the army and I told him that I had been left out. He asked if I was leading some reserve force or something intended to cause havoc. He pointed out that I was senior and more seasoned than some people who had been seconded to be brigadiers in the army. It was then that he told me he had been instructed to give me a job and I was made to choose between London and Washington, where I was to relocate as a military attaché.
Q: How did you receive the news?
A: I did not like the option because I had been in exile for more than 16 years. I requested time to think, but I was told that I did not have that liberty; they wanted a decision then, since they had to report back to their principal. This was in 1980. I then chose Washington. I was told to immediately travel to KG6 to get an allowance.
This meant that I was officially on the Government payroll. I was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel. That troubled me because some of the people I had trained and who were my juniors throughout the struggle had been commissioned as brigadiers. They were now all my seniors.
They promised to promote me upon my return from Washington and if I had been cleared of all assumed conspiracies. I went to Washington in 1983. I seized the opportunity to further my studies. True to their word, I was later recalled and came back with a promotion.
I was promoted to full colonel and appointed director of army training. This meant that I was back to training again. I was now heading the integration process of three forces: ZANLA, ZIPRA and the Rhodesian armies. We had the British Military Advisory Team, which I was working with. Still as director of army training, I went to serve in Mozambique as commander of a task force against Matsanga. I came back from there and was promoted to brigadier and appointed commander of 2 Brigade and went back to Mozambique with my brigade.
This time, the pipeline and railway line would be hit as many as 10 times per month by Mozambican rebels as sabotage, but when I went there, I reduced the attacks to one in the first month and to zero in the coming months. It was a very successful tour. When I came back, I requested to see the President. I told him I was almost the same age as Solomon Mujuru and Josiah Tungamirai, who were above me. I told him that this meant that I was not going to rise anymore, as we would probably retire at the same time. I requested that I be given something else to do and leave the army. That is when I was then moved to Foreign Affairs and appointed ambassador to Yugoslavia. This meant going out of the country again.
The news was delivered to me by Nicholas Goche, who was then Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He called and gave me information that there were deliberations for me to be commander of the army, as decided by President Mugabe, but everything changed after he consulted Joshua Nkomo.
For some reason, he (Nkomo) told him I was a threat.
I do not know why he did or said that.
I realised he had issues with me and Nikita (Mangena), who I was so close with.
At some point, he would call us the Jason Moyo boys.
Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter