admin
Valerie Mpundu
After a previous night raid at a white Rhodesian’s farm in Hurungwe, a group of freedom fighters visited the farm again at sunrise, only to find the property deserted with a single black man on guard.
Incensed,by the man’s support to the white Rhodesian farmer, Cde Marsh cocked his gun and tried to kill him, only to be stopped by his colleagues.
“I had spared no sell out in Chundu, Dendera, Patal and Mudzimu areas. I killed such people. I massacred and showed no mercy to anyone whom I found assisting the white Rhodesians then. I went as far as Donhai, Chitsa and Tenda doing the same.
“I had so much rage in me I wanted to kill him for that grave mistake. I don’t know how my colleagues stopped me and he survived. I vowed to go back and kill him.
“But life has a funny way of helping you out, the same man I wanted to kill for misbehaving, ended marrying a woman I had impregnated and eventually took good care of my child when he was born until I came back from war. I am forever grateful to that man for taking great care of the woman and my child.
“I was angry and meant to go back and kill him but I was attacked and injured in a battle, forcing me to be withdrawn from the battlefront in Hurungwe to the rear in Zambia for treatment.
“My first child is alive because of him. He took him in and treated him as one of his own. Today, my son is alive because of this man whom I almost killed,” he said.
By the time Cde Marsh was withdrawn from the front he had fathered three children.
“Imagine if I had killed him? He turned out to be messiah.
“So I had three children during the war 14 after the war and all their mothers are alive. I have managed to take care of some of my children post war. But the war children looked for me through the war veterans’ office and I was called to confirm.
“Women aren’t they a clever lot! I don’t know how it happened but I met two of my children at the district offices on the same day.
“With the first post-war wife I have six children, the second wife and seven children with the other. I also had one more child.
“I have 17 children you can confirm with the database. I am from the Mhofu clan all my 17 children are alive,” proudly declaring Cde Marsh Manyika (72) born in Chahwana near Dotito in Mt Darwin and joined the liberation struggle in 1972 on the ZIPRA side after an arsonist attack on his village
It all started when Cde Marsh was sent to deliver a parcel to his maternal grandmother’s home in Kanengoni Village, Sipolilo now Guruve.
“When the comrades in Sipolilo came and asked us to join them I did not think twice I had been vividly torn by the visions of fire engulfing everything at my village I was baying for blood. Everybody was surprised to see me taking the initiative, I did not even care if the other guys would not want to join. I wanted to fight for my country and my dear ones.
“It was then when I met Cde Trust who was shocked at my reaction. I wanted to avenge. Memories of the fire were still ripe. The pain and agony in me was too traumatising to ignore,” he said.
Unsure of the lad’s decision Cde Trust assigned him on a mission to get food and cunningly followed closely behind him.
“I arrived at the camp and did as I had been instructed, it was upon my return that I bumped into Cde Trust who seemed to have appeared from nowhere. I was shocked because I had left him in camp,” still grapples with the memory to date.
It was after this test he earned the Cde’s trust, gaining automatic entry into the Zambia West Camp in 1973 to train for 6 months.
“I came back and operated in Sipolilo, Chundu, Kazangarara and greater parts of Hurungwe spilling over into Kariba.
‘Yes I had trained in Zambia but my deepest desire was to go East ie Russia or China. Every comrade I met would brag about having trained in the East.
“Oh I deeply desired having trained there. Russia! Russia! I wanted to be a force from the East. However deep as my desire was I continued in the force and never went East,”
To date Cde Marsh dreams of one-day stepping foot into Russian camp. A desire he still cherishes decades after the aftermath.
After training in Zambia his group was destined for Gwanda but the battle in Sipolilo and Hurungwe kept them too busy to proceed to Gwanda.
It was then in 1974 when he met Cde Banda whose grave he has now identified at Hurungwe Mountain.
“After days of travelling we were starved and decided to get food in a nearby village in Kemureza. We were now under Cde Banda’s command. He was a feared leader commanding Northern Front sector 2. We were sent further down into Gache Gache.
“Banda gave us four days to travel from Gache Gache to Chundu. It was a risky time to travel during the day as the enemy was on guard. We went through Nehodza and other reserves like Direction and Hamangwe,” he recalled.
It was upon their arrival in Chitikira a chopper was gunned down and to date remains of the plane are still there.
Continuing with their escapades the freedom fighters were rescued by a good Samaritan who offered them food but warned them to not stay the night as it was a risk.
However, his good deed went punished as he was apprehended and mercilessly killed for aiding and abetting alleged fugitives.
They finally met Cde Banda in Chundu who informed them that villagers had been captured and were being held hostage in Chitindiva.
Only one village was spared to be used as a torture house. Masses would be beaten, gagged and interrogated in that ghost house every morning.
Ruthless and full of wrath Cde Marsh was on a mission to kill and nothing would stand in his way. He dealt with sell outs reliving memories of the fire which gutted his village.
“Like I said before, I spared no sell outs in Chundu, Dendera, Patal and Mudzimu. I massacred and showed no mercy to anyone whom I found assisting the whites then, I went as far as Donhai, Chitsa and Tenda.
In 1978, days after Cde Marsh wanted to kill the man who would later turn out to be the stepfather and guardian of his unborn child, he was shot and injured in battle.
All the children that had been gathered at the base were attacked and killed at night. Much to Marsh’s chagrin.
Eight of the men in camp were attacked the following day at 9am and Cde Marsh was shot in the stomach.
“I disguised as a woman took a fellow comrades gun and escaped into Chipura. Most of my comrades had been injured.
“One Cde Mapfumo who had been maimed on the limbs could still walk, he managed to tie and put pressure on my wound as my intestines were gushing out. He simply wrapped a jacket around my tummy to sustain the bleeding,” he said.
Marsh believes he is alive to be humiliated to see a man he wanted to kill but turned messiah.
“Maybe I was kept alive so that I would give my fellow comrades a proper burial. We fought diligently and selflessly to attain our independence. But I regret I had three children during the war.”
Cde March has identified more than 20 sites in Hurungwe where former freedom fighters lie buried in shallow graves in Hurungwe.
Online Reporter