How they killed Nikita Mangena
This week, we conclude our discussion with
CDE ALBERT NGULUVHE (AN), a former ZIPRA cadre who was a close aide to the late Dr Joshua Nkomo and other senior ZAPU leaders during the liberation struggle. In our previous instalment, Cde Nguluvhe, whose nom de guerre was Cde Miles, took us through a Rhodesian attack on Dr Nkomo’s residence in Zambia. He also recounted his interactions with ZANU security cadres during the Lancaster House Conference. In this final instalment, he narrates to our Senior Reporter TENDAI CHARA (TC) the role he played during the integration of Rhodesian, ZIPRA and ZANLA security services.
TC: Last week, we ended our discussion at the Salisbury airport where you said you fooled security agents and smuggled a pistol into the country. Tell us how you managed to smuggle the gun into the country?
AN: You know, during that period, most people, especially former guerrillas, used to carry around cassette players. It was fashionable during that time.
I had a Makarov pistol that I wanted to smuggle into the country. So, when I was in Zambia, I bought a cassette player, disassembled the gun and hid the parts in the cassette player. Rhodesian security agents waved and smiled at me as I breezed past security checks with the gun inside the cassette player.
During that time, airport security did not have devices to detect small metal objects like the pistol. The late national hero, Cde Cephas Msipa, met us at the airport and took us to the Kambuzuma Garden Party Hotel, where our team briefly stayed.
We were looking for a suitable place for Dr Nkomo to stay after the Lancaster House Conference. As we were pondering this, Cde Msipa offered his house in Lochinvar.
After securing the house, we started to work on logistics related to Dr Nkomo’s arrival from the United Kingdom. We were checking on Dr Nkomo’s time of arrival and how best we could move him from the airport.
It was Msipa and myself who selected Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield as the most suitable venue for Dr Nkomo to address his supporters. We ran around looking for the vehicle that would take him from the airport to Zimbabwe Grounds.
Mr Naran, a member of the local Indian community, offered his car, a Mercedes-Benz, and that was the car we used to fetch him from the airport.
TC: Before we proceed, kindly tell us what you know about Cde Nikita Mangena’s death?
AN: I am not sure about the dates, but what I know is that there was this group of cadres that were receiving training on the art of conventional warfare in Angola.
After training, the cadres, about 70 of them, came to Zambia and Dr Nkomo addressed them. They were on their way to the war-front.
When they left Lusaka, they were being ferried to the front in trucks.
The Rhodesians got wind of the deployment plan and set up an ambush. The cadres were ambushed and killed. Some senior ZAPU commanders were killed during the ambush. Since this group was specialising in regular warfare, it was carrying big weapons.
When the news of the ambush reached Cde Nikita, he then went to see Dr Nkomo and told him he wanted to go personally and bury the dead cadres.
Dr Nkomo pleaded with Cde Nikita not to go to the scene of the ambush, but Cde Nikita insisted on going. He told Cde Nikita that he knew the Rhodesian army would be waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.
Cde Nikita was devastated by the death of the cadres and he summoned some of the senior ZAPU leaders in the High Command to accompany him to the scene of the ambush.
He was accompanied by Cde Bhala, the cadre that I mentioned earlier as one of the four comrades that lost their lives during the attack on Dr Nkomo’s house.
On arrival, Cde Nikita’s team its vehicles some distance away and walked to scene of the attack, where they buried the departed cadres. After burying the dead, and as they walked towards their vehicles, Cde Nikita asked his driver to go and collect his car since he was having problems with his legs.
Remember, Cde Nikita had been shot in the leg at Freedom Camp. Those that were present advised Cde Nikita against using the vehicle, but he insisted. The Rhodesians had laid landmines, maybe remote-controlled landmines, in this area. So the driver brought the vehicle, making a U-turn to pick Cde Nikita, who sat in the front passenger seat. Cde Bhala, his bodyguard, sat behind him. I am told the late retired Major-General Jevan Maseko was also there and a lot of other senior guys.
Cde Nikita’s vehicle took off, but it hit a landmine before it had travelled for more than 50 metres. If Cde Nikita had taken the advice and avoided using the vehicle, he could have been alive today.
TC: Maybe it was his fate . . . AN:
Maybe. Cde Nikita then died due to excessive bleeding.
When the Zambians came and tried to assist, it was already too late.
TC: Before we touched on Cde Nikita’s death, you were telling us about preparations for Dr Nkomo’s arrival from the Lancaster House Conference.
AN:
Yes, Dr Nkomo eventually came and we received him. I started to move around with Dr Nkomo, campaigning for ZAPU.
After the elections, we were then asked to join the Government so that we could get paid.
During that period, for one to be recruited by the Central Intelligence Organisation, one was supposed to have been a member of the Special Branch. So, we went to Morris Depot for selection. I was not well-educated then since I had gone only up to Form Two. I, however, managed to pass their aptitude test and I was integrated into the police force.
The Rhodesians didn’t want to call us police officers. They called us auxiliary patrol officers.
I retired from the police as a section officer before joining the President’s Department.
When I joined the department, cadres from ZIPRA, ZANLA and the Rhodesian forces were integrated into what was called the intelligence services. I was again chosen to be part of the team tasked with the integration of cadres to form the intelligence and security services.
For more than 10 years, I was an instructor in the President’s Department. A lot of the senior guys such as Martin Kwainona and V.J came through my hands. The period when we were integrating the intelligence services was a difficult one. We had the Rhodesians who didn’t want us as blacks. But, if you look in terms of training, we were far ahead of them. The white Rhodesians were given high ranks yet they knew nothing about escort and security. All they knew was how to drive the big cars. Four black instructors, including myself, were being forced to use one car. Our white counterparts were using a car each. I was an instructor up to 1990. I then went through the ranks and retired as a deputy director in 2018.
I am now a member of the National Assembly, representing Beitbridge East.
I am a farmer and I breed Brahman, Simbra and Beef Master. I also breed Boer. So, in short, that is me.