Tales of the liberation war in Zim

◆ From Page 9 in pure Zezuru because I had lived with my father in Mbare for close to 14 years. I said I had only been at Emerald School for a week. They understood and after five days, we were allowed to go back on foot, a distance of about 18 kilometres. I remember carrying Sekuru Godfrey Bhejana, on my back. We were greeted with jubilation at home and at school.

One night, a fox barked the whole night. The following day, the soldiers came to ask us the older guys who were there whether we had heard the fox barking. How can you tell a white man that the barking was an ominous of death or illness without receiving the full wrath of these very callous soldiers of fortune (Rhodesia hired mercenaries as they were running out of manpower because of the fatality rate at the war front.)

We thought the ordeal would be over once we got to a boarding school. At Mount Selinda Institute, comrades came and shepherded us to the boys’boarding.

They urged us to sing revolutionary songs while Rhodesians were close by. At times, they would come to the girls’ boarding and picked older girls to accompany them to pungwes (all-night meetings where political commissars belted out the party’s ideology.)

For their own part, Rhodesian soldiers came with dead bodies that they presumed were freedom fighters. They asked us to identify them, but we could not lie. Fortunately, ceasefire came and the double edged sword targeted at learners came to an end.

Cde David Mtetwa, a war veteran, was there at the battle of Chimoio in Mozambique.

He said he threw himself into a thicket as he ran for cover. Unbeknown to him, the thicket had buffalo bean (uriri), a powerful plant which makes you scratch your body non-stop to stop the discomfort. He remained in that position without scratching for more than 24 hours until he felt the coast was clear and came out. Up to mow, he is impervious to uriri.