Mkhize-Ndlovu’s dramatic escape

Lawson Mabhena News Editor
THE Rhodesian forces captured him on 30 January 1977 with his service rifle, a 1972 model AK47, but he returned to Zipra’s Malima Camp in Zambia five months after being deployed to the front with a 1976 model of the same weapon. Cde Edward Mkhize-Ndlovu (59), whose war name was Kenneth Mathuba, had been captive for 13 days and was in hiding in Zambian bushes for four days together with his captors — three Rhodesian commandos — whom he was supposed to lead to the Zipra camp.

He was travelling barefoot, handcuffed, with a rope around his neck and was in leg irons. No chance of survival was in sight; a paradox of a freedom fighter who had been named Mathuba (chances).

Opportunity (or chance) only knocks once, so goes an English proverb; Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu took his chance.
A lapse in concentration by his highly skilled captors, who boasted about having served in Vietnam, was all he needed to turn the tables and use their own weapon to send them scurrying for cover before aborting a mission that could have resulted in the death of hundreds of freedom fighters.

“A contact of ours in Nyantuwe, Mbanda, led to my being captured by the Rhodesians. Nyatuwe, our area of operation, was his home area and this made him useful to us. However, he could not hide his excitement and failed to be discreet. Boasting about working with freedom fighters led to his arrest. We had gone to collect items at his home and his family told us he was in. However, some Rhodesian soldiers had camped at his home for two weeks. When I got in, the Rhodesians hit me and I fell unconscious. I woke up naked and they took me to Nyantuwe school where I discovered that Mbanda was also in custody.

“I had leg irons, handcuffs and a rope around my neck. All prisoners would walk in a single file with the use of this rope. We were also blind-folded and could not tell where we were being taken to,” Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu said, in an interview with Sunday News.

Already, one freedom fighter, Cde Albert Sumbu, had managed to escape from police in Victoria Falls after being captured in Bulawayo. Due to this mishap, the Rhodesians were very strict when Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu was captured. They would keep telling him that he was never going to perfom a miracle like Cde Sumbu.

“I never ate for nine days while I was in captivity in Hwange. I only had water and could only smell meals from nearby cells. They then demanded to see my crossing point and we got on a spotter plane so that I could show them. I failed to pin point it from a plane so we then got into vehicles which we had to park in the bush and proceeded on foot because of the terrain. The Rhodesians got tired and radioed their base to say that I was failing to cope and so they needed a helicopter. Their principals would have none of it. They said there was no way I could fail to continue. They said I should be left to die in the bush if I was failing to complete the journey.

“I was later taken to Binga where three commandos were assigned to travel with me into Zambia where I was supposed to show them our camp. They promised that if they travelled safely with me I would be rewarded. They said if I tried any funny moves they would leave me in the bush with my leg irons on. They also said in the event of an attack they would shoot me first before defending themselves,” Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu said.

Off he went with them, while carrying their kit bag which had batteries, food and water.
They failed to go very far on their first day in Zambia because of the terrain. They had to sleep in the grass which was infested with mosquitoes. His captors were not bothered because they had applied mosquito repellent on their skins.

Every time boys herding cattle in Zambia were heard whistling, he got into trouble because the Rhodesian soldiers thought the boys were transmitting codes whose meaning he was failing to explain.

“We spent four days in the bush in Zambia before I finally believed we were somewhere near the base. I was worried about my fellow comrades who would be relaxed at the base. When the commandos detected that I was stressed, they demanded to know what I was thinking about.

“Since I was walking barefoot, I received a cut on my foot and blood would drip each time I stepped. The Rhodesians got angry with me. They accused me of deliberately leaving a trail. They told me that they knew all these tricks after having served in Vietnam,” he said.

The commandos were wearing Zipra uniforms but had painted their skins black.
Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu began to observe their routine. When one of them was at an observation post, the other two would relax. They would radio their base three times a day and when they did so, they would all leave their guns and gather at the radio.

“They would tie my handcuffs to a tree and leg-iron me. The cuffs, I had noticed, were loose. I then decided that I would free myself and snatch a gun while they were radioing their base.

“The routine continued until one day when the one who was on observation duty took me to his point and asked me about the terrain. When he returned me to the tree, he forgot to apply the leg irons. Later, he changed shifts with another commando. This one left his gun and only took his binoculars. Instead of going with my initial plan, I decided this was the most opportune time to act,” Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu said.

“I freed myself and when they heard the sound of the cuffs, they all jumped. The one who had left his gun threw his binoculars at me before grabbing me as I got hold of the weapon. I shot him and used him as a shield as I fired at the others. When they took cover, I jumped off the gorge and landed in a villager’s field. When I got to the homestead, I noticed smoke coming from the hill where I left the commandos. I thought they were burning, until two helicopters came to the area. They had actually set off some smoke grenades.

“Friendly forces (Zambian army) came to the scene, and took me to the camp. There I explained what had happened. I was shocked to learn that they had seen the helicopters but thought they belonged to the Zambians.”

Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu did not stay at Malima camp for long, as he was transferred to Zimbabwe House where he was interrogated continuously by Zipra intelligence. They wanted to ascertain whether he was telling the truth. He stayed at the camp for a while but was not given any duties until he was eventually sent to Somalia to attend an Infantry Commanding course and came back to the front as a Platoon Commander.

“At one time we got into contact with the enemy at Freedom Camp. They had got wind of the fact that some commanders would be gathered there. I got badly injured on my head and my skin had to be grafted,” he said.

It was in 1975 as Zapu youth organising secretary in Magwegwe, Bulawayo, when Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu was recruited to join the liberation struggle.
It was the time when Cde Sibatha, a policeman in Gwanda, escaped with four comrades who were arrested and detained in that town together with a black undercover policeman who had been planted in prison to spy on the four.

The four used to recruit young freedom fighters before the Rhodesians intercepted a letter implicating them. Cde Sibatha was afraid they would be killed upon conviction. He locked a police detail on duty in a strong-room and freed the four and the undercover cop.
“We named Sibatha, Dick Den, after a famous Rhodesian jail breaker,” Cde Mkhize Ndlovu said.

“In Francistown there was no camp for freedom fighters so we were kept in prison. Our Zipra rep was Dick Matswaka and Joe was the Zanla rep. Joe was later blasted to shreds by the Rhodesian forces who had booby trapped an arms cache in what is now known as Dumela industrial site in Francistown. In October 1975 we flew to Zambia, Nampundwe Camp. Politicians were in exile at the time when Bishop Abel Muzorewa was negotiating for unity. While at the camp, we underwent an intense screening process which was done by Zipra intelligence. They would scrutinise our belongings, including jewellery.

“After our arrival at the camps some vehicles transported us to Tanzania. We went for training together with Sibatha, the four comrades he freed and the CID. We went to Mbagala camp in Dar es Salaam before being moved to Morogoro. We were training as Zipa at the time so while we were from Zambia, our colleagues in Zanla were coming from Mozambique.”

One of Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu’s first instructors was Cde Magadlela, who after independence would be known as Thambolenyoka, one of the most feared dissidents during the 80s disturbances.

“We studied various subjects which included topography. Our food supplies would be hidden in a bush and we had to find them. The training area was so vast it covered an area like that from Bulawayo to Tsholotsho.

“We would use our campus and distance skills to locate the food. We also studied politics. I remember one of our lecturers was Professor Malandu.
“We did military engineering, guerilla warfare where we were familiarised with pistols, SKS semi-automatic, AK, RPD light machine-gun, medium machine-gun, heavy machine- guns like the Deska anti-air which we used in the warfront. We then did advanced training where we would have our passout parade with full company of all platoons,” Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu said.

He was, however, young and naughty. Sometimes he would run away from camp to get a few “goodies”.
“When one got caught the main offence was that of getting caught. As a guerilla, you were not supposed to get caught.

“Once caught you were told to go and start a fire at the top of a mountain such that the smoke could be seen from the base. You were given specific times to start the fire and to return to base, but it was also a good opportunity to interact with villagers and get a few goodies,” he said.
He completed his training after six months and returned to Zambia. In Zambia he was attested into the security branch at Zimbabwe House where commanders like Cde Javen Maseko were based.

Because of his mischief at Zimbabwe House, he was deployed to Détente in Kariba. To get to Kariba from Zambia he had to cross through the Devils Gorge in Victoria Falls. The Rhodesians never thought anyone could use such a dangerous crossing.

“It was tough going through the gorge with a heavy war material on one’s back. We had to get to Sidinda in Jambezi by crossing Matetsi, Deka and Lukosi rivers. Along the way we had to avoid contact with the enemy at all cost as we were vulnerable because we were transporting war material.

“After crossing Lukosi we would hide some of the war material at special points. Nyantuwe was my area of operation. This was in September 1976 and we began our hit-and-run operations. In one mission we attacked an air base in Hwange and conducted a number of ambushes along Falls road.

“We once planted landmines for vehicles coming from a diptank in Lukosi. We initially let them go to the diptank and planted the mine, a TM46 – anti-tank, which destroyed their armoured trucks on their way back,” Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu explained. Our unit had nine men. Cde Nzula was commander, Cde Chunky was security chief while Cde Makorokoto was commissar. I was the medic.”

One of Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu and his unit’s most successful missions saw them capture two black enemy agents.
“I suspect they were police details. They had 9mm pistols on them and we were tipped by the youth. We trailed them and when they went to sleep at a school, we captured them and that was the end of them,” the former freedom fighter said, without elaborating.

During the ceasefire, he was at Gwayi Assembly Point in August 1980.
He went on to be part of the group to form 2.2 Infantry Battalion as Warrant Officer Class Two, but because of his mischief, he was demoted to Corporal in 1982 by the then battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Happyton Bonyongwe. Retired Brigadier General Bonyongwe is now the director general of the Central Intelligence Organisation.

“A lower rank with the experience I had, did not go down well with me. I then went into rehabilitation,” Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu said.
Born on 22 July 1955 in Sipepa, Tsholotsho, Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu did his Sub A to Standard Three education at St Agnes Mission. He did his Standard Four, Five and Six at Regina Mundi in Gwayi. During his childhood, his father Nduna Ndlovu was working in SA and his mother Babili Maseko was a rural farmer.

Cde Mkhize-Ndlovu was married to the late Angelina Dube and they have four children.