adminThe more youthful persons earmarked for military training were the likes of Dumiso Dabengwa, Akim Ndlovu and many others. When Zambia was on her way to independence, the cadres who were in Tanzania came down to Lusaka and Amos was ready to receive them. The first group of cadres was sent to friendly countries to train as guerillas follow-ing Chikerema’s mission to those countries.
The countries that hosted the cadres were the USSR, Cuba, North Korea and Libya, among others. Some went to train in intelligence and reconnaissance, such as Dumiso Dabengwa. Others to undergo training were inter alia, Report Mphoko, Tshinga “Embassy” Dube, Robson Manyika, Ambrose Mutinhiri, and Akim Ndlovu.
By 1965 the trained guerillas were back in Lusaka and a small High Command was put in place, commanded by Akim Ndlovu who was deputised by Manyika. Others in that first High Command were Dabengwa (Intelligence and Reconnaissance), Mphoko (Logistics), Roma Nyathi (Commi-ssariat), Abraham Nkiwane (Training) and Ambrose Mutinhiri. Amos continued in his role as administrator in the Zapu office in Lusaka. The first groups of trained guerillas were infiltrated into Rhodesia mainly to recruit more fighters and to cache arms of war. Many were netted by the Rhodesian security forces and imprisoned at Khami and other prisons.
The course of the struggle should be seen against the back-ground of the Cold War and the strategic geopolitical importance of Southern Africa. In 1966 Chikerema and the ANC leaders, notably Oliver Tambo and Joe Modise Umkhonto we Sizwe commander struck an alliance to mount joint infiltrations into Rhodesia. Both parties were aligned to the communist Soviet Union. The West was alarmed when the two parties launched joint operations, the first in 1967 under John Dube (JD) with Chris Hani as Chief of Staff.
The second joint incursion led by Moffat Hadebe took place in 1968. Western intelligence agents were soon at work to destabilise Zapu, seen as the evil cutting edge of communism into Southern Africa. Indeed, the intervention worked as no more joint incursions took place after 1968. Further, there were serious irrevocable rifts within Zapu in exile. Amos was not spared in the infighting.
The internal crisis took place in 1971 resulting in Zapu splitting into three factions: the largest faction under JZ Moyo, the March 11 Movement under Walter Mthimkhulu and the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (Frolizi) under Chikerema. Amos was among those who were in the main Zapu party under JZ Moyo.
The warring factions were taken to Mboroma where efforts to mend the rift failed under the reconciliation efforts of Aaron Milner. For a while, Amos and colleagues were taken to Chakwenga where they faced harsh conditions. In the end, Zapu reorganised: creating the War Council, the Revolutionary Council and the armed wing called the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra). Zapu’s ideology was distilled through the efforts of George Silundika.
Following the reorganisation of Zapu after its internal crisis, the war escalated, this time with Nikita Mangena at the helm as chief of staff and de facto commander. Once again, the west saw a threat in all that and embarked on an exercise called détente, meant in reality to reduce the momentum of the armed liberation struggle, to get rid of the more radical elements within both parties and ensure South Africa’s northern border was safe and cause conflict between the external and internal wings of both parties.
The nationalists in detention were released and were advised to form one political movement, the African National Council (ANC). That happened following the signing of the Lusaka Unity Declaration in order to facilitate unity among the disparate African political parties. In order to facilitate unity, Amos had to close down the office. He then operated from an office, actually a room, in John Makhiwa’s premises. At the time John Nkomo from Zapu and Simon Muzenda from Zanu operated from The Barn along the Great East Road.
As pointed above, one of the victims of détente was Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo who was then commander-in-chief of Zapu’s armed wing, Zipra. Amos witnessed it all and was, in fact, at some point mischievously fingered in the act — all part of the imperial agenda to cause confusion and consternation within the party.
It all happened in January 1977 when Zapu and Zanu were engaged in talks to form the Patriotic Front (PF). At the time telecommunications between Zambia and Botswana were channelled via Rhodesia. The Rhodesian agents were thus able to monitor all communications between the cadres in Zambia and those in Botswana. Moyo had an acquaintance in Botswana who wrote him a letter and addressed it to Moyo. All the Rhodesian agents wanted was her handwriting. They steam-opened the letter, removed its contents and replaced them with a bomb.
The Rhodesians had recruited agents within the postal services of both Botswana and Zambia. The letter, looking innocent, got to a Lusaka post office. When Amos, as chief in the Zapu office, sent a junior officer to collect the parcel, the officer at the post office refused to release the letter. That necessitated Amos himself going to pick up the letter. The handwriting needed no deciphering. It was clearly the handwriting of Moyo’s acquaintance in Botswana. The staff at the Zapu offices had had similar letters before.
Following the assassination of Ruth First in Mozambique, Zapu had secured a machine to screen incoming mail. The staff in the Zapu office, including Amos, saw no need to scan this particular letter. Amos kept it and was to personally deliver it to Jason Moyo. Indeed, the Zapu delegation that had been to Maputo on Patriotic Front business arrived back in Lusaka and proceeded to the Zapu office. Jason Moyo, John Nkomo and others were some of the officials that went to the office. Amos was sitting in his chair and Moyo sat directly opposite him in another chair. “Umuntu uyafa khonapha,” said Moyo as he opened the letter. Sikhwili Moyo and Desire Khupe were playing a game of drafts outside.
There was a mighty explosion and Jason Moyo was instantly killed, his stomach ripped open. Others in the office such as John Nkomo and Amos himself were injured. From July 1978 to 1981, Amos was the party representative in World Peace Council in Helsinki, Finland. The council campaigned against war and rendered support to those engaged in struggles for freedom. The council also campaigned against the use of weapons of mass destruction. Being a member of the council, Amos could reach parts of the world that Zapu could not, such as the International Committee for Peace in Geneva where he was registered as Zapu representative and head of the African Desk.
While in Helsinki, Amos was recalled home for a briefing by party president Joshua Nkomo who outlined the Turning Point Strategy. The war had reached a new stage. The initial stage of sabotage had come and gone. That was the first stage. The second stage was that of guerrilla warfare. That too had come and matured. It was now the third and final stage — the use of heavy weapons and the training of the regular army to defend liberated zones.
One such zone where Zipra planned to send a regular army battalion was Dandanda, as indicated to this writer by Dr Dumiso Dabengwa on 13 August 2012 during the celebration of the Heroes Day. The understanding was that guerrillas could not defend a liberated zone. That was the strategy that Nkomo wanted to bring to the attention of all external representatives.
As it turned out, the west was aware of the Turning Point Strategy and its Zero Hour component (where regular army battalions, backed by MIG 21 jet fighters were going to storm through the Victoria Falls and Chirundu)) and would not allow an outright military victory by a party aligned to the Soviet Union. In that same year, during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced a new round of negotiations to solve the Rhodesian constitutional impasse, but more urgently to checkmate both Zapu and the Soviet Union whose President Podgorny had visited Angola, much to the chagrin of the West.
The Lancaster House talks succeeded and in December 1979 a ceasefire was brokered. The following year, 1980, independence was proclaimed and a year later, Amos returned home to an independent Zimbabwe.
Briefly, he became the Zapu chairman for Insika District. He later became deputy secretary for administration in 1983. He was appointed to the Central Committee in 1984 during a congress where he became deputy secretary for the party deputising Steven Jeqe Nkomo.
Amos attended the last Zapu congress in 1988 to ratify the Unity Accord. He was appointed Central Committee member for the united Zanu-PF in 1989. In 1993, it was observed that that the party’s administration was weak. It was then decided to set up the civil service for Zanu-PF. As a result, Amos resigned his party post in Zanu-PF to become full-time provincial administrator for the Bulawayo Province.
While Amos was in exile, his wife contacted him and bought a house in Mpopoma township where he lived till his passing on. He had recently joined the revived Zapu party led by Dr Dumiso Dabengwa.
May his very dear soul rest in eternal peace.
Online Reporter