Obituary

of evictions including Umhlaba Umangele by Ndabezinhle Sigogo, Creatures at the Top by Stephen Mpofu and Unsettled Land by Jocelyn Alexander. ZPRA commander Alfred Nikita Mangena’s parents were among those evicted from the same area. NK was later to learn about these racially motivated greed driven land appropriations. For him it was like attending a school of political education. More influences came to bear on him leading him to choose a political career that saw him incarcerated in prisons and finally going to join the liberation struggle in Zambia.

It was time for NK to attend school. He went to Beitbridge where his sister, married to J B Hove, lived. The school where he did First Year, Substandards A and B was called Majini Primary School and was run by the Lutheran Church which had schools in Mberengwa, Gwanda and Beitbridge. The year was 1938.

In 1940 he went back to enrol at Gwatemba Primary School which was run by the BICC. The next school was Wanezi Mission which was established in 1924 and also run by the BICC, and had Reverend Albert Brennaman as principal and Maphendla Moyo from Sikithi as Head Teacher. There he completed Standard 6 and enrolled at Umzingwane Industrial Government School for boys. The school had started in Tsholotsho, but relocated in 1945 due to the menace of malaria carrying mosquitoes. John Malcolm Hammond, a strict disciplinarian, was the principal. At the time Mazongo Ncube was the Head Prefect and deputised by Cephas Maphosa. A Mr. Bhule took them in Building Studies while Leather Craft and Tannery were the responsibly of Mothobi. Both Chinake and Furusa taught Agriculture.

Umzingwane Industrial Government School was