Online Reporter
Sikhumbuzo Moyo
Bulawayo Bureau
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is set to come face-to-face with a haunting relic of his liberation war past in the form of a hangman’s noose that once threatened to end his life.
The chilling artefact is among key exhibits at the ongoing 66th Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, where Zanu PF has mounted a powerful historical display in Hall 5 at the Zimbabwe International Conference and Exhibition Smart City (ZICES) in Bulawayo.
More than just a museum piece, the noose symbolises the brutal methods used by the Rhodesian regime in the 1960s to silence freedom fighters. President Mnangagwa was arrested in 1964 in connection with sabotage missions linked to the Crocodile Gang, including the bombing of a train near Fort Victoria (now Masvingo). He was sentenced to death by hanging.
The President narrowly escaped execution due to his age. At just 18, he was below the legal threshold for capital punishment. Others were not as fortunate. His comrades, Victor Mlambo and James Dlamini, both older, were executed.
Instead, President Mnangagwa spent a decade behind bars, beginning at Khami Prison on the outskirts of Bulawayo before being moved between detention facilities in Bulawayo, Hwange and Victoria Falls and eventually deported to Zambia in 1972, where he joined other liberation fighters in exile.
That period would later feed into the broader liberation war of the 1970s, which culminated in the country’s independence in 1980.
In an interview, Ambassador Nicholas Katikiti, who is manning the party’s exhibition stand, said the noose is a painful reminder of that moment in history.
“This is the rope that the settlers wanted to use to end President Mnangagwa’s life in the 1960s. Due to his young age, he was spared, but his fellow Crocodile Gang members were not as fortunate,” said Cde Nicholas Katikiti.
The exhibition goes beyond the noose. It also features flogging benches and these are grim instruments used by the Rhodesian colonial authorities to punish detainees. President Mnangagwa himself endured repeated beatings during his imprisonment.
On Sunday, Zanu PF Politburo member, Cde Elifasi Mashaba, said the exhibition is deliberately designed to evoke reflection and emotional connection.
He said the display captured the painful journey that the President and many other freedom fighters went through.
“I am telling you, the whole exhibition, depicting the painful journey that His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, who is also the First Secretary of the party, went through, will be an emotional moment for some people,” said Cde Mashaba.
“But all this is necessary so that people have an appreciation of the pain that those who took up arms to free this country went through.”
