LEST WE FORGET: The camp commander let us down

TODAY we continue our interview with Cde Patricia Kelello Malemane pseudo name Cde Apollo Dube now aged 66, a survivor of the Rhodesian attack on Mkushi Camp in Zambia, a Zipra military facility for women. The day was 19 October 1978. Then Forty-two year-old Cde Malemane, now a retired nurse and at that time camp medic of Mkushi still remembers vividly that fateful day. She said on the day she had a premonition that something dangerous would befall the camp. However, she was not taken seriously by her colleagues who felt she was either a coward or was losing her mind. Below is her conversation with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS). Read on . . .

MS: You spoke about being among the 50 chosen from the first group of Mkushi girls to be given responsibilities, what criteria was used to choose the 50?

Cde Malemane: We had performed well during training that is military wise and physically we were also fit. At personal level I also had always shown leadership qualities dating back to the days when I was at school. So, we opened the second camp and we started training the new recruits who also were more than 1 000. I was part of the instructors.

MS: At personal level what were your specific duties as an instructor?

Cde Malemane: I was assigned different tasks but I mainly took them through military engineering, topography and first aid considering my background as before embarking on military training I had done a nursing course at the United Teaching Hospital (UTH) of Zambia. I was then promoted to the rank of deputy camp medic serving under Cde Butshe. However, this Butshe is not Gordon who was in the National Security and Order (NSO). Butshe was then re-assigned elsewhere and I took over as camp medic.

MS: Then let’s come to the bombing of Mkushi. Take us through events leading to that incident.

Cde Malemane: The new recruits, that is the group that came after us, could have been in their third or fourth month of training when we were attacked. However, there were disturbing events before Mkushi was attacked. It was clear that the Rhodesian forces took their time in carrying out reconnaissance missions on Mkushi. There were people who were being seen around the camp but would conveniently disappear. Even when we were carrying out our physical exercise that is toyi-toyi and the like, we would see suspicious looking characters who would quickly disappear.

MS: That’s interesting, so in the face of such suspicious movements what did you do?

Cde Malemane: I would be honest here and not hide anything. I think people should understand that I am not being malicious, but since the camp commander, Moses Phinda (Farai Lawrence Makwarimba) passed on recently in Harare, I have no fear in criticising him. I respected him as our commander but he failed to read the situation leading to the attack on Mkushi. He was found wanting. Time and again we approached him and told him about the possible presence of the enemy around the camp but he dismissed those reports. In fact, he was very hostile.

MS: How hostile?

Cde Malemane: As the camp commander he had an office and comrades would approach Cde Phinda to report about those suspicious movements and he would respond by saying, “Get out, get away, otherwise I will shoot you.” That was very disappointing. As military people we had done topography, a key component in military science, so when we used to see movements on the terrain that was not compatible with the ground, obviously we got suspicious and curious. However, we were let down by the commander.

MS: I understand there was a woman commander by the name Jane Ndlovu at Mkushi. How was she?

Cde Malemane: She was a very competent somebody. If it was not for her, more people could have died when the camp was bombed. It’s unfortunate we lost her during the attack.

MS: What did Jane do during the day of the bombing?

Cde Malemane: You see Cde Jane had a radio she had brought from overseas when she went for further training. So, on the day of the bombing her radio picked the signal that the Freedom Camp (FC) was under attack. She could have intercepted the Rhodesian military communication. She immediately called for an urgent meeting and told us that there was bombing going on at FC and we should be vigilant. We held the meeting as commanders in an underground office and it was us the women commanders. The meeting didn’t take long and it was decided that we put the recruits into defensive pits and that when they go for their meal, the recruits would do so according to their companies. They would emerge from their defensive pits and dash to the kitchen for their food.

MS: When all this was happening where was the camp commander and his team?

Cde Malemane: As for the camp commander, Cde Phinda he was nowhere to be seen. At that time we were also planning to evacuate the comrades from the camp but unknown to us it was already too late. The Rhodesians had put their plan into action and started to deploy their stop groups. They should have been in their ambush positions when we were planning all that. The time could have been between 8am and 9am. We then started having the recruits go the kitchen and fortunately for me but unfortunately for the revolution and our struggle, my company was the first to go. I say fortunately because it gave me a head start as some people were bombed while in the kitchen. The recruits went to the kitchen in a single formation to have their food.

I also joined in the eating and other instructors like Cecilia Bhebhe (former Zimbabwe International Trade Fair public relations manager) were there. We were talking to each other as we were eating, but I had this feeling that something bad might happen. The food was very hot and that made me more uncomfortable. I then said to other instructors yekela umuntu asuke lapha uzaze afele ekudleni. Others mocked me saying I was losing my mind, they said sezisithi riii lapha. We could have been seven instructors there. I then moved towards the river, Rusefa which was about 200 metres from where we were. Bhebhe and five others followed me, among them were two Kalanga speaking girls, one of them was called Doreen. We were all armed. We moved and when we were about to sit under a tree, again that feeling came and I told my colleagues that I was hearing some sound. Again those girls said indeed I was going mad and laughed at me. Then Cecilia Bhebhe stood up and she said “ama-jets”. We looked up and saw what looked like inyoni zezulu. In no time we were under serious attack. Unfortunately those two comrades who had been mocking me were killed where we had been. The Rhodesians also threw napalm bombs and that way they forced the fleeing comrades into the direction where they had deployed their stop groups. Napalm bombs caused the fire that people were now running away from. That is how our comrades were massacred on that day.

MS: While all this was happening where you?

Cde Malemane: As people who were armed we cleared our way and jumped into the river. Among the comrades I was with was Cecilia Bhebhe who used to call me sisi. We hid in the water for a long time and it was miraculous how we did. At one point I peeped and could not believe my eyes when I saw a burly Rhodesian soldier sitting on the body of one of the dead comrades drinking his beer. That is how evil the Rhodesian forces and their system was.

To be rounded up next week