Chronicle Editor
WE continue our interview with Lieutenant-Colonel (Rtd) Nimrod Ndlovu pseudonyms Cde Vincent Sakala and Osmond Fomoja. Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu was part of the detachment that attacked Mushumbi Garrison in the then Sipolilo now Guruve District in Mashonaland Central Province in 1978. A platoon commander during the war, Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu also with his ZANLA counterpart on the ground whom he identified as Cde Norman initiated moves to unite the two liberation forces and carried out joint operations in areas such as Nyakampupu and Kachuta. While serving in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu was seconded to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare as the Assistant Director of Pensions (War Victims Compensation and State Injury on Duty), during which time he said he worked closely with now Cabinet Minister, July Moyo, who then was the Permanent Secretary. In our last edition, Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu told our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about how he left Bulawayo to join the armed struggle in Zambia via Botswana. Below he continues with his narration. Read on…
MS: In our last conversation you spoke about how you had to dash from the bar in Plumtree as you had noticed that the two men whom you wanted to share a drink were members of the Rhodesian security services. Then take us through what happened from there.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: About 400 metres from that place I came across some boys who were travelling on a scotch-cart. The cart had broken down and I helped them fix it quickly. We then took off towards the border with Botswana. After some distance, they showed me the direction to take and I started walking. Along the way we came across trucks belonging to the Rhodesian forces. As I continued walking I found a man who was herding cattle and he also showed me the way. I continued with my journey and when dusk fell I saw a homestead which I approached to seek assistance.
When I told the occupants that I was going to Botswana, they laughed and told me that I was already in Botswana.
MS: How did they receive you?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: They were very good to me. They gave me food and then took me to the home of their village head. The village head in turn took me to a customs facility. The people who were manning that facility then took me to a base where the Botswana soldiers had been based. The soldiers were also good to me as they treated me well, they gave me food as well as shelter. At night they went for their patrol and left me at the camp. They returned early in the morning. They then packed their things and we drove to a place called Tsetsebe. It was at Tsetsebe where I found other guys who were also on their way to join the armed struggle.
MS: You should have been relieved to meet others.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: Yes I was. I still remember the names of two of them, there was Khumalo who I regularly meet here in Bulawayo and Sipiriyano, a pseudonym of course. From Tsetsebe we were taken to Francistown. In Francistown there were two camps, one for ZPRA and the other for ZANLA. We were vetted there at the ZPRA camp and we met a veteran guerilla who told us that he had been to Bulawayo for sabotage missions. That was towards the end of 1976.
MS: How long were you in Francistown?
Lt-Col(Rtd) Ndlovu: We were there up to January because the tragic news of the death of Zapu Vice-President, Cde Jason Ziyapapa Moyo reached us while were in Francistown. We were then eventually flown to Zambia. I remember the United Nations plane that took us made two trips. It carried about 60 passengers. We got to Lusaka International Airport at around 4 pm and found some ZPRA officers waiting for us. From the airport, we were driven to Nampundwe Transit Camp where we couldn’t believe the number of people we found there. There were thousands and thousands of people.
MS: How were you received there?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: Ummh Nampundwe was a tricky place. As the new arrivals our number was 120 as I said before the plane had made two trips to Botswana. We were given some food and there was no time to wash hands as people started eating. The camp staff told us that we would get better food the following day, a trick that was played to all recruits at Nampundwe. The same was said about the blankets we were given. The following morning the 120 or so of us were taken through a thorough vetting exercise by comrades from the Intelligence and Department of Personnel. That is when we were given pseudo names with me being called Cde Vincent Sakala. At around 10am the instructors at the camp told us that they had to start teaching us how to march as there were chances that we would go and meet the Zapu leader and ZPRA Commander-In-Chief, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo. They were playing on us the old trick that was used on all the arriving groups. They said the reason why we had been chosen to meet Nkomo was because we were dressed smartly.
MS: Take us through how the trick was played on you.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: We had lunch and after 2pm we were told to line-up and march towards a spot that was some distance from the camp. The area was mountainous. When we got to an open ground we were told that we would meet Nkomo there as his helicopter would land in that open space. We had been led there by two instructors who then told us we should be running around so that when Nkomo got there he would be impressed. While we were still being taken through that exercise more instructors arrived. Those guys were carrying sticks. They started rolling on the ground. When they got up they ordered us to follow suit.
MS: How did you respond to those orders?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: Naturally some tried to resist and they were badly beaten up. Within five minutes we were all soaked in mud and very dirt. The instructors were on us and it went on for hours. When they were done with us they said we should tell Nkomo what they had done to us. Those with watches were told to remove them. The instructors said the watches were not real watches but communicating devices used to communicate with the Rhodesian forces. The commander of Nampundwe at that time was Cde Killion with Godfrey as his Political Commissar.
MS: Then tell us about when you went for training.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: From Nampundwe we were taken to CGT1, we were the first group to train there. While at Nampundwe we had been joined by pupils from Manama Mission and a majority of them that is boys we trained together at CGT1. The camp commander was now Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, General Philip Valerio Sibanda whom we called Cde Ananias Gwenzi.
MS: How many recruits were in your group?
Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu: We were 2 000 or so, divided into two groups of 1 000 each. There was a river separating the groups, but we were sharing the kitchen. We had five companies, A to E. Company A was made up of youngsters aged between 16 and 17, Company B was for those aged between 18 and 20, C which I belonged to was for those aged between 21 and 25, D for those up to the age of 35 while E was for what we called King Killers, the old who were 40 and above. The training for the King Killers was a bit soft compared to what the rest of the groups went through. Among the instructors, very tough but good soldiers were Cdes Goronga, Velaphi, Busobenyoka and Brighton Jones.
To be continued next week with Lt-Col (Rtd) Ndlovu talking about the training in both Zambia and then Soviet Union and his deployment to Guruve in Mashonaland Central Province.
Online Reporter