Report received of a massacre at Jotsholo

Pathisa Nyathi

When the war intensified more and more refugees fled Rhodesia to settle in Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique. It was easier crossing through Botswana as rivers that marked the border were not perennial.

It was the case with both the Shashe and Ramokwebana rivers. Areas further to the west did not have a river as a boundary marker. The areas in question were the western part of Bulilima-Mangwe and southern Tsholotsho. The United Nations had set up a refugee camp at Dukwe. The camp housed refugees during the war of liberation and continued to do so after independence during Gukurahundi.

On New Year’s Day there were nine refugees that arrived from Botswana. Many of them were treated by members of the Peace Monitoring Force based at Assembly Point Lima. Some were treated for bullet wounds while there was a little child with a festering finger.

In the absence of adequate surgical equipment, a scalpel was used to cut off the finger. The remaining stump was sterilised with a metal blade that was heated by means of a candle. It worked.

Despite the fact that the ceasefire had been declared, total peace was still a long way off. Ambushes, landmine blow-ups and store hold-ups were still common occurrences. One day a member of the peacekeeping force, British Corporal Andy Drewery, got onto a Land Rover together with a ZPRA Liaison Officer.

Their vehicle detonated a landmine. The driver was seriously wounded while the ZPRA officer travelling with him received shrapnel to his face. It was sheer luck that both escaped with their lives.

In the evening of that fateful day, two ZPRA guerillas turned up at Assembly Point Lima. They talked to Colonel Zikhali who, observing it was late in the day, proposed that the two be billed at the camp established to accommodate guerrillas that were reporting at AP Lima. One of the guerillas carried a Romanian AK with a forward handgrip. It was something that Mike had never seen before.

Indeed, as suggested, the two guerillas proceeded to their camp which was located a kilometer away from the Ceasefire Monitoring Force’s quarters. The responsibility of erecting tents at the guerilla camp fell on the hands of peacekeepers. The one man that went along with them was the ZPRA guerilla that they had treated for a venereal disease. The man was not very comfortable with his personal security.

The Selous Scouts were a feared lot and, in his doubting mind, the arrangement could very well be a trap which could deliver them to the den of the notorious Selous Scouts. He retreated to the south end of the clearing where he held his gun pointed at the white Kiwis that were busy clearing the bush in readiness for the hundreds of ZPRA guerillas that had begun trickling in.

By this time there had been quite a flurry of guerilla visitors to the peacekeeping force quarters. Enough reconnaissance had been undertaken. Junior officers from ZPRA had been to the site of the proposed AP Lima. It was safe at this stage for the top man who was in charge of NF1 to proceed to the AP. However,great precaution had to be taken. Accordingly, the regional commander Watson Tshipa (John Nyamupingidza) arrived in the company of 20 heavily armed ZPRAs. It was early in the night. The ZPRA contingent was taken down to the guerrilla camp.

Mike could not help identify, recognise and acknowledge the professionalism of John Nyamupingidza. “Among the group was the local commander John Nunganguza (Nyamupingidza). Like Colonel Zikhali, he was fluent in English, highly trained and very professional,” wrote Mike.

For one who was in charge of a whole region, it was only proper that it be one with such military attributes. He was not a local commander as Mike thought. Instead, he was in charge of a vast operational area stretching all the way from the Zambezi River to Plumtree. Even after integration he attested to the Paratrooper commandos before moving on the Special Air Services (SAS) where he became commander of the unit.

On 2 January 1980 more guerrillas reported at the camp. By 11AM, a total of 90 guerillas had reported. However, there were some that were not keen to go and report at AP Lima. A report was received by the peace monitors that a store had been held up by 10 guerillas. Terrified occupants were told by the guerillas to go and tell the Peace Monitoring Force that they were going to stay in the bush and not honour the ceasefire.

As indicated in an earlier article, there were some guerrillas who were not satisfied with the ceasefire. They had mentally prepared themselves for liberating the country through the barrel of a gun. To them the ceasefire emanating from the Lancaster House Talks in London was a monumental fiasco and sellout. Many abandoned everything to do with the peace arrangements and refused to report at assembly points.

Some, notably in Tsholotsho, had to be rounded up by a ZPRA contingent under the command of Mike Reynolds (Charles Grey). For some, the option was to resort to banditry, jump the border and go to Botswana or South Africa.

The one nasty incident that Mike reports on is one that took place in Lupane. The area fell under NF2 where Phebion Mutero (Ernest Moyo) was commanding. ZPRA guerillas in the area were expected to go to St Paul’s Assembly Point. Some guerillas from as far as Gokwe were also going to St Paul’s AP.

Stanford who operated in Gokwe reports in his biography (Nyathi, 2020. Stanford Sithole: The Story of a ZPRA Guerilla) that he and fellow guerillas refused the offer to travel to St Paul’s by means of transport made available to them. They did not trust the Rhodesian Security Forces. Instead, they travelled on foot all the way to their designated AP. How right they were!

The Ceasefire Monitoring Force sent a bus to pick up 28 guerillas. who were to travel to St Paul’s Assembly Point.According to the report received by Mike and colleagues at AP Lima, the guerillas were supposed to surrender. A stick of BSA Police were observing them. The guerillas would however not lay down their weapons. A standoff ensued between the guerillas on the bus and the members of the BSAP. The latter were calling upon the armed guerillas on the bus to lay down their arms. The guerillas did not trust the police and defied the order.

After further talking 12 of the guerillas disembarked from the bus and were subsequently taken prisoners. The rest who remained on the bus had their bus driven off the Jotsholo T-junction into a bush, beyond the villages, into the operational area. The terrified driver, who Mike thinks was a black member of the Selous Scouts, then bolted off the bus, leaving the sixteen on the bus surrounded by the police who summoned the air force to come for a kill. The Rhodesians were in the habit of using civilian aircraft with rockets attached to them.

One such air craft was a Fletcher top dresser equipped with Frantan rockets. When it arrived on the scene, it hit up the bus killing all the 16 ZPRA guerillas on board. Those who were out of the bus but surrounded by the police, were machine gunned. All of them died in the dastardly attack at a time when the Rhodesian war was supposed to have come to an end.