Smoking out a rat!
TODAY we continue our interview with Cde Andrew Ndlovu, a former Zipra NF2 region zonal commander. Last week Cde Ndlovu whose pseudonym was Cde Cleopas Ndanga or Volunteer Commando Mkhwananzi spoke about how he was hit by a sniper bullet that ripped through his cheek in the process losing 14 teeth in a battle with Rhodesian forces in September 1978 at Dongamuzi, Lupane District. It took him three months to recuperate from those injuries, inflicted by the enemy forces. Today he tells our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) how they managed to identify the man who had sold him out and together with two of his colleagues to the Rhodesian Forces. In last week’s edition Cde Ndlovu was still narrating how they invaded the homestead of the man they suspected to have sold them out. Below he continues with the narration:
MS: You said you called Mabandawule’s son and pulled him aside and he told you everything about what he and his father were doing with the Rhodesian Forces, may you continue with the narration.
Cde Ndlovu: As I said Mabandawule’s homestead was raided by more than two platoons of very angry guerillas. I then told his son, “Nelly” that his father had admitted everything and he fell for it. I even told him that it would be a waste of time to deny anything as he could hear ukuthi umdala laphana ekhitshini ziyaminya. He told me that it was his father who was in the habit of sending him to relay information to the Rhodesian Forces. The boy just came clean and admitted that they were working with the Rhodesian Forces. While the father was still holding on, still refusing to give the information, the boy gave the game away and said he was just coming from another errand, as his father had that very morning sent him to the Songo Stores to meet someone from Dete and give him the letter containing all the information. He spilled the beans when we had not done anything to him, sasingakambambi. He then told us that there was a notebook hidden esiphaleni (grain barn). He could sense that his father was in trouble, kanti kwakuvele kulani, abantu babekwazi labo ukuthi vele i- situation nxa isinjalo, ogwa bayakarabha. We then went to the barn where the boy retrieved a clay pot where a notebook was hidden.
MS: What was written in that notebook? Cde Ndlovu: Some pages had been removed. Written in that book were names of local girls who were said to be having affairs with the guerillas, homesteads where the guerillas used to frequent and be fed, you see during the war we used to assess which families were capable of feeding us, those families, which were well up and we would go there while we would ask for food from those who didn’t have much after some time. We did not want to burden the already suffering families. The boy then said they would take the information contained in the notebook and give it to someone coming from Dete whom they would usually meet ezitolo zakoSongo. That was the information regime soldiers coming from Bhalabhala now Mbalabala, Dete and Wankie (Hwange) would use to raid locals who were supporting the struggle. That is why the Rhodesian soldiers would raid the exact homesteads whose occupants were active in supporting the struggle. During that time we had raided local commercial farms and taken away the cattle, which we gave to the villagers, some of the cattle were slaughtered for the guerillas. The cattle had been distributed to as far as Mzola. So we wanted to empower the people and motivate them and make realise what would happen when we free the country.
Turning to the boy, we asked him how many names of homesteads and people they had sent to the Rhodesian Forces, he told us that there were more than 50. We then called Mabandawule’s wife and asked her whether she was aware what her husband was up to. She did not waste time as she told us that she had on many occasions seen him and his son having discussions with the enemy forces behind the cattle pen. She pleaded with us to leave her out of her husband and son’s activities and also spare her life.
MS: In such situations what was the procedure in dealing with the sellout and also to maintain confidence of the community you were operating in?
Cde Ndlovu: After gathering all the evidence we had to report to the party leaders in the area and explain why we arrived at a decision we might have taken. So in Mabandawule and his son’s case we reported the matter to Matshabela, a local Zapu leader and others like saMbiko, uNcube whom we called Bhuzhwa and Zikhali. We also stopped buses and addressed people explaining what happened, of course that was done after we had made a decision that Mabandawule and Nelly should be put on the firing squad. We had executed them.
MS: So you killed the man?
Cde Ndlovu: Mabandawule apologised profusely and he was just saying hayi bantwabami, hayi bantwabami. I asked the boy, Nelly what he was getting and he said his father would from time to time give him just five pounds. He was not even aware how much his father was being paid. He told me that he used the money to buy napkins for his newly born child, I then asked him whether it was proper for him and his father to exchange my life with those few pieces of silver. What also angered us was that Mabandawule used to claim to be Zapu and at times we would have meals at his home. So to respond to your question on what we did to him, of course we killed him together with his son. One of the guerillas took my pistol and there was a unanimous decision among the guerillas to sentence them to death. Sasiyi military government phela, we were in charge. The two were shot right inside their homestead libalele.
There was nothing amiss about that as some guerillas were also killed in the bush by the enemy while some were shot within homesteads. That day the guerillas were angry and even myself as the commander could not control them.
MS: It never crossed your mind that you could take them probably to Zambia and make them join the struggle, the only available avenue was to kill them in full view of their other family members.
Cde Ndlovu: Taking them where? To Zambia where we were being told that there were many Selous Scouts among our ranks, it was a big NO. We did not want to reinforce the enemy at the rear. Then the risk of escorting them all the way to Zambia where it was possible to have contacts with the enemy forces along the way was too much. If we were to take them to Zambia, some of the Selous Scouts whom we were being told were occupying senior positions in the party and elsewhere would assist them and at the end of the day end up occupying big positions. That was the feeling then. These people had no place in Zambia, Botswana and even in Rhodesia as well as their village where we were operating from. The only way was to execute them. We did that with a clear conscience. They had chosen to stand against the revolution, to destroy or stop the struggle. It was a serious sin to try and delay the attainment of freedom and some people had their homesteads burnt down by the Rhodesian Forces because of them. Sellouts were there and they would always be there in any struggle. Even now there are still there.
MS: What do you mean there are still sellouts up to this day?
Cde Ndlovu: You know during the armed struggle against the Rhodesians many sellouts fled to the towns and cities because they were afraid of Zipra and Zanla forces. We are having problems now because of those people as they have children and grandchildren who are possessed by the sell-out demons. Their demons have been moving from generation to the next that is why we have all these problems. If we had won it through an outright military victory not through the Lancaster House Conference we would not be having all these problems. That is why the political thinking of a rural person is different from that of a town fellow. If the war had escalated and we had cleared all the borders and took the war to the urban areas where all the sell-outs had sought refuge we will be talking of a different story, but now those sell-outs have managed to reproduce and multiplied. I- problem ilizwe labuya lidunisile, kwakumele ikatutsha ikhale emadolobheni. Many people who were sellouts would have died, now we are having problems because those sell-outs have children and grandchildren, so they have multiplied a number of times. Their demons are moving from one generation to another.
MS: You sound emotional when you talk about sell-outs.
Cde Ndlovu: I lived a painful life because of sell-outs after being injured. My last molar tooth fell out on 14 December this year. I was injured when I was trying to free people of this country and at the same time some were working with the whites who were our oppressors.
MS: While you were injured did you regret joining the war?
Cde Ndlovu: I did not regret at all, the only thing I did was to think of my mother, the now late Martha Dlamini. I just felt that it was unfortunate that my mother was not aware that I had suffered such serious injuries. However, I appreciated my situation and felt a winner as I had also injured and killed enemy forces. In another way I felt proud of what I had done as a freedom fighter. I felt okay. I told myself that I had survived but I had also killed them as well. I balanced my equation, appreciated my situation, although I was not happy that I had been sold out by a peasant I was trying to free from colonial bondage.
Next week we conclude the interview with Cde Ndlovu speaking among other issues about the misunderstadings between the guerilla commanders at the front and those at the rear.