We strayed into Mozambique, got detained

WE continue our interview with Colonel (Rtd) Ernest Mganda Dube, a former guerilla fighter who saw action in Mashonaland West’s Hurungwe District following his deployment on 5 March 1978. In November the following year, he found himself shifted from the Northern Front which Mashonaland West fell under according to the ZPRA operational regions to the Southern Front as a Political Commissar for the Matobo Sector. Col (Rtd) Dube whose pseudonym was Cde Bookless Chizororo is now in the academia as a political scientist. He is also a resource person at the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology. Below he continues his conversation with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS). Read on . . . 

MS: In our last interview you spoke about Cde Ruredzo who returned to Nkume Base in Zambia armed only with a hand grenade after losing his machine gun to the enemy at the Mushonga homestead. Let’s pick the conversation from there.

Col (Rtd) Dube: Prior to the night of their departure we had press-ganged quite a number of recruits, two boys from Mudara Hotera, Friday from Kapiri — the Jim Bark general area, and many others from Chikova villages. There were also girls among the recruits. Unfortunately, one boy got killed by a rhino towards the Zambezi River. I was told how emotive his parting words were, typically a heavy-loaded ChiShona ritual ‘ndoda kuzorora’. Once allowed to get the rest, he again remarked ‘macomrades, ini ndakundikana, yendererai mberi ne Chimurenga’. To that effect that was his last breath. His corpse, I am told was interred in a shallow grave which I believe his parents never got to know.

MS: Terrible. Then what remained of you in the operational area?

Col (Rtd) Dube: We did not stay for a week before realising that our ammunition was getting too low such that we could not carry out a real effective offensive harassment to the enemy. Eventually, we press-ganged another small group of recruits whom we marched to Zambia. Our march to Zambia at that time was without disturbing incidents and we reunited with other comrades who had left with Cde Ruredzo.

MS: Did you have a good rest this time around?

Col (Rtd) Dube: Not really, we were just given five days of rest. That time around Cde Rodwell Nyika assigned us a reconnaissance task on Kanyemba Garrison on the enemy river bank located exactly opposite the Zambian town of Feira. Our crossing of the Zambezi River was full of risks as the enemy patrols both air and ground soldiers were really threatening. To manage enemy observation points, we moved approximately five kilometres to the east of our usual crossing area but at a point characterised by a cliff-rising range. The second day after crossing, moving in a meandering route, we finally came to an open low-lying ground where Kanyemba villages and the enemy camp were located. When we were still pondering on our next move and approach to the open area, we heard an enemy machine gun fire which was not really directed at us. We then assumed that we had been noticed somehow by the Doma people whom we knew were highly mobile in the area but so difficult for us to see first. 

MS: How did you react to the enemy fire?

Col (Rtd) Dube: We decided to move a bit, some distance away from the enemy but this time on the eastern side of the settlement. Despite crossing a gravel road before sunset, nobody could interpret the topography. Instead, we had some difficulty in digging the gravel road where we laid a landmine which was intended to effect a good killing. We slept a little distance from the landmine killing point.        

MS: What happened the following day?

Col (Rtd) Dube: We continued marching a one-horn approach to the camp/settlements which we could not map out well due to the thick bush prominent in the area. On coming across a trek we noticed some active spoors which we identified as those of Chinese canvas tennis shoes preferred by Frelimo soldiers of Mozambique as well as ZANLA comrades. Upon searching for more signs of identity we bumped into a man whose ChiShona sounded Sena. What we got from him was shocking as the man told us that we were now in Mozambique at a place known as Zombo guarded by Frelimo soldiers, some few kilometres from where we were. We tasked our newly-found ‘friend’ to take us to the Frelimo Base but he refused, preferring to go alone and break the news of our presence.

MS: Okay, carry on Comrade.

Col (Rtd) Dube: After an hour’s wait towards 5pm he had collected us to the base. To our surprise where the man stopped us there was a small shed in the middle of what looked like a resting place abandoned some few hours ago by its occupants. There was no sign of Frelimo soldiers. All of a sudden the man had become dumb and not responding much besides saying ‘ndipopano’.  

MS: What then happened? Take us through that encounter.

Col (Rtd) Dube: There was a burst of a voice ordering us to lay down our arms ‘kana muri macomrade vigai pfuti dzenyu pasi’ meaning if we were really comrades we had to put down our arms. The next command ordered us to move to a spot, a distance from our weapons. Immediately following the command, the Frelimo soldiers who were in the trenches emerged and surrounded us with their rifles and bazookas at hip and shoulder levels. We had been taken captive despite our effort in explaining to them that we were ZAPU guerillas. 

MS: What became of you after that unfortunate incident?

Col (Rtd) Dube: We had been captured and we were ferried across the Zambezi River using a speedy boat that carried about 12 men or so. Since we were between 16 and 20 we were then crossed in three waves to which as the commander, sector logistics I was in the last wave. To my shock as I got pushed into a dark room, the sound of the doors and application of keys immediately told me  that this was a prison. Furthermore, I had been locked together with my other five comrades with whom I had crossed with.  The other comrades were nowhere to be seen. We finally located each other through voice shouts where we told each other ‘ukuthi sesibotshiwe’. The next morning we were given isitshwala and beans which was unpalatable. However, as guerillas we made good use of the food. 

MS: How were you treated there?

Col (Rtd) Dube: Here and there individuals would be taken out by the Frelimo guys and come back saying they were being harassed. We did not stay in detention for long. One afternoon, approximately on the fourth day we found ourselves being escorted to a Frelimo truck that had been parked outside. Half of us were ordered to board but without any weapons. Where were we heading to? Guess what, we were heading towards the Zambia-Mozambique crossing point near Luangwa which was about 500 metres away from the Zambezi River. At the River Luangwa, Mozambique bank, a steamboat which had taken us across the Zambezi on the day of our arrest was waiting for us. That is the boat that took us to the Zambian side where we found Zambian security details comprising the police, para-military and others in civilian attire waiting for us. As the boat steamed back, I recall seeing two Frelimo soldiers signing papers together with their Zambian counterparts.

MS: During that period were you cuffed either in handcuffs or leg irons?

Col (Rtd) Dube: We were not and that led us to realise that we were being released and handed over to the Zambians. In fact, we were conversing to each other and we caught the attention of a Zambian officer who asked:  ‘hey, you guys were you captured?’. We had to narrate our story to the Zambian officer who then asked further: ‘are you not Rhodesian Selous Scouts?’. In getting our real identity, he called other Zambian officers to come and hear the news. To our utter shock, the Zambian then broke the news that the clearance papers being signed were about our en-route passage to Beira.  Frelimo had convinced the Zambians that they had captured Rhodesian Selous Scouts.     

MS: That was a tricky situation, please go on and tell us how you managed the situation.

Col (Rtd) Dube: As we angrily charged towards the Frelimo guys, the Zambians intervened by calling for order  while the second wave was just docking. In no time, they had joined us in expressing our disgust feeling against the Frelimo. Further pandemonium ensued as we demanded the return of our rifles to which the Zambians relayed the information to their Frelimo counterparts. In a couple of minutes, a boat with Frelimo guys on board was gone, leaving us at the mercy of the Zambians. Imagine our situation had escalated to really Frelimo captives. Two hours later at around 5pm, the steamboat was back with rusty  AK-47s whose buts had long been cut. Unfortunately, the two men could not explain why they had exchanged our weapons and more so without magazines.    

MS: But did you finally get your weapons?

Col (Rtd) Dube: The anger kept on growing as Frelimo soldiers were dilly-dallying on our weapons. To worsen our plight, the regional commander, Rodwell Nyika had arrived on the scene and his interrogative questions could not be answered. Despite our weapons having  finally returned under the plea that all had been corrected we were surprised further to receive our guns with old rusty magazines.  Nevertheless, Commander Rodwell drove us back to Nkume Base in his usual rage character. As the norm our stay was strictly three days. To that effect, the 19 or so of us were back across the River Zambezi.

MS: When was this and how was the operational area as far as the presence of ZPRA was concerned?

Col (Rtd) Dube: I guess it should have been August because the Zambezi water flow was rising. From that time and December of that year which was in 1978, the operational theatre was teeming with many fighters. Our Deputy Chief of Operations, Richard Mataure had visited us to structure us into detachments in line with ZPRA’s Zero Hour Conventional War Offensive strategy. Besides the arrival of new groups like those Angola trained under the second group among others, there was also the arrival of combatants trained in special weapon systems such as Surface to Air Missiles, engineering, and reconnaissance among others.  In a nutshell, both the enemy commander and we had stepped up the level of attrition.

ν To be concluded next week