adminFreedom Mutanda
A football team is made up of eleven players who actually go to the field and play the ‘‘beautiful game’’ in the words of the incomparable Pele. However, prior to entry into a tournament such as the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations, a coach has a 22 men strong squad that s/he uses for the entire duration of the tourney.
Some of the members of the 22 men squad may fail to kick the ball right up to the time the team concludes its participation whether it takes the honours or not but that does not in any way obliterate the fact that these people were members of the team.
During the liberation war, young men and women who were not old enough to go to the front remained behind in the camps doing some other useful jobs while the older ones went to engage the fiercely discriminatory settler soldiers who were armed to the teeth; their biggest drawback was the fact that they were fighting an unjust war; it was morally reprehensible for the minority regime to oppress people in their own backyard.
Mrs Eddie Tabvirakare (nee Mtisi) is at ease as she talks about her war years. Her infectious laugh belies her inner strength and convictions that made her leave the serene environments of Rusitu Valley where Chief Ngorima reigns supreme and go all the way to Mozambique in search of the seemingly elusive Holy Grail independence.
From 1975 to 1979, Eddie whose Chimurenga name, Angeline Matinyarara, has some connotations of silence and dignity, says she can’t relate the real reason why at 14 and in Grade 6, she decided to cross the mighty Rusitu River and go into Mozambique.
“When we arrived in Mozambique, it was important to adopt a new persona as it were in order to erase any relation we might have heard with our relatives back home. If the Special Branch heard that a family had a son or daughter that has gone to join the comrades, it would make mince meat out of the unfortunate family. I gave myself a nom de guerre, Angeline Matinyarara. It stuck and I am proud of the war name,” Eddie explained why people who crossed the border had to assume a new name.
Many young men and women who went to join ZANLA and ZIPRA went there for a special reason. Eddie Mtisi had a burning force within her to be part of the history-making group who liberated Zimbabwe. It appeared a spiritual gale force propelled her to the edge of the revolutionary ring of fire.
‘‘I can only say it was spiritual. At Ndakopa Primary School, I was in Grade 6. Apparently national spirit mediums seemed to be talking to us spiritually for one day, my sister and I together with two other girls, Esther and Rose Jigidhi decided to go where others had gone. We simply wrote letters to our parents that they must not follow us as we had gone to help liberate Zimbabwe as many others had done before us.”
Cde Angeline remembers the night they went away. She says it was pitch black and one could not see beyond one’s nose. She wasn’t afraid. Four little girls going to a place they had never been to.
‘‘That night was dark. Owls hooted and from a distance, weird sounds could be heard. We trudged on in the deep forest. Surprisingly, we weren’t afraid. We clutched our mutakura laden ‘paper bags’ close to ourselves as if our lives depended on it. Day break came when we had crossed the Rusitu River and now we were in Mozambique. We arrived at Poshto Gogoi in the morning.”
Cde Angie seemed to be spiritually going back in time, a time when many of us were afraid of facing the might of the brutal and mean Smith regime, who had earlier affirmed that majority rule would always be a pipe dream for the indigenous people of colonial Zimbabwe.
Arrival at Posto Gogoi
After the four girls crossed the Rusitu River, they were joined by Eddie’s brother and cousin. Apparently, the boys had got wind of the girls’ escape into Mozambique and felt they could not be beaten by girls in the history defining work of emancipating the country from the yoke of colonialism.
As soon as they crossed the river, the six would be liberators were accosted by Frelimo fighters commonly called ‘‘Makamaradha.’’
‘‘They asked why at our tender ages we had decided to cross over into Mozambique. We told them that we wanted to free our people from the cruel white regime. They exhorted us to return home and continue with our education; we were steadfast in our refusal. Seeing that we were a determined lot, two Frelimo soldiers followed behind us and four were in front and we remained in the middle for us not to run away and we went further into the country.”
The brisk walk took their breath away but the girls did not stop. At Posto Gogoi, they rested. Until 1976, they remained at the camp and the girls who were eager to go and fight grew restless but stayed there, they had to because logistical hurdles had to be overcomed.
‘‘We went to a new camp, Machazi. Many Zimbabweans poured to that camp expecting to be trained and go to the front. We continued to Chibawawa. There, a group of old people, the Vazee, taken from the Swahili word Mzee and the young people, the Vatoto, had separate lodgings. Those who were old enough to be trained got the chance to be trained. We cooked food for ourselves. Our Camp Commander was a Matsinye.”
She mentioned some commanders who instructed her and other young people at Chibawawa which appeared to be a camp that was earmarked for those who intended to be trained in the training bases. These included Mationesa, a female commander and Back Sandasora.
Getting educated at Chibawawa
Eddie expected to be trained as soon as she arrived in Mozambique; that was not to be. Her sibling and the Jagidhi girls had to watch in dismay as her brother and the cousin went to be trained. It was disappointing to her to see people going on to be trained while she remained in the “Vatoto’’ barracks.
‘‘Vatoto’’ was actually a corruption of ‘‘Vadoko,’’ that in simple Shona, means the ‘‘little ones’’.
“We cried bitterly for the commanders to allow us to go out there and be trained, period. The commanders said we had to be patient. They said we must continue with our education but at the same time, we would be taught basic military skills such as crawling, taking cover, handling guns, charging the enemy with bayonets and so on and so forth.’’
After the authorities put their foot down, Eddie and thousands of other children were taught basic military skills but it is important to note that they learnt party ideology. She was a Political Commissar of the Vatoto group; at one time she was a Security secretary, a Seguranza, for the young people. Even today, she remains a party cadre because of the teachings she obtained at Chibawawa.
At Chibawawa, Cde Angeline and other girls who had come of age did the household chores that made life easier for everyone at the camp. Scrubbing the floors, fetching water and collecting firewood were some of the jobs that Cde Angeline did at Chibawawa.
An incident when she survived by the skin of her teeth
Cde Matinyarara remembers vividly but with trepidation an attack at Chibawawa; she has forgotten the month and year but she says her understanding and appreciation of spirit mediums grew after that incident.
‘‘A spirit medium who stayed in the Vazee lodgings said there would be an attack at Chibawawa. It was in the morning when that prophecy circulated in the camp. I had gone to swim in Buzi River along with my sister and other girls. We saw the ‘Vampire’ plane and knew something terrible was afoot. We heard shouts of ‘take cover!’ coming from the camp. My sister scrambled out of the river, stark naked and ran away. Although I ran away, I had the good sense to put on clothes.” She quipped.
The girls ran in different directions for their proverbial dear life. They ran in the direction of the ‘Povo’ village.
In her frightened state, she could not trust safety in the vicinity of civilians. How could they help her when they didn’t have guns? She was alone in the forest and fell into a deep sleep. Frightened?, she was not although the forests were teemed with dangerous animals.
When she woke up, she was in the middle of nowhere. She hesitantly walked to the nearest homestead. The occupants were reluctant to help her but showed her the direction to the camp. Already, other comrades were searching for missing colleagues.
Although the danger had subsided somehow, Chibawawa was still under siege. For the following two weeks, they remained in the bush as the comrades constructed a makeshift camp out there in the bundu. At times, they had to sleep with clothes and shoes on for fear of an attack from the enemy.
Eddie and her colleagues remained at Chibawawa right up to the end of the war. Ceasefire came in 1979; they could not believe that independence had come but they were glad that finally, Zimbabweans could be their own masters and they could choose their own leaders without fear or favour.
‘’Hearing the voice of Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe as he urged us to be vigilant as we returned home and encapsulate unity as we celebrated the dawn of a new era. Those who were at the front went to the assembly points and we waited for our turn to come. Lorries came to take us to Nyanga. I am not sure whether it was Nyanga or Honde but when we left there, we went to a camp close to Old Mutare (Hartzel). We continued to go to school. That’s when my uncle came and took my sister and I home. Others went to Chindunduma to further their education.” Cde Angeline continued with her narration.
In 1981, she went to the newly established Ndima Government Secondary School in Chimanimani to begin her form one. Four years later, she came out with flying colours; she taught for a year at her former school, Rusitu, for that is where she wrote her form four examinations; her last position at the school was being the headgirl of the school. From 1986-1988, she enrolled at Hillside Teachers’College where she majored in Shona and Religious Studies.
From 1989 up to now, she has been teaching at Musani Secondary School since 1989. It was at this school that she met Mr Felix Tabvirakare, a fellow teacher, who went on to marry her.
She is happy that independence came and there is no discrimination in any arena of life-schools, bottle stores, trains, work and clubs.
Due to her illness, she wasn’t vetted in time to get the gratuity that many war veterans got and the subsequent pensions but she isn’t bitter about it.
‘‘Justice will prevail one day. I am a teacher largely because of the independence we got in 1980.
“One day, the authorities will re-visit my file. In the mean time, I will do my utmost to push the literacy rate to the 100% threshold.”
Cde Eddie Tabvirakare is blessed with four children, three boys and a girl.
Online Reporter