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LAST WEEK, CDE BATSIRAI GONDO, whose Chimurenga name was Resistance Mawuto, shared with our Political Editor KUDA BWITITI his harrowing experiences of torture at the hands of Rhodesian security forces. He recounted his escape and how he proceeded to join the liberation struggle in 1974. This week, he focuses on his time at Tembue.
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Q: Tell us about your time at Tembue.
A: We moved to the camp at Tembue sometime in September 1975. It was a large camp. When I first arrived there, there were about 1 000 men and women. Some of the seniors at the camp were former Vice President Joice Mujuru, the late Reward Marufu, Ndoda Mupararidzi and Desmond Makasha. We received basic military training. We faced many challenges at Tembue.
Q: What were these challenges?
A: Hunger and diseases were the main challenges. Because we were such a large group, food was never enough. We would go for three days without a proper meal. We survived by eating tree roots or tree bark.
Many comrades died due to hunger and diseases. I was assigned to pick up dead bodies because I was physically fit and was also seen as fearless.
Q: So, the death toll from hunger and diseases was so severe that you had to be deployed to pick up dead bodies?
A: Yes. That was the extent of the hunger and diseases at Tembue. Every day, I picked up dead bodies. I had three shifts — in the morning, afternoon and evening. In the morning, the shift would start around 7am.
We moved around the barracks and rivers where comrades bathed, looking for dead bodies to pick up and take back to the camp.
At resting sites, you would find a comrade and assume he or she was resting, only to realise that he or she had died. For example, in the morning, we could pick up 34 bodies.
Around 1pm, we picked up about 17 bodies. In the evening, we would pick up an average of 14 bodies. Comrades died as a result of biological and chemical factors, as well as bullet wounds.
Q: Please explain the biological and chemical factors that caused comrades to die.
A: Countries like Sweden and Denmark gave us contaminated food and clothes. This caused diseases that killed the comrades slowly.
There was also an outbreak of blood-sucking lice. I call it biological warfare because these insects caused the death of many comrades. There was an outbreak of lice at the camp.
These insects were horrible. They would eat up your leg, with the wound going deep, up to the bone.
We called the wounds 25 shillings because the size of the wounds was like that of a 25-shilling coin.
The other challenge was that we received bright-coloured clothes. These were not good because they became target indicators, making it easy for enemy forces to identify us during their attacks.
Q: So, you were attacked at the camp?
A: Yes, one of the attacks happened while I was in the kitchen. It was sometime in the morning. The enemy forces liked to attack in the morning, particularly during our parades.
I had planned to scrounge for some food because I was extremely hungry. As I stood in the kitchen, I suddenly heard the sound of gunfire.
I realised it was an air raid. The sound of the bombs pierced my ears so much that my eardrums do not function properly to this day.
I ran for dear life as the raid continued.
The raid at Tembue lasted for about seven days. One of the things I remember from this attack was that President (Robert) Mugabe came to the camp for two days. He was with his comrades as the battle continued.
Q: How did you escape the raid?
A: I ran into the bush. After running for a distance of about three kilometres, I met a group of girls, about 17 of them.
Suddenly, a lion appeared. It seemed the lion was confused by the gunfire and smoke. There was something spiritual about that lion. It was huge.
The team of girls asked me to lead them to Sabonde, where we needed to go to escape the raid by the enemy forces.
We also saw other comrades and they advised us that we needed to go back to Tembue, but to a different base, as directed by the commanders.
After returning to Tembue, we continued to face the same challenges of hunger and diseases.
I was then selected as part of a group of 700 comrades to go to Mgagao in Tanzania for comprehensive military training.
There were some dealings as we waited in Beira for a Chama Cha Mapinduzi ship that was supposed to take us to Mgagao.
However, it was decided that we would go to Mgagao by air, using planes that we commonly called Dhete.
I arrived at Mgagao in October 1976 to start military training.
We were trained by Chinese and Tanzanian instructors.
Next week, Cde Gondo will recount his transformative experiences in Tanzania, where he received training that forged him into a decorated freedom fighter.
Online Reporter