Ex-fighter relives the deadly effects of chemical warfare

Iwas first deployed to the front in January 1977 having completed my military training in November 1976 at Morogoro Camp in Tanzania. I arrived with 12 other comrades from our training in Tanzania. The place we were taken to was called Siampondo just about 15km towards the Zambezi River on the Zambian side. In that area we found a section of seven guerillas namely Magwaza, Dwala, Tangwena Mandevu, John Chironda, Driver, Tshatsha and Majority.

The very day we arrived we were divided into two sections. Zipra chief of operations then Cde Enoch Tshangane (the late Major-General Jevan Maseko) briefed us of the task ahead and left.

Our first task was to go into Rhodesia and look for two missing comrades while the second was to destroy two bridges over the Lupanda River. Three days after the order we crossed and spent a week between an area called Makungu and Tinde in Binga District. The first task was not accomplished but the second was.

The two bridges were destroyed simultaneously at 7pm. These were the one on the road from Hwange to Binga, the other Kamativi-Binga. The first one I am the one who set the explosives and it was never used until after the attainment of Independence in 1980. However, the second one was immediately repaired and the vehicles continued moving from Kamativi to Binga.

After that mission we withdrew back to Zambia but delayed for two days. The third day we went to cross to Zambia and when we got to the Zambezi River we found that the Rhodesians had laid an ambush just near where we had camouflaged our dingy, but fortunately enough they had abandoned the position without seeing the dingy. We then crossed without any incident.

After a week’s rest we were back. It was during that time that most comrades in our group of 13 started grumbling that we were making too many forays and would end up being consumed by the Zambezi River. We then agreed that we would stay on the Rhodesian side and only send a few volunteers when the need arose. That decision helped us a lot because we then moved deep into Dongamuzi. But when we were still in Binga we got information that the two comrades we had been looking for were around.

Through the locals we arranged to meet them and we succeeded. We found them but to our utter shock they were only armed with knobkerries. Those two were Assaf who was later to be killed in combat in 1978 and Mbokodo. They had lost their weapons when the Rhodesians shot and captured their dingy while trying to cross the Zambezi River, so in that ensuing melee their weapons were washed away by the raging river. However, some of their colleagues managed to swim to the Zambian side and reported the encounter with the Rhodesians. It was that incident and our little observation that culminated in us taking a stand of stopping the cross border operations because that gave the Rhodesians enough grounds to hit us easily.

When we took that decision it was sometime between February and March in 1977. That gave us a bigger room to maneuver within our area of responsibility. Our area of responsibility fell within these boundaries: (a)- The northern boundary was the great Zambezi River. (b) To the west it started at the mouth of Gwayi River running down south until the river crossed the BulawayoVictoria Falls Road. It ran east of the above tarred road up to the outskirts of Bulawayo itself.

(c) Our southern boundary ran along the Bulawayo Gweru Road up to Dabuka. From Dabuka it ran north-east to the Gweru-Mvuma Road up to the Masvingo-Harare Highway leaving Gweru and Mvuma within our boundary.

(d) The eastern boundary ran from Mvuma along the Harare Road quickly turning west before Chivhu along the Sebakwe River until it reached Kwekwe. From Kwekwe our boundary ran due west leaving Zhombe to the north out of our boundary. It continued going west along the GokweNkayi boundary until the Lupane-Gokwe boundary line. From there it went through Dandanda due north-west dividing Binga into two up to the source of Mlibizi River down into the mouth of the Mighty Zambezi.

Done with the boundaries as we settled within the country we started facing the following challenges: (a) The replenishment of ammunition. (b) Clothing such as boots were getting worn out. With ammunition we had no alternative except going back to collect from the rear bases. With clothes we told ourselves that we were at home and we will get everything from our surroundings. Just near us there was the Kamativi and Tinde mines. We then went for Tinde Mine after getting information on when the workers would get paid. We raided the mine and got away with an amount that helped us buy our clothing. The clothing we bought lasted for the whole of 1977. Initially our platoon never asked for clothing from locals, we only asked to be fed. However, as more comrades were deployed to the front such targets as the mines could not handle the burden the way we had done before and so the guerillas were forced to turn to the locals for clothes. It was then that the chemical warfare started.

Chemical warfare caused a lot of suffering among both the civilians and freedom fighters. Late in 1977 the first incident was reported in the area of Dandanda along the Lupane and Gokwe boundary. Between five and seven comrades were reportedly killed through poisoning. The suspects were first believed to be villagers. After that incident comrades started to mistrust the masses. Some civilians were killed by some of the freedom fighters.

As if that was not enough, the next incident of poisoning was reported in the areas between Lupane District offices and St Paul’s Mission. In that incident about seven comrades were killed. However, from that incident eight comrades survived. Those who attended the scenes of the incident reported that the victims were wearing new underpants and vests. This piece of evidence was quickly understood by those comrades who were trained in chemical warfare. But others did not understand how chemical warfare functioned and did not believe that there was something like that. Also the dissemination of information to the comrades went slowly due to poor communication and partly because of our differences in beliefs. There were those that had the belief that villagers were bewitching them and some who believed scientifically that such kind of warfare was real.

Those that believed in witchcraft started spreading information that civilians were responsible for the deaths of the freedom fighters. New comrades that is those coming from the rear in Zambia as reinforcements received different briefings from the guerillas on the ground. Some got the information that the guerillas were being bewitched by the civilians while some got the opposite of that. The problem continued and spread to the whole of Lupane District. Some comrades continued organising clothing in groups while others avoided doing that, instead preferred to ask for clothes from individual friends among the population. The latter minimised chances of being poisoned by the enemy while the method of organising clothing in groups gave the enemy the opportunity to poison the clothes meant for freedom fighters. Chances of the enemy poisoning clothes meant for freedom fighters were high in a situation where an individual is seen in Bulawayo buying large quantities of clothes and taking them to the fighting zones.

The enemy had a lot of roadblocks especially along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road between Bulawayo and Lupane. During their search they could spot the clothes, detain the owner of the goods and then later on make a deal and give him the poisoned goods and let him free to go and distribute them to the unsuspecting comrades. Because of different beliefs that problem continued throughout the war right up to the assembly points. The areas which were most affected were those along the Gwampa Valley, Tshangane River and even Gomoza as well as Ndimimbili. In those areas we lost a number of comrades while a number of civilians also lost their lives.

The poisoned clothing affected the victims in the following way, most of the comrades who were affected would start by complaining of dizziness after a good walk. When one stated sweating the poisoned clothes would get wet and that activated the poison to move through the body pores. In fact the poison used to affect its victims after moving for about 10km. The victims would also shiver, vomit or start having running tummies. If one delayed removing the clothes he was wearing and taking a bath then he would die. Under such circumstances the unaffected comrades would then conclude that their colleagues have been poisoned through the food given by the villagers. They would then start tracing where the victims last had their meals and then those villagers would get into big trouble.

As the situation continued getting tense because of the chemical warfare that had brought confusion and suspicions when one was moving in the villages we were met by faces of despair from villagers who earlier on had been enthusiastic when coming across the comrades. Some villagers were even afraid of making big fires for brewing traditional beer in fear that they could be burnt alive.

There are two incidents in which I was directly involved and I saw some similarities in those poisoned clothes. The first incident occurred in August 1979 near Kheswa Primary School in Lupane where we had a gathering point (GP) with comrades operating from different areas of our region, the Northern Front Two. Immediately after the deliberations at the GP we dispersed to different homesteads in small groups to organize for food. At night when we were relaxing one comrade brought in new tracksuits and some underwear. There were five pairs which they had organised before our GP.

He started distributing those items to other comrades with whom they had organised those items together. However, one of the five had left for Zambia so this comrade decided to give me a pair. By then I had developed a system of wearing old clothes I would have asked for from one wearing it because I was one of the people who seriously believed that the enemy was now using chemical warfare.

The following morning I then gave the new clothes to another comrade who had pestered me for it. After breakfast we then started moving in different groups. After moving for about 7km the comrade who had distributed the clothes started complaining of dizziness and we quickly removed the clothes at the same time dispatching other comrades to follow the group in which there were others who had also received the clothes the previous day. In that group they found two comrades also starting to show signs of being affected by the chemical. They were quickly stripped off of those clothes.

Luckily those comrades were near the homestead of a traditional healer ( inyanga) who had served a number of comrades who had the same problem before. That traditional healer was a woman who lived or maybe is still living near Jiba Dam along the Lupane River between Kheswa School and Janke area. The other two comrades who had received the clothes but had not worn them yet quickly buried them after realising the danger they posed.

The second incident which I directly attended to was when we were already at St Paul’s Assembly Point. Two comrades in my company asked for permission to go and collect some of their belongings in the area of Bangali just north-west of Maphani Abomvu Bridge along Tshangane River. After two days when they had left some civilians from that area came to our camp and reported their death. When we arrived at the scene we found them wearing the same type of pants which killed others before. Those were the last victims I know out of a lot more. There were similar incidents in other areas as well. There are other incidents of the same nature that happened in Lupane which I think other comrades after reading this article will feel motivated to come forward and relate to the nation in this platform, which is very important in chronicling our history of the armed struggle.

What pains most about the issue of the chemical warfare which Rhodesians resorted to after suffering heavy casualties on our hands in contacts we had with them was that the problem went on for almost three years. The reason being that those affected could not be taken to a medical facility that could detect the problem. There were no post-mortems as a comrade would die within hours and be quickly buried, remember we were in a tense war situation. Had the war continued we were also going to lose more civilians again unnecessarily.

Next week Rtd Lt-Col Moyo will relate to us his operations and battles where he was directly involved.

Rtd Lt-Col Stanford Moyo operated in Lupane, Nkayi and Bubi areas from January 1977 until the ceasefire period under the pseudo names Lloyd Zvananewako and Mabhikwa Khumalo. He can be contacted on 0771630629.