‘My intention was to join Frelimo forces’

Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Stanford Moyo at times writes articles about the armed struggle on this column and at one point gave a brief interview about how Zipra commander, Rogers Alfred Nikita Mangena met his death in June 1978 when a Land Rover he was using hit a landmine.

Despite all this he had never given us a full interview.

However, last week our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda sat down with Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo pseudo name Lloyd Zvananewako or Mabhikwa to tell us his own account of the armed struggle. Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo was part of the famous Group of 800 that were the pioneers of the Mwembeshi Camp in Zambia, which they left to join their Zanla   colleagues at Mgagao in Tanzania and eventually, Morogoro where they completed their training.

Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo was after training at Morogoro immediately deployed to the front in January 1977 and was to stay in the bush until the ceasefire period in December 1979.

During the time he joined the armed struggle, a lot of things happened either politically or militarily and in a series of interviews, Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo would give a blow-by-blow account of those events. Below are excerpts of the interview.

Read on….

MS: You have contributed a lot in this column through writing articles but many people would still want to know you, that is your brief background.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: I was born Stanford Moyo on 20 November 1955 at Antelope Hospital near  what is now Maphisa Growth Point in Kezi or Matobo as it is called now.

I started my primary education at the local school, Tjewondo that is near our homestead. I also attended Lingwe Primary School and then when time came for me to go to secondary, I moved to Bulawayo where I enrolled at Mzilikazi High or Mgandane as it was called then. After completing the Rhodesian Junior Certificate (RJC) I did not proceed. So, I was at Mzilikazi from 1971 until end of 1972.

In 1973 I enrolled at Hlekweni Agricultural Institute where I did Animal Husbandry but it was a short course.

Then on 19 November I still remember the date I left for Botswana with my cousin, Enos Dube, who later on also joined the armed struggle and became the commander of the Zipra police force. After independence Enos used to run a safari business in Matabeleland North that is in the Gwayi area. Enos passed on, in 2006.

MS: You were on your way to join the armed struggle?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: No. Not at that time. We were going to Botswana to look for employment, you know with people from Matabeleland South that is Kezi, Mangwe and Bulilima districts, they have always had this tendency of either going to South Africa or Botswana to look for employment. That tendency has now evolved into a culture for us.

In Botswana we went to Selebi-Phikwe where we started working but Enos after a month left for South Africa to look for employment, that was December 1973. I was to leave Botswana around March 1974 for South Africa as well after teaming up with four others from my home area of Kezi.

Those people were Peter Ndlovu from Mahetshe, Godfrey Ndlovu who also joined the armed struggle only to die during the shoot-out at Mgagao, Lovemore Sibanda and Pharaoh.

When we crossed into South Africa, I got a job at a farm in Rustenburg, whose owner was into the rearing of ducks.

Because I could speak English and write it as well I was put in charge, became a foreman of some sort. I worked in the farming area there for about four months before leaving for Johannesburg where I worked for nine months before leaving for the armed struggle.

MS: So, what drove you to join the armed struggle?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: It’s a long story. I had been changing jobs in Joburg until I got a decent job by those days’ standards at a hotel at the now famous Carlton Centre. Since it was now 1974, the winds of change were sweeping through Africa, particularly for countries that had been colonized by Portugal. So I used to read a lot about the

Frelimo operations in Mozambique and it happened that I was working with a man who was coming from Matola in Mozambique.

So, I just felt the need to go and join the Frelimo forces whose exploits I had heard about from this old man. We organized that when he was going for the Christmas Holiday, we would go together to Mozambique, which according to my calculations would have given me the opportunity to join Frelimo and fight colonialism. The idea excited me very much, remember I was also very young, around 19.

MS: So, you really you tried to join Frelimo?

Lt-Col (Rtd): Yes, yes. In fact in December 1974 I left for Mozambique with two others, Mabuza and Joseph to look for Frelimo guerillas with the intention to join them.

There was something that fascinated me about them.  However, my dreams were to turn into a nightmare when we got into Mozambique, remember we had gone with the old man from Matola. Yena, he had no intention of joining the guerilla forces, he was going to his home for the festive season.

MS: What changed then?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: When we went to Matola River I was shocked to see three bodies floating there. I had never seen anything like that. All the courage I had about the war just vanished and we found ourselves ready to return to South

Africa as soon as possible. We managed to go back to Joburg, but more problems were awaiting me there. Word had done its round that I had left for the war in Mozambique. Some people then started asking me if I had brought the famous AK-47.

I realized that I could be arrested anytime, so I went to my bosses and lied that I needed more off days as my father had passed away in Rhodesia and I must attend his burial.

I told them that I had been to Rhodesia, so there was a need for me to make a quick return there. One of my bosses understood and sympathized. I was paid my money and this time, I thought of leaving South Africa for Zambia to join the armed struggle.  We organized with others to board a train to Botswana enroute to Zambia.

MS: That is how you joined the armed struggle?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Moyo: That is how I left South Africa to join the armed struggle. I and my colleagues before leaving South Africa debated whether it was safe to just go and join the armed struggle without being armed.

Sabuzana ukuthi siyahamba empini singaphethe lutho, silengise izandla nje. We then said that was not possible, indoda kumele ihambe ihlomile. So, we went to Soweto where we looked for gun merchants and bought a pistol for R50, which was substantial amount during those days.

Those gun merchants showed us how to shoot and we thought we were fine. We thought we could use the firearm, to us it was enough.

When we left South Africa, we were armed.

To be continued next week.