How I lost 14 teeth: Ndlovu
WE continue our interview with former Zipra zonal commander for the NF2 region operational area that covered Lupane, Nkayi and Binga districts in Matabeleland North Province, Cde Andrew Ndlovu pseudonym Cde Cleopas Ndanga or Volunteer Commando Mkhwananzi. Today in the interview with our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS), Cde Ndlovu gives an account of how he was hit by a sniper bullet that ripped through his cheek, resulting in him losing 14 teeth with his tongue and gums severely damaged as well. Below are excerpts of the interview:
MS: You have been talking about the battles, then there is this one I understand saw you being shot, in the process losing some teeth. What happened on that day?
Cde Ndlovu: It’s true that I was shot and seriously injured. What happened was that after the Tshangane battle the Rhodesian soldiers came for Mr Songo of Songo Stores. They raided him and forced him to lie on the bonnet of their truck while they drove away with him. We had been informed that the Rhodesians had raided Songo, so we wanted to harass them. I was commanding that unit of 16 comrades. In the last two days we had been involved in some serious contact with the enemy. So on that day when Songo was raided we felt we should not just leave the Rhodesians to do as they pleased, so we decided to harass the enemy, lay an ambush and fire at the truck. We did not want the enemy to just have free movement in our operational area. So we ambushed them, but unknown to us was that Songo was precariously holding onto the bonnet. So when we fired at the Rhodesian truck, Songo was caught in the crossfire, resulting him being hit on one of his legs. However, the enemy still managed to take him to their camp. Then the following day we spent the day doing our patrols in the area and there was no incident of note. We then broke into smaller groups of threes and fours. Cdes Richard Mabhontsini and Mazithulela Ndlovu and I were supposed to travel up north for a meeting with others comrades from other operational areas. So I took another comrade’s AK-47 and exchanged it with my Dectarov or Grunov because that was the weapon I was using. The Dectarov is heavy, so I needed a lighter weapon as we were going to travel a long distance. In the afternoon of that day, which could have been 9 September of 1978 we walked past the homestead of a man called Mabandawule, which was between 500 and 600 metres before Dongamuzi River. It is important that I mention this homestead because as we go on with the interview, there are incidents related to this man. After crossing Dongamuzi River, we got to a Mr Tshuma’s homestead that was about 400 metres from the river and we decided to base there. At around 5.30 pm there about we saw the son of Mabandawule, Nelly who was about 20 years old or just below in the company of another boy. We greeted each other and they walked past us. We knew those boys. However, we became suspicious of their movements and we even said among ourselves that those boys seemed to be monitoring our movements. Then we let it pass. At that time we were seated some metres from the Tshuma homestead.
MS: That was not the day you were injured? Cde Ndlovu: No. I am giving you this so that you understand how the incident happened. It’s a build-up to that contact when I got injured. After those boys had left we continued seated outside that homestead as we had decided that we would ask for our supper from there and also they would organise blankets for us. So at around 8pm we moved into the homestead and sat in the kitchen with Mrs Tshuma whom we called masalu (mother), her husband was working in Bulawayo, she was in the company of a young man. She prepared food for us and since we were young she was asking us whether we were missing our parents, how the country would be like after defeating the Smith regime. She then gave us blankets and showed us where we could sleep if we wanted to put up at her homestead. However, we only went to sleep after 12 midnight as we were doing our patrols from time to time to make sure the situation was safe. Then the following day at around 5am we had woken up and we were some metres from the homestead, preparing to leave when the enemy struck.
MS: Take us through those moments.
Cde Ndlovu: We heard a dog barking and when we looked up we saw the enemy in a battle formation approaching the homestead. Since it was around 5am they thought we were still inside the Tshuma homestead and it was clear we had been sold out. We could not tell the number of those soldiers and at that time it was also possible that we could make good our escape. But you are talking about youngsters who were very adventurous and we had also vowed that no matter what we could not just let the Rhodesian soldiers do as they pleased. I then took a kneeling position and aimed at the white soldier who was in the centre and I opened fire, that one I gunned him down because I saw him falling. Soon after that it was automatic fire. The enemy forces had been taken by surprise because they thought we were inside the homestead, they had fallen into an ambush, they were not expecting that as they were going for a raid. I got out of cover and started shooting at shoulder level. The fighting went on, maybe for about 30 minutes and then I found myself jumping and taking five or six steps backwards but still clinging onto my weapon. I jumped up and turned, changed direction, looking into the direction I had come from. I fell down on my knees, but still holding onto my gun. There was this funny noise I could not understand ukuthi yavela ngaphi. But I could feel that I was not by myself, however, I quickly woke up as the other comrades were still fighting. I now had this feeling that I should stop fighting and withdraw. I then made about three bounds, ran and ngavula isipandawo, did that three times ngabe ngilala ngekhona. I had also separated from others. I could also feel that my breath was now very hot and I was losing my speech. I would run, fire and move, ngangi skimisha. I met others just before Dongamuzi River, Richard first and then Mabhontsini. We then started walking, the enemy forces were no longer shooting, it seemed they had a problem, something was very amiss. It was uncharacteristic of the Rhodesians, after a battle they used to continue firing even if guerillas had retreated. Then all of a sudden Mabhontisini remarked “aah commander kukhanya udutshulwe, it could be a Brang gun.” When I tried to respond I struggled as I was losing my speech, I felt some pieces of flesh as my tongue had also been damaged, so were the gums. That was the day I lost 14 teeth, the enemy bullet ripped through my cheek. When I looked at myself my clothes were soaked in blood. There was no time to do anything, it called for action so we crossed the Dongamuzi River, which was about 100 metres where we crossed. The enemy did not pursue us. We walked for about 10 to 15km and got to the Mthupha homestead at 3, I had been hit ku6. The first form of treatment I got koMthupha. They gave me warm water mixed with Dettol and I gurgled. From there we moved to another village and decided ukuthi siye koNyoni. That is where our medical corps started giving me treatment as there was an immediate co-ordination to save me. That was to happen for the next three months. At night I would be taken into the Nyoni homestead and moved out during the day into the bush where I was hidden. I was unable to eat, so I survived on isobho yenyama, but it needed a skill to pour it into my mouth as if it went where there was the big wound it affected the bandages and it would just ooze out. My tongue would be carefully handled also. I went through a lot of pain. During that time th e whites were all over in a bid to capture me.
MS: Who were the people who assisted you besides the comrades and people from the Nyoni homestead?
Cde Ndlovu: There was Mathabisa from amabhasi kaPullen, the bus crew used to bring me iMazoe Orange Crush and other things. There was also Rita Ncube, who was a nurse at St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane, she brought medicine from there. In the village there was Lucy Ncube uMbiko who was a former nurse, SaMbiko himself and Mr Zikhali who was a traditional healer. I was treated through a combination of modern medicine and traditional medicine. It took a month for the wound to close, but inwardly it was still the same, my tongue was swollen at the centre. While I was going through that difficult period the regime forces were combing up the area, at times they would just shoot at thickets randomly. Other enemy forces came from Wankie now Hwange and Dete. But luckily they never found me. My security was also good, we had been beefed before, there were four platoons in our area. Whites later learnt of my hide-out, came to where I used to be kept during the day, bombed the place using artillery pieces and helicopters. When they did that I had been moved to a place 20km from the original spot. The youths came and told us that bebebhomba iganga leliyana ebelilobhudi uMkhwananzi. During that time as part of my security the comrades had stopped in provoking battles, they had sort of formed a big ring from where I was so that if the whites came then they could not just reach me, they had to break through that ring. It took me about three more months to heal. I had to learn to start talking. It was not easy, I went through a lot for the sake of freeing this country from colonial bondage.
MS: When you were feeling better after three months, what did you do?
Cde Ndlovu: We went for an onslaught and the enemy forces even told villagers that these people are on a revenge mission. Amakhiwa aphela. Then after June or July 1979 we got information that Mabandawule and his son, Nelly were working with the enemy forces, they were the ones who had sold me out.
MS: Ooh. So what happened to them?
Cde Ndlovu: Then one day at around 8am we descended on his homestead, we were many, there were two platoons, the guerillas could have been numbering around 60. The guerillas were angry. We stormed the homestead of Mabandawule. We found him in his kitchen hut and the guerillas asked him to come clean on his activities with the Rhodesian soldiers. He started stammering, wakiliza umdala and the boys started dealing with him there, there in the kitchen. His homestead had been turned into a sea of armed people, angry revolutionaries.
MS: You are saying the guerillas started dealing with him. How?
Cde Ndlovu: Those who understand the military language know what I am saying. Remember I told you that we were a military government, we did not have a court and police officers. We were the ones running the areas where we were operating, so when I say the boys were dealing with him, ngithi umuntu lowo wayekarajwa, kanti uthi kwakudlalwa. He was now treated like an enemy, Mabandawule had decided to stand before the revolution train, so he had to suffer. We dealt with him until his son, Nelly whom he had sent to the Songo Stores early in the morning returned home. When Nelly arrived I called him to my side and asked him where he was coming from. I then tricked him and said his father had just admitted that the two of them were sell-outs.