adminThe familiar face headed for Stanley Hall, just across 6th Avenue Extension, the venue for political gatherings at the time. Amos got into the hall and there he came across some of the political cream at the time: Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, Knight T T Maripe, Edward Ndlovu, Benjamin Madlela, S J Moyo (the national chairman of the Railway African Workers Union (RAWU), Francis Nehwati, Mpabanga Dube and Zephaniah Sihwa, among others.
There was heightened recruitment to join the trade union movement at the time. Rolex Bango visited Supersonic to recruit on behalf of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). Recruits were being invited to meetings at Stanley Hall in Makokoba. Amos responded positively and in the hall he met Titus Mukarati and Frank Tarisai Ziyambi.
The year 1957 was politically significant in Southern Rhodesia. Following the granting of independence to Ghana in that year, the nationalists in Southern Rhodesia felt challenged to do something to attain their own independence. Amos was involved in the activities aimed at creating a new political party that was truly national.
Preparatory meetings were organised at Stanley Hall and Amos got involved in sticking posters to the beer hall walls and also outside Stanley Hall. That party, the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) was formed on 12 September 1957 at the Mai Musodzi Hall in Harare (now Mbare). Amos was an ordinary member of the new political movement.
It was during his stint at Supersonic that Amos got his own house. One tenant in the house was a Miss Mhlanga, who later became Mrs Siwela. She was to become a pastor in the AME Church. His political icon Sikhwili Moyo also lived in the house. The two were a perfect match; they used to go to bed very late doing political work and discussing political issues.
Sikhwili Moyo was at the time working for a stationery shop, John Dickenson, the manufacturers of Croxley writing pads. He worked as stock-records clerk. Sikhwili invited Amos to join the same company, which he did. The Edgar Whitehead-led government of Southern Rhodesia banned the SRANC in February 1959 on the charge that it was an illegal organisation. Sikhwili was arrested. In order to fill the vacuum, Garfield Todd formed the Central African Party.
By 1959, Amos was living at Block 74 in Mpopoma where he lived with John Mabhena, the man he had met in South Africa. That was the year when he met and married Grace Tshawe. The couple would together have three daughters.
Following the ban of the SRANC a successor party the National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed. The party, according to Amos, grew by leaps and bounds and within a matter of weeks, branch elections were held. Lazarus Nkala and Benjamin Madlela came to conduct elections. Amos was elected assistant secretary for the Bulawayo District. It was at that time that Benjamin Madlela was sent to the Labour College in Uganda.
Amos had the privilege of attending the first NDP congress as a delegate. Cephas Chikwanha represented the Mpopoma branch. Robert Mugabe (now President of the Republic) was receiving the delegates at Machipisa, Highfield. Michael Mawema had resigned as president of the party and Leopold Takawira was acting president. Joshua Nkomo was still in London where he had gone following the proscription of the SRANC while he was in Accra, Ghana where he was attending a Pan-African Convention meeting.
Nalumina Mundia of Zambia acted as returning officer. There were eight voting delegates per district. Joshua Nkomo was elected president of the National Democratic Party in absentia. Tarcisius George Malan Silundika was elected secretary-general, also in absentia. He was in Egypt at the time. There were two external party offices at that point in time; in Cairo, Egypt and London, in the United Kingdom.
The other office bearers were as follows: vice-president, Morton Malianga; national treasurer, Ndabaningi Sithole; financial secretary, Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo; assistant secretary general, Enos Nkala; publicity and information, Robert Mugabe. Both Jane Ngwenya and Joseph Msika were in the national executive.
It was the love of politics that got Amos fired from John Dickenson. On one weekend a stock-take was being conducted at the firm. It so happened that the weekend in question coincided with the NDP conference in Salisbury. Amos could not miss that one. He gave an excuse that he was engaged in some reading over the weekend. In June, a white girl called him to pick up a paper. Information had leaked that, as a matter of fact, he had gone to attend a political meeting in Salisbury. Jonathan Siringwana had sold him out. Amos was summarily dismissed.
He was also involved in trade unionism. There was at the time the Southern Africa Typographical Union for whites. The political situation in South Africa precluded blacks from participating in the union’s activities. In Southern Rhodesia the white trade unionists could organise union activities where there was some politics of partnership at the time. The whites approached Rolex Bango who told them about John Dickenson.
Jimmy Taylor was the secretary-general for the union with Jimmy Touler as president. The whites were scouting for blacks to facilitate the registration of the union. They approached Themba Dliwayo from Goromonzi, who by the prevailing educational standards at the time was well educated; he had completed O-Levels. Themba referred the white unionists to Amos who they requested to organise workers at John Dickenson to form a branch.
The next stage in his political career was challenging the racially discriminated churches. For that crusade, he teamed up with Edward Mzwazwa Bhebhe and Elliot Ngwabi. The crusade had been initiated in Salisbury (now Harare) by Lovemore Chimonyo. They visited the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) premises, the Salvation Army, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church, all within the city centre.
The threesome gathered within the DRC premises and went in where the whites were worshipping. The Afrikaner congregants were prepared for a fight. That was in 1960. The story of the confrontation was carried in The Bulawayo Chronicle. At the time the NDP national executive was seized with the land issue. They argued that the Africans would have the right to the use of land. They argued that land was not a commodity for sale.
The radicalising NDP was banned in December 1961. Soon after that, on 17 December, a new political party was inaugurated — the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu). This was after Amos had already been dismissed from John Dickenson.
Now that he was available for full-time party business, Amos was appointed full-time assistant regional officer. Agrippa Mukahlera and Sikhwili Moyo were manning the office. Party funds were not being kept in the party office. Each time a party was proscribed, its assets were confiscated. As a result, the party funds were kept by H M Naik. All in all there was 400 pounds stashed away by Naik.
(To be continued tomorrow)
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