Daring escape to the battlefront

AFTER being captured by the Rhodesian forces following a fierce battle in which he lost nine of his dear comrades in Mberengwa, CLIFFORD RUTSATE, whose Chimurenga name was CDE SANDO KANO, was brutally tortured. After beating him with sjamboks and barbed wire, the Rhodesian forces dangled a carrot in his face. They desperately tried to entice him to become a sell-out. But Cde Sando made a daring escape, returning to the front where he took part in some of the epic battles of the Second Chimurenga. In this, the first in a series of discussions with our Senior Reporter TENDAI CHARA, he narrates how he left the country in 1975 for guerrilla training and came back three years later to face the enemy. Read on . . .

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Q: If you can give us some background on who Cde Sando Kano is.

A: My name is Clifford Rutsate, the son of Enock Garwe Rutsate. I was born on January 24, 1955 at a clinic in Old Highfield, Harare. My parents were from Bwizi Village in Marange, Mutare. I attended Mbizi, Chengu and Kuwangira primary schools in Highfield. For my secondary education, I attended Highfield Community School, better-known as Toronto.

Q: What drove you to join the liberation struggle?

A: It all started in 1974 when I was a student at Highfield Community School. It was at this school that I became familiar with what was happening in the war zones. My mother’s sister lived in Mount Darwin and each time she came to Harare, she spoke fervently about the war in the countryside.

I was fascinated and started to develop an interest in becoming a freedom fighter. As such, I began taking an active interest in politics in January 1975. I joined the African National Congress as a mere 15-year-old and I was the youngest member at the ANC Machipisa branch in Highfield where I was sent on many occasions to perform political errands, as part of my duties.

Q: Take us through your journey of

becoming a freedom fighter

A: After active involvement in politics in Highfield, I felt I was now ready to join the liberation struggle. I decided to go for military training in Zambia via Botswana. I then travelled to Bulawayo where I briefly stayed with my elder brother Justin, who was working there. I did not tell my brother of my intention to join the liberation war. One day, after he had gone to work, I went to Plumtree with the intention of sneaking into Botswana. Arriving in Plumtree late at night, I spent the night at one of the local homesteads. I did not tell the family that gave me a place to sleep about my intention of crossing into Botswana to become a liberation war fighter. I gathered that Rhodesian forces were patrolling the border area and that it was going to be difficult, if not impossible for me to sneak into Botswana. I then developed cold feet and hurriedly returned to Harare. Q: So what happened next? A: Despite the early setback, I was still determined to become a freedom fighter. I then devised another plan to skip the border, this time via Mutare.

In March 1975, I went to Mutare where I got a job as a builder’s assistant at Leopard Rock Hotel. The selection of the workplace was strategic.

I wanted to be as near the border as possible so that I could one day sneak into Mozambique. Leopard Rock is located near the border with Mozambique. I pleasantly discovered that Frelimo fighters maintained a presence in areas near the hotel. I worked at the hotel for two months, earning two pounds. One of the builders that I was working with was married to a Mozambican wife and would occasionally go to Mozambique. One day the builder, whom I only remember as Mbewe, took me to the FRELIMO fighters and introduced me.

I told the Frelimo fighters of my intention to join the Zanla forces in Mozambique. After a thorough interview, the FRELIMO guys took me aboard and for four months, I was patrolling the border areas with them.

We occasionally engaged in battles with RENAMO bandits in Mozambique’s Manica Province. MaFRELIMO akandipa kamukomukoke (I was given a recoiling gun by the FRELIMO) and I had my first war experience with the Frelimo fighters. Q: What then happened? A: The FRELIMO soldiers then took me to Zhunda, a Zanla refugee camp where new recruits were also trained and were politically oriented. At Zhunda, we were joined by other recruits and refugees that were coming from Chibawawa and Machazi, among other areas.

Q: What were the conditions like at Zhunda refugee camp?

A: Like I said, it was a refugee camp and an estimated 10 000 people, both young and old, were at the camp. Malnutrition and diseases stalked us.

Food deliveries were sometimes made once after two weeks. If it was sadza, we could get a very small portion, which, in most instances was not bigger than my fist.

We mostly ate the sadza with powdered milk. During the rainy season, we were grouped into what we called a Company, which was made up of 100 people.

We would wait in long queues as we were fed according to our groupings. The food would be prepared from as early as 3 am and we would have it early in the evening.

Once the food had been prepared, we would queue according to our Companies. If one missed the opportunity to get his /her ration, that person would be left to have another opportunity to eat say after, say, three days.

Sometimes the rations were not enough to feed everyone. Some of the sick could also not be in a position to join the long queues to get their food.

Some of us would cheat and have two food rations.

However, if you were caught cheating, you would be punished severely.

Because of the dire situation at Zhunda, some of the recruits returned home. The majority of the people thought it was going to be easy.

Some came from well-to-do families and were suddenly confronted by hunger and starvation. We had school children, both boys and girls, with some of them as young as eight. We also had the elderly at the camp.

At Zhunda, I was among a group of about 700 people who were selected to go for military training in Tanzania. Up to this day, I do not know how I made it into this selected group. Like I said before, we were close to 10 000 people at the base and honestly speaking, I did not think that I would make it into this group. Q: From Zhunda where did you go? A: From Zhunda, we were taken to Nyadzonia refugee camp en-route to Beira. I remember that whilst we were at Nyadzonia, the late former president Mugabe visited us. That was in 1975. Former vice-president Joice Mujuru was also at Nyadzonia and she was among the people that helped train and give us political orientation lessons.

We also had at the camp some cadres who had received military training. I still remember Cdes Amos Tsana and Gutura among others. From Nyadzonia, we were taken to Beira where we boarded the Tanzanian ship Chama Chamapinduzi.

◆ In the second episode, Cde Sando takes us on the journey from Beira to Tanzania, he also gives an in-depth account of life at the Mgagao military training camp. Be sure not to miss it…