adminBorn in 1934 (records showed he was born in 1932), Amos was destined to play a critical role in the struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe. He cut his political teeth in South Africa under the tutelage, guidance and inspiration of the African National Congress (ANC) luminaries such as Robert Recha, Moses Kotane and Duma Nokwe.
Jack was a convenient name given him by George Mabhena. The name was used again when, on 8 of March 1963 he, together with Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa, left the country to open Zapu offices in Lusaka, Zambia. Jack was the informal name used in communication among political colleagues such as Dumiso Dabengwa, Akim Ndlovu, Ethan Dube, Norman Mabhena, Lazarus Nkala and Zephaniah Sihwa.
Amos was born at Mabunga, a place west of Kezi on the western side of the Shashane River. His father was Fanekiso whose wife was MaMpofu.
His grandfather was Tatjinga while his great-grandfather was Mahanganya. His ancestors had moved up from Matsiloji to Marula. As land alienation escalated, his people were evicted from Marula to give way to white farms. That was how they ended up in the more arid area of Mabunga.
For his primary education he attended Makupa Primary School belonging to the London Missionary Society (LMS). The area where they lived had been under the control of the oldest church in Zimbabwe with other schools in the area such as Silonkwe, Zamanyoni, Donkwedonkwe and Marinoha. He enrolled for Sub-Standard A in 1944. He remembered two of his teachers as Benjamin Bhebhe and Philemon Zondo. At school he used the name Petros.
The new area that they had occupied following eviction from Marula was not spared either. The second wave of evictions saw him and his parents leave for a place further south in the Bulilima-mangwe district (the district has how been split into Bulilima and Mangwe).
The place was Mambale which belonged to the Salvation Army church. The area that they vacated was taken over by white farmer Tait. The move to Mambale was undertaken in 1945. There he did Sub-Standard B. He went on to do Standard 3 in 1949.
Most primary schools falling under the auspices of the Salvation Army offered education only up to Standard 3. Pupils wishing to go beyond Standard 3 went to Tshelanyemba which was the central primary school following the move by the Salvation Army Semokwe divisional headquarters from Mbembeswana due to water shortage in the Semokwe River. There he did Standards 4 and 5 in 1950 and 1951.
Amos was due to do Standard 6 in 1952 but failed to secure school fees. He was living in the Tshelanyemba area with an uncle so he could be close to the school. His father was then working in South Africa. Faced with that predicament, Amos moved to Bulawayo. He worked for Rhodesian Remedies between Fort Street and Sixth Avenue.
Meanwhile, his father got to know his son was no longer at school. He came back home to ensure Amos resumed his studies. He was offered a wrist watch and asked to go back to Tshelanyemba to complete his primary school education. He had other plans, plans that would plunge him into the political arena in South Africa and ultimately to a long and dedicated service outside the country-mostly in Zambia but also in Helsinki in Finland.
So, instead of boarding a bus back to Tshelanyemba, Amos got onto the train bound for South Africa. In South Africa he lived in Johannesburg’s Pimville Township where he had an uncle. Once in South Africa, he entered Pimville Secondary School and studied from 1952 to 1953.
In 1953 he left Pimville Secondary School to live with Brigadier Jessie Usher of the Salvation Army. They lived at the Fred Clark School near Orlando. The school, headed by one Hlatshwayo, belonged to the Salvation Army.
Amos then decided to join a dancing school at the time when he started working. His first job in 1953 was when he worked for the Brighton Hotel as a telephone receptionist. The hotel was in Hillbrow. He worked for the hotel for just four months. From 1953 to 1954 he worked for Phoenix Foundry who were making coal pressing irons. His next job was with Eureka Grocery Wholesalers. At the time he was living in Sophiatown.
That was during the troubled times when people were being forcibly removed from Sophiatown to Meadowlands.
Political influences came to bear on him at the time when he was living at Sophiatown. One Albert Mazigenga from St Joseph’s Mission in Southern Rhodesia visited him; he lived along Gerty Street. By that time, he had become an avid reader, particularly of newspapers.
His visitor invited him to an ANC meeting. That was in 1955. The meeting, in fact a public rally, took place at the Freedom Square in Morris Street.
Present at the rally were Nokwe, Kotane and Recha. For Amos this was his first exposure to politics. “I was converted to politics on that very day,” said Amos in an interview 15 years ago. Kotane made an impression on the young Amos when he delivered an eloquent and scathing attack on the Pass laws.
At the time Hendriek Verwoerd was the Minister of Bantu Affairs while Swart was the Minister for Justice. Kotane had also attacked the poor living conditions that Africans had to endure.
After the meeting Amos’ friend Jabulani Sithole suggested that they go to a nearby shebeen. There, much to his joy, they found all the leaders that had taken part in the public rally. Politics had got the better of him. From then on he devoted more and more time to the new-found pursuit. As a result, he abandoned dancing. He had abandoned the church even earlier. Every weekend he was sniffing for political rallies to attend.
One man who was also in South Africa at the time was Makhathini Guduza. Guduza used to read and sell the Bantu Mirror, an African weekly newspaper whose editor was Masotsha Mike Hove and later Kingsley Dinga Dube.
Amos remembered one issue of the Bantu Mirror in particular that carried a story on the Matabele Home Society engaging in an exercise to draft a new constitution. In that issue there was a picture of a man who was going to be of great influence on his career: Sikhwili Moyo. He cut the picture and kept it. Africans from Southern Rhodesia then used to meet at Zoo Lake.
The desire to return home and take part in the unfolding political developments got stronger by the day. In 1956 Amos took the decision and returned home. He headed for his rural home at Mambale where he lived for quite a while.
That was in 1956. The following year he went to Bulawayo where he lived with a brother who used to work for Supersonic, a radio manufacturing company. They lived at No. 2 also known as Mabutweni (Enkabini ) Women were not allowed in the township except over the weekends. At the time Mpopoma Township was under construction.
His brother then introduced him to Aggripah Phuthi, a brother to Angeline Phuthi-Masuku the current Governor and Resident Minister for Matabeleland South.
l To be continued tomorrow
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