Chronicle Editor
IN the past few weeks in our Lest We Forget column we have been talking to former combatants who have spoken out about the “harsh” treatment they were subjected to by instructors at Nampundwe Transit Camp. Nampundwe was the main site of induction for ZPRA recruits located about 25km outside Lusaka in Zambia in the 1970s. When they think of Nampundwe more than four decades later, fever runs down the spines of many. However, despite the harsh conditions the new recruits were subjected to, one of the senior instructors and “notorious” ones there, Cde Cetshwayo Sithole pseudonym Cde Tonderai Ngoma explained to our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) in a series of interviews published in September and October 2018 that the necessity of handling the recruits that way. Below we reproduce part of that interview. Read on . . .
MS: Let’s come to Nampundwe, when were you deployed there?
Cde Sithole: It could have been early 1977 when I was deployed to Nampundwe. I became the head of a department looking at those selected to undergo military training. There were quite a number of us there, we could have been 16 or so instructors, Cdes Teddy, Finish, Prince, Mandevu, Bhokwe, Simon and Lebanon.
MS: So what type of military facility was Nampundwe?
Cde Sithole: It was basically a transit camp, I was an instructor at Nampundwe, heading a department, which looked at those selected to undergo military training.
MS: So specifically what were you supposed to do to the recruits?
Cde Sithole: Our mandate was to introduce the recruits to military training, military behaviour, discipline, physical fitness, tactics and other things related to the demands needed in a soldier.
MS: From those that I have spoken to Nampundwe was not an easy place, it was hell on earth, some have said. Why was it like that?
Cde Sithole: Not all, it was not easy to handle the new arrivals as it was a turning point for somebody from civilian life into a new world that somebody is getting into. Nampundwe was not easy, it’s true. You would find our brothers coming from South Africa (injiva) clad in suits and Boston hats, coming to join the war, so there was a need to make that person ready to be controlled and change his situation to conform to the demands of a war zone. You could not allow people to go around dressed in suits in a war zone, there was a need to stop that as soon as possible. There was also a need to have control over the people in the event of an attack like a bombing. We had to make people change so that they were able to take instructions. That came with not treating people with kids gloves.
MS: What about the numbers at Nampundwe?
Cde Sithole: The holding capacity was so huge as you could find up to 10 000 people at one go, so we had to separate them, the school-going age, that is those under the age of 16, they were transferred straight to facilities like JZ to continue with their education. Then there were the elderly people who had gone past their prime, some being disabled, and some were also taken to JZ to carry out ancillary duties like cooking. Some of those were sent to Freedom Camp (FC) where we had a small agricultural institute run by the treasurer-general, Cde Amon Jirira. Among those were not only the disabled but even the injured active combatants who were taken to FC to be taught life skills such as rearing chickens, pigs, dairy cows and so on.
MS: Let’s go back a little bit, so people were coming to join thinking they could do as they please, grab a gun and return to Rhodesia to fight or go wherever?
Cde Sithole: You can’t fault somebody for failing to take instructions that they are not aware of and especially it was difficult to tell people that you are taking instructions in order for this and that. It’s like sending somebody to a secondary school or even ECD, like an ECD but in a war zone. We had to protect everyone at all costs, no one was supposed to die. Hence Nampundwe was not a facility where people were supposed to die and if somebody was to get injured or die, then you were in for it because you would be accused of negligence.
One was to be subjected to total punishment for that negligence. Also, discipline was key as when people were being taken to other countries for training, suppose they were to be found to be undisciplined, then the blame would come via the headquarters to us when it comes back, the level of embarrassment, it’s huge just imagine the level of embarrassment.
MS: In nutshell what was the purpose of Nampundwe?
Cde Sithole: It was to prepare the cadres for the life in the military, from the start they had to know why was that weapon in their hands, what is the purpose of that weapon, a lot of people might have thought taking that gun, going around robbing people to satisfy themselves, such thoughts were to be nipped in the bud. Some could have seen handling the weapon as presenting them with a chance to settle old scores. That was not the case.
MS: Cde Sithole what was the first thing that was done to recruits at Nampundwe as the first port of call in Zambia.
Cde Sithole: A lot of administrative work was done. First of all an individual was supposed to give his biography to the officers from the department of administration. The recruit was supposed to give them details such as who were his parents, village head (usabhuku), place of origin, next of kin and so on. These details were extracted from the recruits by the department of personnel which was headed by now late national hero, Cephas Cele. Cele’s officers were embedded to the Nampundwe camp’s administration, which was headed by the camp commander, Cde Killion during the time when I was there.
There was also vetting done by the security arms, officers from the Military Intelligence Department (MID) to weed out those suspected to have been sent by the Rhodesian regime to infiltrate our ranks.
Through that biography it was also determined where the recruit would be deployed, so it was used as checks and balances on an individual. So the security personnel had to thoroughly check what kind of person that recruit was. Also if possible check with the people in the area of origin. If an individual decided not to disclose some pertinent and crucial information like say when one had left his job in the Rhodesian government, then that person became a security risk.
MS: So what was done to such people who withheld such sensitive information?
Cde Sithole: They were put under serious interrogation, but not to say they were killed. No. They were further investigated and that’s all, not sent to be killed. Some of the people who were part of the security among us the staff there were Cdes Teddy, Finish and the late Chief Charles Bango. After the war Cde Bango became a traditional chief after leaving the army.
MS: You spoke about Nampundwe being a sorting facility of some sort. Elaborate on that.
Cde Sithole: Yes. That is where decisions were made on different individuals like sending the young ones to school, some for military training while the Department of Manpower Planning would also say, some should be sent for further education. From the military side as an organisation we were supposed to sabotage the economic infrastructure of the Rhodesian government such as bridges, railway lines, fuel tanks and other things, but we were also cognisant of the fact that after getting our independence we would need that same infrastructure. So we had to have the personnel ready to reconstruct or repair those facilities. By the same token, you needed to get the personnel to go and train to repair or even construct new infrastructure. So Nampundwe was not just a military camp, there were other fields that were being catered for. After a crash military programme those people could be selected on the skills they possessed for further education in friendly countries. For example, there was a group that was sent to do studies on the railway system in Egypt. Some of those people came back and worked for the NRZ after independence. A lot of them were employed by the NRZ, although funny enough they were asked to go for retraining at the Bulawayo Poly, but were found to be adequately qualified. I believe it was a way of frustrating them. Other comrades were sent to do medicine, veterinary services, media, engineering and all sorts of professions. In fact, we were truly a government in exile.
MS: On the political side, how were the people prepared there?
Cde Sithole: There was a powerful commissariat department whose main purpose was to re-orient the recruits. It’s task was to knock sense into them about why we were fighting the Ian Smith regime, explain that we were fighting to liberate everybody, explain the importance of the masses to the struggle and gave guidelines on the behaviour of an armed ZPRA in the communities they would be operating from. It is important to note that people who were joining the war came from different backgrounds. Some of the people when they went to the war, they left the country after committing crimes, running away from the long arm of the law, so it was important to re-orient them.
At one stage we had Professor Enos Malandu, he visited the camp periodically to teach political economy, we had Khanda and Chris Nyenye also deployed straight to the camp. We also had Prof Malandu in Morogoro when we were recruits, he was a learned guy and schooled somebody who despite all his education sacrificed his life for the liberation of this country. Political commissars were also being trained and sent to other countries to specialise in political science. So as ZPRA and Zapu we had a programme that ensured that people knew why they had to carry weapons, people had to know the ideological concept, people had to subscribe to a belief that was going to unite them so that they would be loyal to the people of Zimbabwe instead of individuals.
MS: So Nampundwe was only for men?
Cde Sithole: Yes, Nampundwe was for men only and the women went to Victory Camp (VC). The only women that came to Nampundwe were the ones who trained in our group, that is the group of 800, they should have been six or seven, the likes of Grace Noko and Vhundzai (Toriso Phiri). The children were screened and sent to school as is the case with the demands of the United Nations that children who are 16 and below could not be trained to be soldiers. I’m not denying that no children were recruited into the war front but by law that was not allowed. The elderly, disabled as well as the children were not recruited to the war front. The cut off age was 50, we had 40-year-olds who trained and their maturity was an important factor.
MS: Then as people who were in charge of Nampundwe how did you deal with the issue of language, you said you had recruits from all corners of Zimbabwe.
Cde Cetshwayo: You mean what language was used during our training?
MS: Yes, what was the dominant language, not only at Nampundwe, all the training camps?
Cde Cetshwayo: ZPRA was an army for all Zimbabweans, instructors used the language of their choice. Some people might not believe that, but that’s what happened, we had for instance Richard Mataure (Retired Colonel Richard Ngwenya), a Tonga, we had Busobenyoka, a Kalanga, Thodlana (Tshaka Moyo) a Kalanga, Doko or Stanley Gagisa, Kalanga also, Elias a Venda, Benoni Dube a Sotho, Velaphi a Sotho, Sam Madondo, a Shona from Mash Central, Anannias (General Philip Valerio Sibanda), a Shona speaker, Rodwell Nyika, another Shona speaker, Goronga, Maseka, Majoki, all Shona speakers just to name the few instructors, they used their languages without any hindrance. Sam Madondo, who also became a camp commander could shout orders in Shona and all was well. The instructors could of course use the recruit’s language when they noticed that the person did not understand, that was meant for emphasis. We did not see each other through tribal lenses, we saw each other as comrades. For us tribalism was a punishable offence, any genuine ZPRA would tell you that tribalism was a punishable offence. Right from our leadership, the High Command to the lowest rank there was nothing like a person being afraid to use his or her language. The commander, Nikita Mangena was from Mwenezi and could speak both Shona and Ndebele in equal measure, in fact, he used both well.
Online Reporter