Online ReporterChronicles of the 2nd Chimurenga
CDE DAVISON JOHN TAKAWIRA MUPFUNYA, whose Chimurenga name was Red Number Mapondera Dzinopfuta, this week chronicles to our Society Editor PRINCE MUSHAWEVATO how he eventually crossed into Mozambique to join the liberation struggle and the challenges they faced at the Tembwe base.
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Q: In our previous discussion, you highlighted your family’s involvement in the liberation struggle. Can you tell us how you eventually joined the war?
A: With two of my brothers having already crossed into Mozambique for the liberation struggle, it was difficult for me to make the bold decision to cross into Mozambique.
However, one day, there was a serious battle in Rukariro, Uzumba, where some freedom fighters from that section perished and left their guns behind. When their surviving colleagues visited our village with the guns, they gathered the villagers . . .
Around 11pm, they dismissed everyone else except me and my colleague. After that, a couple of freedom fighters were instructed to accompany us home to get our clothes.
When they accompanied us, we just assumed it was part of a drill, and that they would later release us. But there was a much bigger plan.
Q: What was the plan?
A: As we returned to where we had left the other fighters, they called for a parade and made an announcement that was to change the course of our lives.
One of the comrades told the parade that they were passing over the deceased comrades’ guns to me and my colleague. I was shocked.
I had not seen this coming and was not prepared to join the war. However, that was it; a gun was handed over to me — it was an AK-47.
Soon after that, we joined them in a march, as we changed base. The senior fighters in the group told us that they knew we were untrained and had tasked some of the trained fighters in the section to assist.
They were supposed to gradually train us until we mastered most, if not all, of the things that mattered in the liberation struggle.
The section I joined included the likes of Cdes Mubairakuenda, Dzasukwa Tembo, Mukadota and Timire. We travelled together for close to three months, moving towards the Chikwaka, Goromonzi area.
Q: What exactly were you doing with them considering you were not trained for combat?
A: We would accompany the senior fighters to raid the white man’s cattle in those areas. We called the raided cows makabheji.
These were used to feed the several comrades in the area. In Chikwaka, they called me Themba Magorira while operating under the Takawira Sector. However, I did not engage in battles because I was not yet experienced.
While there, a Level D leader joined us, but he was later promoted and transferred to the Guru Sector, where he was supposed to assume the position of sectorial PC (political commissar).
He wanted to be accompanied there. We travelled through Uzumba, picking up other comrades along the way who had also come from Chikwaka, as well as others from our own village.
I had my gun the entire time. We reached the last base before the border but had to briefly stop after receiving intelligence that the Rhodesian forces were heavily monitoring movements at all crossing points.
The unforeseen prolonged stay created logistical nightmares for us. Later on, the patrols eased and we moved towards the border.
When you get to the crossing point, there is a fence on the Mozambican side that is about three metres high and another one on the Zimbabwean side. The area in between, known as no man’s land, was littered with booby traps (landmines). Manoeuvring that place was not easy; it required strategy.
Q: How did you successfully cross the area?
A: Senior comrades would cut the wire and then drag their feet for a distance of about three metres.
If you stepped on the landmines and lifted your leg, it would detonate. It took us a lot of time to cross because there were so many of us.
While we were still crossing, the authorities noticed our presence and deployed searchlights, which caused panic, especially among those who were yet to
cross.
I had already crossed and was observing everything from the Mozambican side.
Some of our colleagues got injured because of the stampede that ensued after the searchlights were deployed. In fact, I think we lost three of our colleagues there.
Q: You can carry on.
A: After crossing, we proceeded to Chingwere, a small town after the Nyamapanda border post. We were welcomed in the morning by comrades who were already based there.
New recruits were taken to different bases in the area, while some of the seasoned comrades were to resume their journey back to Zimbabwe. I had a gun but refused to return to Zimbabwe.
So, they took the gun away from me and I got into one of the trucks that proceeded to Changara and into Tete town.
We stayed in Tete for about three days before proceeding to Tembwe. That is when I came face to face with real challenges of the liberation struggle. There was no adequate food, people were suffering from different diseases and inda (lice) gave us challenges.
There were also jiggers (matekenya) that affected the feet. We stayed there for about six months before it was announced that they wanted a group to go to East Africa for training. I volunteered and got into the first group that left for East Africa after our arrival at Tembwe. Our group travelled via Beira.
Next week, Cde Mupfunya will narrate how they were forced to delay their travel plans to East Africa after their group’s food was poisoned by Selous Scouts. He will also recount learning about an ambush that had been set for them by South Africans working with the Rhodesians.
leeroy