admin
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
AS Mark Ngwenya (not his real name) walks in the city, he gets into a trance, sometimes he can be seen taking cover, and dodging “bullets” shouting that the enemy was nearby.
He rolls on the road hiding between cars and those close to him say he sometimes screams uncontrollably when he is sleeping.
This is because this former freedom fighter, now seen as a mad man by many youths in Bulawayo, is being tormented by events of the armed struggle.
In Makokoba suburb, another mad man in the eyes of many people, is actually a former soldier who served in the Democratic Republic of Congo when Zimbabwean soldiers were deployed to defend that country which was under attack from rebels in 1998.
Farai Nerwande of Makokoba now roams the streets of Bulawayo’s oldest suburb giving instructions to imaginary soldiers on how to attack the enemy. These two are among many former fighters who now suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after having served during war times. PTSD, sometimes known as shell shock or combat stress, occurs after experiencing severe trauma or a life-threatening event.
Researchers say it is normal for the mind and body to be in shock after such an event. They said those with the disorder have a hard time to readjust to life out of the military. They are always on edge, close to panicking or exploding and are emotionally numb and disconnected at times. Symptoms sometimes don’t surface for months or even years after returning from deployment.
While PTSD develops differently from veteran to veteran health experts say there were four symptom clusters: They may experience recurrent, intrusive reminders of the traumatic event, including distressing thoughts, nightmares, and flashbacks where they feel like it is happening again. They may also experience extreme emotional and physical reactions to reminders (panic attacks, uncontrollable shaking, heart palpitations, etc.).
In some cases, former fighters exhibit extreme avoidance of things that remind them of the traumatic events including people, places, thoughts, or situations that they associate with the bad memories. Some, however, withdraw from friends and family and lose interest in everyday activities. Just like Nerwande and Ngwenya those affected are on guard all the time, jumpy, and emotionally reactive, as indicated by irritability, anger, difficulty in sleeping, trouble concentrating, and hyper vigilance.
The Minister of Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees, Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, did not mince his words when asked about the issue of assisting ex-fighters suffering from trauma, as he said something should have been done to address the issue.
“I must admit after the war too many problems surfaced, we were fighting internally and all the attention was drawn away from assisting the people who were affected. First we reconciled those that had come back from Mozambique and Zambia, many had died and our records were not 100 percent accurate and we even failed to account for some who fell in the camps, bombings and on the front. Our first stop after Independence was to sort this out and settle internal squabbles that were there and our records,” he said.
After post war disturbances the Unity Accord was signed in 1987, and the minister notes, very little was done to offer assistance to affected war veterans because the country moved to aid in wars that took place in the Sadc region such as the war in Mozambique and Angola. Rtd Col Dube said soon after the Sadc wars the land question came to the fore.
“After Sadc we had the land question where we assisted some of the war veterans in acquiring land but sadly we never looked into the psychological effects of the war that they still carried with them,” he lamented.
The Minister said it was, however, not too late to look into the health needs of the former fighters.
“Now is the time to look back at their health needs, we have relative peace and tranquility in the country and we can assist them, we have to deliberately divert our attention in that direction. The fighters accumulated a number of ailments when they were in the bush, the diet and the water were not that good, and the living conditions too so many were affected by this. We have discussions with officials from the Health Ministry and we will soon dedicate certain wings of hospitals in all the provinces to the ex fighters where they will seek treatment,” he said.
Rtd Col Dube said attention will be given to those that were disturbed psychologically and specialised doctors will be deployed.
“We will get specialised doctors for trauma control in these hospitals and assist our cadres that may have been disturbed by the war, as the Government we feel it is not too late to mend some of those wounds. After that we will look at income generating projects that can assist them too,” he said.
Cde Ronnie Patel one of the few from the Indian community who actively took part in the armed struggle and survived the bombing incident that killed Cde Jason Ziyapapa Moyo in Zambia said some interventions could have been done earlier to assist the affected fighters.
“Trauma counselling should have been done just after 1980 so as to reduce the effects of the war on the former fighter. Counselling centres should have been set up and today many of those affected could have been in a much better position dealing with the events,” he said.
Cde Patel who periodically broke down and had long moments of silence while retelling the events of the bombing that killed Cde JZ Moyo, a sign that he too needs counselling, said it was, however, not too late to seek help.
“It is, however, not too late for the Government to act on this, some assistance can be sought for fellow fighters because trauma is hard to deal with and the war was not an easy thing to deal with. This is also the reason why some war veterans are bitter today, they need trauma counselling and further aid to improve their lives,” said Cde Patel.
Former Zipra chief of military intelligence Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane said the war of liberation was an experience that cannot just get erased overnight.
“Everyday fighters knew that they could be killed at any moment so as you survived you somehow felt you could be next considering that we lost many of our friends on a daliy basis. It was rather unsettling living each day as if it was your last. Many that we lived with died and it would bring fear and disturbance that a person you probably shared a meal with minutes ago gets killed,” he said.
Rtd Brig Gen Mazinyane said lack of post war counselling caused challenges for the ex fighters because reintergration in to the civilian society was rather difficult.
“After 1980 it was even difficult to start relationships or even marry becauses we were people that lived, ate and slept the war, we had nothing in our heads besides the war and traumatic events we saw. If counselling had been done I am sure many people woud be better off today,” said Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane.
He, however, urged the society to understand the behaviour of affected former freedom fighters as many are holding on to events of the war that are not easy to digest.
One thing for sure is that as the nation celebrates 36 years of Independence tomorrow, the nation must also try to help people like Nerwande who are still suffering from the post-war traumas.
Online Reporter