Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube , Victoria Falls Reporter
THE Grand Officer of the Zimbabwe Order of Merit awarded to Cde Gibson Mayisa was the perfect birthday present.
Born on August 3, 1936 in Fort Rixon’s Emakhandeni area in Insiza District, Cde Mayisa had just celebrated his 85th birthday when six days later, President Mnangagwa conferred him with the honour last week.
He is among pioneer Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) and Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) freedom fighters, civil servants and civilians, that President Mnangagwa conferred medals for their distinguished contributions towards the liberation and development of Zimbabwe on Heroes Day.
The awards are part of the Second Republic’s recognition of its people, living and departed, and testimony of keenness by President Mnangagwa to restore national memory and acknowledge the role played by everyone in the struggle for independence and development of the country.
But who is Cde Mayisa?
This question was inspired by the fact that a majority of people, including some leaders in Matabeleland North, did not know much about him until recently.
He is arguably one of the pioneer freedom fighters who triggered war against the Rhodesian authorities through a series of “sabotage” attacks on settler government properties in Bulawayo.
Dislocation of his family by the Rhodesian government from Fort Rixon to tsetse infested Ngwaladi area in Nkayi in 1952, and ill-treatment of teachers triggered him to seek to liberate his country.
As he narrated his history, Cde Mayisa, whose guerrilla name was Albert Ndlovu or Makepesi, said he abandoned teaching at Tshatshane Primary in Kezi in 1958 to join politics as a National Democratic Party youth in Njube.
While still in Kezi, he attended a meeting where late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo addressed teachers against unfair labour practices and ill-treatment.
Cde Mayisa was with Cde John Maluzo Ndlovu, Enos Mdlongwa and others when as youths, they established a Zapu branch in Mpopoma after the formation of the party in 1962.
They established a committee called uMgandani, named after a distinguished Ndebele warrior during King Lobengula’s reign Mgandani Dlodlo.
The committee was under the leadership of a Mazonko and its role was to organise strikes and protests to sabotage Rhodesian government activities and business. They got explosives from Dumiso Dabengwa, Luka Mhlanga and Skwili Moyo who were already in Zambia.
The late Vice-President John Nkomo was also part of the uMgandani planning committee.
After the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Smith’s government, uMgandani resolved to recruit teachers into its structures to bolster planning and brought in Cdes Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Edison Ncube, Leonard Nkala and Calistus Ndlovu who were teaching in Bulawayo.
In 1966, uMgandani orchestrated an attack on a train that carried whites only between Bulawayo and Harare resulting in Rhodesian police arresting and detaining several Mpopoma youths.
Cde Mayisa said he survived the onslaught because he had travelled to Lupane to visit his sick mother and upon his return, he found that several youths including his two sisters had been rounded up and arrested.
He made a dramatic escape from the family house in Mpopoma’s Block 43 two weeks later as Rhodesian police sought to arrest and kill him.
He crossed to Zambia via Botswana and while in Kazungula before crossing, they were assisted by Cdes Tshinga Dube, Roger Mashinini and Gordon Butshe, who were on their way into Zimbabwe on a reconnaissance mission.
“I was in a bus to Njube when I met Aaron Ndlovu who told me about trade unionism and the liberation struggle and invited me to a meeting. I liked the idea and when I got there, I joined a branch, then under National Democratic Party. We would have meetings and people like Lazarus Nkala and Mzimela would come to address us.
My family later relocated to Mpopoma in 1961 and when Zapu was formed, we formed a branch with Christopher Mkwananzi and others.
“Maluzo Ndlovu, Mbambo, Modecai Mlotshwa and John Ndebele who was killed by a bomb attack in Harare, had just returned from training and they helped us make the grenades. We used grenades and petrol bombs to carry out sabotage missions attacking shops and government premises,” narrated Cde Mayisa.
He said some black businesspersons who operated shops supplied them with petrol for use in the bombings.
The sabotage escalated and targeted people instead of just properties.
“In 1966 we planned an attack on a train that departed Bulawayo every night at 8pm going to Harare and carrying whites only,” said Cde Mayisa.
He said uMgandani spent a week mobilising petrol bombs and missiles for the mission.
They split into four groups that laid ambush on the train between the Bulawayo Main Station and Mpopoma Station where the attack was executed, resulting in some train coaches being burnt and many passengers injured.
Cde Mayisa said they fled from the scene and the Rhodesian police responded by raiding Mpopoma suburb to arrest all youths who they tortured at Central Police Station and threw others into Grey Prison, now Bulawayo Prison.
“A few days after the attack I travelled to visit my sick mother in St Paul’s in Lupane and when I returned a week later, someone tipped me as I arrived at eRenkini that police had arrested all youths, including my sisters in Mpopoma and were looking for me.
“I couldn’t go home so I stayed with some friends for a week. My sisters were released in the second week and I arranged to meet them. They told me that police were looking for me and wanted to kill me. They said some youths had been tortured to death at the police station,” said Cde Mayisa.
His option was to escape to Zambia.
He had to say goodbye to his family and sneaked to Block 43 one afternoon unbeknown to him that police were literally camped at the house.
A niece he found at home told him that police had just left and had ransacked the whole house looking for him.
Cde Mayisa said while he was still inside, some police arrived looking for him and he hid in the bedroom.
They did not leave as they sat in the yard.
Some concerned neighbours would visit the house checking on Cde Mayisa’s family and police detained everyone who entered the yard saying no one was supposed to leave.
Cde Mayisa said after some hours and fearing that the police would enter the house and search, he managed to sneak out without the two policemen noticing.
He crossed into Botswana in the company of his cousin as they headed for Lusaka where they were welcomed to Zimbabwe House by Zapu leaders Cdes Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, Dumiso Dabengwa, Ackim Ndlovu, Ethan Dube, Steven Parirenyatwa and Amos Ngwenya.
A month after his arrival in Lusaka, Cde Mayisa was selected to be commander of a unit of 13 people that went for special training on intelligence and general use of arms in Russia for nine months.
Upon his return to Lusaka in 1967 after completing the training, Cde Mayisa was assigned to the Zapu intelligence command and attached to the reconnaissance department as deputy to Cde Mdojelwa Moyo, in-charge of the east, between Kariba and Beira in Mozambique.
He was in the reconnaissance team for Wankie (Hwange) and Sipolilo (Guruve) battles of 1967/8 and worked collaboratively with Zanla commander Josiah Magama Tongogara, ZPRA commander Alfred Nikita Mangena and South Africa’s African National Congress leaders.
When Cde Dabengwa, who was the intelligence commander and Cde Ackim Ndlovu were elevated to Zapu national executive, Cde Mayisa became Cde Ethan Dube’s deputy in the Zimbabwe Intelligence Service (ZIS) and it in this role that he infiltrated Rhodesia many times, recruiting and debriefing sources. He was also delivering crucial documents to detainees in Gonakudzingwa and Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo where he would receive instructions to take back to Lusaka.
He was one of the delegates that attended a conference of militants that resulted in the formation of ZPRA.
Cde Dube was later kidnapped by Rhodesian forces in Botswana where the party had assigned him and his fate remains unknown.
Cde Mayisa was appointed to lead a commission of inquiry to investigate the abduction and was also later appointed to lead another inquiry, which had Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane, to investigate the death of Jason Ziyapapa Moyo through a parcel bomb.
He said findings were represented to Zapu President Joshua Nkomo and former Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda.
Cde Mayisa was later assigned to represent Zapu in Botswana to persuade the Botswana government to play its role as a member of the Organisation of Africa Union (now Africa Union) to recognize the liberation struggle and support it as a frontline state by allowing recruits to pass through and injured guerillas to enter Botswana for treatment.
He was later assigned as Zapu representative in Cuba responsible for sourcing anti-air weapons and fortifying camps.
At independence he was involved in repatriation of refugees and demobilisation and integration of guerrillas into civilian life.
After independence he disappeared into the community and has stayed out the spotlight with his wartime secrets, from the over 15 years of intelligence work in the war.
He concentrated on raising his six children.
Cde Mayisa is grateful to President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic for honouring him.
“I am grateful to President Mnangagwa. I was content with the honour of knowing that I liberated this country but what His Excellency has done humbles me. I want to urge our citizens, especially those from this region, to take advantage of opportunities for unity that President Mnangagwa has brought, we are one people so let’s be united,” he said. — @ncubeleon.
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