adminRtd Lt-Col, Stanford Moyo
FROM the initial Manyanda ambush we further carried out four more ambushes and that was still in 1977. This figure does not mean that they were the only ones, I am mentioning them because I was directly involved. Far more were carried out in the same district that is Lupane.
After the Manyanda incident the first ambush was initiated by Cde John Chironda’s section at around 6am. They hit a convoy of three vehicles but they were repulsed by the Rhodesians. The Rhodesians then made a quick follow-up operation. They followed them from the Kana River Bridge where they had laid the ambush to Kakhula area near Guga Primary School. They caught up with them, shot and killed one of our comrades and this was our first loss since we arrived in Lupane in January 1977.
Immediately after that incident we met Cde Chironda’s section and we got all the details about their contact. We then decided to carry out revenge for our dead comrade. We chose to go and have our ambush position near Sobendle turn-off along the Jotsholo-Siwale Road. We got to our position the following afternoon. As the norm, after taking our positions I started digging so that I could lay the mine. Unfortunately I could not finish my task as we heard the sound of vehicles approaching.
I gave my commander the mine and then quickly covered the hole. The plan then was to hit the leading vehicle with a bazooka while myself I was ordered to spring the ambush by hitting the last vehicle. However, all did not work that way. The leading vehicle drove past my position and another followed. I then thought they were only two and so I started firing. The rest responded with a hell of small arms fire. No sound of the bazooka was heard. When I was reloading my magazine I realized that there was another vehicle coming. I opened fire, disturbed the driver and the vehicle hit a tree, all firing just stopped.
The next thing we met at our agreed rendezvous point. About 45 minutes later we heard sounds of helicopters. They hovered around for almost an hour and disappeared. They failed to spot us because we were fundis in camouflaging. When we met at our gathering point, we were happy to note that we had no casualties but the landmine was lost.
The next incident occurred at Kana Number One just adjacent to Kana Block Farm. It was a Sunday afternoon. We had had our lunch there and there were quite a number of villagers at that homestead because there was a church service. Four comrades decided to join the villagers for the church service. Instinctively I decided to take am observation post about 150 metres north-west of the homestead. After almost an hour there, at about 4pm I heard the sound of ammunition belt falling down. When I turned and checked I noticed six armed men. There was one black soldier while the other five were whites.
They were wearing vests and short trousers. The enemy was now between me and my comrades as well as civilians.
I fired an unaimed shot on top of their heads and they ducked for cover facing the homesteads with their backs to me. I realized then that they had failed to tell where that round had come from. I kept quiet observing the enemy and my colleagues. The next thing I saw my comrades running in the field northwards towards the electric pylons coming from Hwange going to Gweru. I also got up and ran leaving the enemy still lying down to join my comrades.
I later joined them and we walked towards the farm. We got there at sunset. The Rhodesian soldiers later got up and stormed into the homestead where they found the villagers singing church songs. The villagers told them that indeed the “terrorist” had been at the homestead but they ran away when they heard the sound of gunfire. Lucky enough they just took after the spoor and did not harass the villagers.
At dusk we crossed the pylon lines to the northern side. We then went eastwards by the side of the pylons. I was leading and noticed that there were people in front of us but on the other side of the line. We stopped, took the binoculars and I realized that those people were the enemy forces we had evaded that afternoon. We decided to stop movement for the night. We continued monitoring the enemy’s movement by the sound of the night birds. Ogweru can give signs of the movement of animals and other objects.
At around 2am we were on the move and got to the Siwali-Jotsholo Road at about 4am. We tool positions there along the road to monitor the movements of the enemy. At around 5.30am a vehicle came from the direction of Siwali, drove past our position and we saw that there no people at the back. However, about 500 metres down the road it stopped and collected its men. We then left our positions, approached the nearby homestead and the occupants told us the vehicle picked six soldiers.
A big rest was necessary after a long cold night. We got our breakfast after which we went to the bush and we had a good sleep.
Our next ambush we laid it along the same road, between Borehole (BH) 27 and Borehole (BH) 3. In that ambush we first encountered Pumas and they gave us a hard time. Our small arms fire did not do much damage as the bullets ricocheted against the body of the puma. We had to take to our heels earlier than we used to do. After running almost a kilometre or two, we heard the sound of helicopters. We also realized that those enemy forces we had missed at that ambush were making a follow-up on us. We then decided to split into twos or threes to make it difficult for them to pick our spoor. It did the trick and at the end of the day we met at our agreed point with no casualties.
After some good days of relaxing we had another contact with the enemy at BH 57 at Mr Isaiah Msipa’s homestead. What happened was that in the previous afternoon, myself and four other comrades we had crossed the Siwali-Jotsholo Road between BH5 and BH 6 from Mzola. When my colleagues crossed the road they quickened their pace because the ground there is open. I turned to BH6 and while I was still drinking water at the borehole I noticed three vehicles, two Pumas and a Land Rover which was leading. Luckily enough the Rhodesian soldiers did not see me or I would have been killed and innocent lives lost, I mean the villagers who were at the borehole.
We put up for the night in the same area but at different places. Our first gathering point was at BH57, ko Msipa. Before 6am we crossed the road to the northern direction that is BH57. By then we were two, I and Cde Mazinyo Ensimbi, real name Nkomo. We saw a spoor and while we were tracking it we met three other comrades. We then realized that the enemy was also around. When we got near the Msipa homestead, all hell broke loose. I spotted someone aiming at me and before I could dash for cover he fired and the bullet hit my cap. I hit the ground quickly, fired a shot at him but missed as well. That guy gave me a hard time. Thank God one of my comrades had gone the other side of the garden. He opened fire with his RPG 2 bazooka (Chinese type) and that silenced everything.
By that time I had removed the safety pin of my grenade. I jumped over the garden fence and ran towards Msipa’s granary.
When I got there I found out that the Msipa family was lying down in cover. I ran past them and I saw that the man was facing the other side but other members of the family saw me. I managed to make a break through. Once again I spent the whole day alone because the helicopters had also come fast so we could not meet at our first and second GPs. For almost four hours I was carrying a dangerous problem. Remember I had removed the safety pin of my grenade and did not toss it. I remained holding it until the helicopters had cleared from the air. It was then that I threw the grenade in a gully far away from the contact area. When we met at sunset all was well. All the comrades were fine.
In future if granted another chance I would continue with my other operations that I was also involved in between 1977 and 1979.
Rtd Lt-Col Stanford Moyo operated in the Lupane, Nkayi and Bubi areas from January 1977 until the ceasefire period under the pseudo names Lloyd Zvananewako and Mabhikwa Khumalo. He can be contacted on 0771630629.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter