The Press was sold a dummy at our pass-out parade

WE continue our interview with former freedom fighter Lieutenant-Colonel (Rtd) Alson Masilinge Muleya. Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya trained as an officer cadet at the Zambia Military Academy at Kohima during the armed struggle. He had left the country to join the armed struggle in April 1977. 

After training, he was given command of a unit and  deployed to the Northern Front 2 (NF2), an operational area that covered districts such as Binga, Lupane, Nkayi and Gokwe.  

Today Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya continues his narration by telling our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about his journey to Botswana and training at Kohima. Below are excerpts from the interview. Read on… 

MS: Last time you were talking about crossing over the Shashe River into Botswana. May we pick the conversation from there.

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: Unlike where we were coming from where it had rained heavily, the weather was different in Botswana. It was very dry, no water. We were very thirsty. We started walking from the Shashe River about 9am to a place called Maryhill. We were now desperate for water and the ground was flat there. As we continued walking we got to a place where there was a high ground and we saw a windmill. That raised our hopes of getting water. However, we were disappointed to find out that the windmill was not working. We then soldiered on and got to a road that was patrolled by the Botswana Defence Forces (BDF) and that was around 1pm. We then stumbled on a pool of water and that is where we drank from despite the fact that there was evidence that the elephants had been stomping there. The water was not clean at all, but we had no choice. We then set off on our journey. As we were walking along the road then came two men who were cycling. It was clear that the two had been drinking wherever they were coming from as one of them was struggling to cycle. They stopped and we spoke to them. I suggested to the one who looked very drunk that I take over his bicycle and he sits on the carrier. The other one had Luka as his passenger. We moved until we got Marryhill which is situated near the South Africa-Botswana border.

MS: How were you received there by the authorities?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: We were taken into the local prison facility where we were given food.  We were given game meat as relish. Marryhill is close to the Limpopo River. We then left Marryhill and set off for Litswelimuti, a place where the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is said to have originated from. It’s about 10km from Marryhill. It was at Litswelimuti that we found the 72 others that we had separated from while we were at Toporo.   We put up in classrooms with men given theirs while girls had their own. The following day we moved to Gobajango where we bought a 50kg of mealie-meal as a group.  The girls went to the bush to pick amacimbi which we ate with isitshwala. The following day trucks came to collect us and we were driven to Moropong from where we spent two days before being moved to Selibe-Phikwe.   At Selibe-Phikwe we were also well received with tents pitched to accommodate us. There was a man there called Cde Gumbo, a Zapu/ZPRA official who then picked me to assist him in capturing information of the recruits. That was after he had discovered that I had O-levels. My new role came with its own disadvantage as others were flown to Zambia, leaving me behind. After some time I told Cde Gumbo that I had left home to join the armed struggle. I had not left home to spend time writing down people’s names. I said I had joined the war to fight the Rhodesians. I was later released and flown to Zambia. When we got to Zambia we were driven to Nampundwe Transit Camp where the situation changed radically.

MS: Take us through your time at Nampundwe.

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: There were many  recruits there, thousands of people and it was tough for us as we were being introduced to military drills. The instructors were removing the civilian life, thinking and turning us into military animals. I have read the testimonies of the life at Nampundwe in your column from others interviewed here by Sunday News. They have described it exactly as it was. So I won’t get into details except to say it was very tough going through military drills as new arrivals. It was at Nampundwe that we were also given pseudonyms with me becoming Cde Edward Banda. At Nampundwe we underwent serious political orientation, a move that was meant to widen our horizons so that we understand why we were fighting the Rhodesians.

MS: Okay. From Nampundwe where did you go?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: We were taken to the Freedom Camp (FC). I had stayed at Nampundwe for two to three months. At FC we were introduced to proper guerilla tactics. While still at FC I was among those selected to go for an officer’s cadet course at the Zambia Military Academy at Kohima. We started at Kohima on September 1977 and completed the training in October 1978.  Initially our group was more than 100 but because it was strenuous some of the cadres fell by the wayside along the way, resulting in 95 of us being commissioned as officers by the then Zambian President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda. In fact, Dr Kaunda was the reviewing officer at our pass-out parade. Our Commander-In-Chief, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo also attended the pass-out parade.  

MS: How was the training?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: It was as tough as they come. A cadet officer’s course is not child’s play and that is why some of our colleagues failed to complete it. The course was very strenuous. The commandant of Kohima at that time was Colonel Kunsanama. The intake that was ahead of us consisted of Zambians and Tswanas while ours just us, the ZPRA cadres was a rung below.

MS: What military areas did you cover?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya:   We covered conventional warfare, command, administration, how to manage your man and place, map reading, tactics, weapons, communication, voice procedure, and so on. It was a tough course as there was also a lot of PT which is physical training.

MS: So after completing your training did you have a pass-out parade like what we see here in Zimbabwe in Gweru?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: Yes we had one, but there was a lot of drama. As we were preparing for the pass-out parade we were told that the Rhodesians were planning to bomb us on that occasion. Mind you pass-out parades of such magnitude are graced by the Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces who also is also the Head of State. As a result of the importance attached to the occasion and the Head of State officiating,  the event obviously attracted the attention of the Press. President Kaunda under what circumstances was supposed to commission us, but there was a fix if the event was to be held under the full glare of the world as we were a guerilla army. It was going to be unstrategic on the part of Zambia and on ourselves.  The hostile Press was going to have a field day.

MS: What was finally done?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: The Press was sold a dummy. It was announced that there was going to be a pass-out parade of an Officer Cadet intake so, so at Mlungushi Rock instead of at Kohima.

ν To be continued next week