Zim must be free at all cost: JZ Moyo
THE war of liberation will be remembered for many things, one of which is the painful demise of prominent nationalists through assassinations. One of the victims of such acts was the second vice president of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu), Cde Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo.
Cde Moyo, who was affectionately known as “JZ”, died on January 22, 1977 in Zambia after he opening exploded.
He had just returned from Mozambique where he had met the late former President Robert Mugabe to discuss the integration of Zanu and Zapu.
He was reburied at the National Heroes Acre on August 11, 1981.
JZ was born in Plumtree 1927 and went to Mzingwane School after which he trained as a builder and carpenter. He joined the trade union movement in Bulawayo in the 1950s.
His political activism started when he joined the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress Bulawayo branch, and rose through the ranks to become its secretary and then its chairman in 1957.
His participation in politics led to his arrest and detention for three months on February 26, 1959.
In May of the same year he was detained again at Marandellas (Marondera) prison under the new Preventative Detention Act and was only released in 1960.
In November of the same year he was elected into the national executive of the National Democratic Party (NDP) at the party’s congress.
The party was subsequently banned in December of the following year and JZ moved to Zapu as its national treasurer in 1962.
In 1963 when there was a split in the party after some of its leaders broke away to form the Zimbabwe African National Union, JZ stuck with Zapu leader the late Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo and was appointed financial secretary of the People’s Caretaker Council (PCC).
During the same year he was sent on a tour of various Commonwealth countries to discuss issues that were affecting the country then.
Soon after, he was appointed the council’s external executive and he moved to Lusaka where he remained until his death.
When an attempt was made in 1971 to bring Zapu and Zanu under one organisation Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (Frolizi), he refused and took over the leadership of Zapu.
In Lusaka he directed the first stages of the armed struggle. In 1975 he attended the Victoria Falls Conference that took place on August 26 aboard a South African Railways train halfway across the Victoria Falls Bridge.
The meeting was the culmination of the “détente” policy introduced and championed by Balthazar Johannes Vorster ( John Vorster), the Prime Minister of South Africa, which was then under apartheid and was attempting to improve its relations with the Frontline States to Rhodesia’s north, west and east by helping to produce a settlement in Rhodesia.
The participants in the conference were a delegation led by the Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith on behalf of his government, and a nationalist delegation attending under the banner of Abel Muzorewa’s African National Council, which for this conference also incorporated delegates from Zanu, Zapu and the Frolizi.
Upon his return to Lusaka, JZ was offered the position of deputy chairman to the late Ndabaningi Sithole in the Zimbabwe Liberation Committee (ZLC), but refused.
On September 12, 1975 JZ and three other Zapu representatives were suspended from the ANC by Bishop Muzorewa for his principled stance on issues.
On April 14, 1976, he became the second Vice President of Zapu. He was given full powers to deal with the military affairs of the party.
He built the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA), the military wing of Zapu over many years in exile, and mobilised worldwide support for the freedom
of Zimbabwe, and the opposition of Ian Smith’s white dominance.
JZ worked hard to coordinate both the political and military objectives of the armed struggle. He advocated for unity between Zanla and Zipra forces and as well as Zanu and Zapu to promote greater unity of purpose and action.
He was helped set up the Patriotic Front organisation, which embraced Zanu and Zapu. On October 1976 he was part of the delegation to the Geneva Conference in Switzerland that attempted to bring about agreement on a new constitution for Rhodesia as a way of ending the war.
One of the longest survivors of the PF-Zapu senior leadership, Cde Jane Lungile Ngwenya told the Sunday News in an interview that she was present when JZ was killed by a parcel bomb.
“It was on 22 January 1977, and it was a Saturday. Zambia was hosting an OAU (Organisation of African Unity) meeting and the whole of Africa was there,” she said.
“JZ had gone to Mozambique on a Thursday and returned the following day, Friday. There was a parcel for JZ that came through and our administrator, the now late Amos Jack Ngwenya forgot to give him on his return from Maputo, so he received it on Saturday.
“I had organised a meeting at the office to discuss the talking points of the meeting he was to attend with some diplomats and friendly countries and organisations. We wanted him to tell the people from the United Nations and the OAU about the challenges that we were facing.
“So we went to the office. JZ was given his letter and no one even suspected anything because he had been expecting that letter anyway. We had overheard a conversation about the letter he was waiting for and little did we know that his communication had been intercepted.”
JZ will forever be remembered as a man of principle who refused to sacrifice the struggle for genuine independence on the altar of opportunism and parochial objectives.
He will also be remembered for fighting divisions within Zapu and his stand against transient and self-seeking political organisation.
Since independence, several streets in cities like Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru have been named after him.
On June 1, 2018, President Mnangagwa officially renamed Fylde Air Force Base in Chegutu to Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo Air Force Base.
In his address during the renaming of the air force base, President Mnangagwa urged Zimbabweans to uphold JZ’s virtues of unwavering and principled dedication to the country.
“Upon his return to Lusaka, Cde Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo was immediately offered the position of deputy chairman to the late Ndabaningi Sithole in the Zimbabwe Liberation Committee ( ZLC), but he yet again refused,” said President Mnangagwa.
“His refusal to follow individuals who had dubious aspirations to derail the liberation struggle demonstrated that the late nationalist was principled, focused and never swayed in the fight against colonial rule.”
President Mnangagwa said JZ Moyo’s commitment to the revolution was demonstrated by his regular visits to the war front despite numerous attacks by the Rhodesian Front.
One of his remarkable quotes in Zambia President Mnangagwa said was: “Inspirational figures, if you die for Zimbabwe, you live forever and not a minute without the movement, not an hour without the people, not a day without the struggle, Zimbabwe must be free at all cost.”
Additional source: A Guide to the Heroes Acre: Some basic facts about Zimbabwe’s heroes and the Heroes Acre. (2019) Harare: Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.