War Collaborators cry for more

Tino Chakanyuka, Sunday News Reporter
EVERY war has heroes and villains. There are unsung heroes too. Zimbabwe’s liberation war, similarly, had heroes and its own fair share of villains. It too, like any other, had cadres whose role has often been understated.

In April of every year Zimbabwe marks Independence Day, a day set aside to celebrate the country’s independence from British colonial rule.

Zimbabwe got its independence through the selfless gesture by thousands of men and women, who dedicated their lives to free the country from the shackles of colonialism. Some of these altruistic carders however, never lived to experience the independence they fought for, others managed to cross over into the proverbial “Promised Land” albeit maimed and without limbs.

Some of the liberation war fighters who are alive today may not represent the desired image of a Zimbabwe they struggled for. Many look too ordinary, hardly anything more than their peasant parents whom they left home after crossing into Mozambique and Zambia to train as liberation war fighters. Some are now wheel chair bound, others portray a sad picture of poverty, while some, ofcourse, are well up having ventured into farming and other business ventures, thanks to the fruits of independence.

In spite of the miserable plight some liberation war fighters find themselves in today, many find solace in that they managed to wrestle this country from the jaws of colonialists some who had already long regarded Zimbabwe as “their country”. While some liberation war fighters may not be happy with their plight, there is a group, whose role during the war was critical, and feels they are yet to receive due and commensurate recognition. They somehow feel they are the unsung heroes of the liberation war.

As the liberation war story is told, more often than not, we hear of the exploits of the liberation war fighters, the selfless sacrifices they made and the bloody battles they waged but little is told of those who collaborated the war.

The story of war collaborators has for a long time remained on the sidelines of the country’s liberation war discourse.

Liberation war collaborators worked hand in glove with liberation war fighters to dislodge the white minority Government, yet after the realisation of the Independence dream, it has always been the liberation war fighters who are often showered with glowing eulogies.

Zimbabwe’s liberation war was waged using guerrilla tactics, adopted from countries such as Cuba, the Soviet Union, Cyprus and Algeria, countries which influenced Zimbabwe’s struggle and gave unparalleled support.

The guerrilla warfare had its principles. Founder of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung) elucidated the principles when he opined, “The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea”.

His thinking implied that liberation war fighters, who during the war were known as guerrillas because of their methods of fighting, relied heavily on the masses.

Just as fish cannot live outside water, the guerrillas’ cause would count to nothing without support from the masses.

While the guerrillas went to the war front to confront the enemy, facing bullets, landmines and sometimes chemical attacks, liberation war collaborators made life a little easier for the fighters in a number of ways.

“War collaborators were responsible for gathering intelligence on the enemy for the fighters. They would tell the comrades where the enemy was, how many were they and the sort of weaponry the enemy had.

“The war collaborators would also carry weapons from the rear to the war front. When some of the fighters got injured, they would be taken care of by the collaborators. Essentials such as food and clothing were supplied by war collaborators,” said Cde Pupurai Togarepi, the national chairperson of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators Association.

By assisting liberation war fighters, who by then were branded terrorists by the settler regime, war collaborators made themselves accomplices in the crime of “terrorism”. They too would face death if they were caught by the regime’s authorities.

“It was dangerous because as the war progressed authorities began to realise that the liberation war fighters derived their power from the people. Authorities began to hunt down collaborators and if you were caught you would be killed, maimed or sent to jail if you were lucky.

The authorities started looking at war collaborators as part of the machinery. They were part of the revolutionary machinery and were a critical feature in the prosecution of the war.

What we are asking for is not financial compensation because we realise that the Government has no capacity to do this. We just want even non-monetary benefits like social welfare benefits and hospital exemptions,” said Cde Togarepi.

Veteran journalist and liberation war historian Mr Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu concurs with Cde Togarepi adding that the war might have taken longer to be won had it not been for the swift work by war collaborators.

“They were extremely important to the operations of the guerrillas. War collaborators were to a guerrilla what water is to fish. Without water fish can’t survive, and without the collaborators, the guerrillas’ cause might have suffered a still birth. War collaborators were vital to the guerrillas and would provide them with essential intelligence on the enemy as well as food and clothing supplies. We could say they fought side by side with the guerillas.”

War collaborators somehow feel that their contribution to the ultimate liberation of the country has not been duly honoured, as much as that of their counter parts with whom they waged the war side by side.

Cde Togarepi said more needs to be done to recognise the contributions made by war collaborators.

On this point Mr Ndlovu begged to differ.

“I doubt that can be possible to compensate everyone who took part in the war. There are a lot of people who participated in the war but it would be practically impossible to give recognition to each one of them. In my view no country has ever done that. You may research on all countries that waged the guerrilla warfare. Where would it leave our economy if we were to compensate everyone? I feel thank you maybe just enough,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu added: “War collaborators are part of the population we call heroes and when we celebrate Heroes Day, they are part of the people we will be honouring. As such they should not feel like they are not being honoured enough”.

He went further to argue that what may disgruntle war veterans and war collaborators maybe the fact that most people who benefited from the Zimbabwe’s independence by being appointed into high positions may not have gone to the war front.

It is therefore important, particularly for those born after the liberation struggle, to accord liberation war fighters their deserved space.