‘Nikita Mangena lived a high-risk life’
THE Second Chimurenga was fought in many different ways. Some contributed to the war effort by providing accommodation to freedom fighters and political leaders. To mark the upcoming commemoration of the death of CDE RODGERS ALFRED NIKITA MANGENA — the late commander of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), who died on June 28, 1978 — we had a discussion with CDE SAMUEL NGWENYA (SN), the late national hero’s uncle.
He looked after CDE MANGENA in Zambia before the then youthful nationalist elected to train as a freedom fighter after turning down an opportunity to further his education. In this one-part discussion, he narrates to our SENIOR REPORTER TENDAI CHARA (TC) how CDE MANGENA was discouraged from going to study in South Africa and ended up in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia). CDE NGWENYA’s home in Chingola was a transit point for the ZAPU leadership and freedom fighters.
**************************
TC: Cde, if you can start by introducing yourself.
SM : My name is Samuel Peter Ngwenya and my parents were from Maranda Village in Belingwe (now Mberengwa).
I was born at Mnene Mission in Mberengwa in 1933.
My father, Peter Murabani Ngwenya, was a Lutheran evangelist based at Mnene Mission.
I went up to Standard Six at Mnene and from there, I then went to Inyathi Institute where I studied carpentry.
After finishing my carpentry course, I was awarded a scholarship by the London Missionary Society to further my carpentry studies in South Africa.
My parents were against the idea. They said if I go to South Africa, I would end up being a tsotsi (thief).
Instead of going to South Africa, I decided to go to Zambia where I secured employment as a carpentry teacher at Namunyanga Secondary School.
The school was located near Kalomo in Livingstone.
TC : How were you related to the late Nikita Mangena and how did he end up in Zambia?
SN: Nikita’s mother, Elizabeth Ngwenya, was my sister.
What happened was that Nikita, who was then attending Chegato High School, was having problems at school.
He was involved in political activism and was always clashing with school and government authorities.
His parents decided to send him to Zambia, where he stayed at my home.
By the time Nikita came to Zambia, I was no longer a teacher but was now working for Changa Copper Mines.
I had also moved from Kalomo to Chingola, which is located in the Zambian Copperbelt. I left Kalomo under bad circumstances.
During that time, I was a member of the local branch of the African National Council (ANC), which was then under the chairmanship of Chief Albert Luthuli.
It was during the days of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and I took part in a demonstration.
I was arrested, taken to Lusaka and then to Kabompo.
It was in Kabompo where I met the late Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, who had also been arrested for his involvement in politics.
Since Kaunda’s father was a reverend and my father was an evangelist, we had a lot in common and had a lot to talk about during the time that we were under arrest.
After being released, I was barred from Kalomo and that is when I decided to go to Chingola.
TC: When did Nikita come to stay with you?
SN : It must have been around 1966 or 1967, I am forgetting the actual date.
TC: What type of person was he?
SN : He was an intelligent young man but very talkative.
When he came to Zambia, he had passed his Form Two at Chegato Mission.
In Zambia, he sat for admission examinations and he passed with flying colours.
He subsequently got a Form Three place at Chikola High School.
After finishing his Form Four, Nikita was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study at any university of his choice in Zambia.
Myself, together with the Chikola High School headmaster were in the process of identifying a suitable university for Nikita when he went away to Lusaka to join the war of liberation.
TC: How did Nikita come to know about ZAPU activities in Lusaka?
SN : Like I said earlier, I was an active politician and was the ZAPU chairperson in Chingola.
I worked closely with the late national hero, Cde Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo.
I was also recruiting young boys from Chingola to go to Lusaka for military training.
Nikita, therefore, was aware of the political situation at home.
Ziyaphapha Moyo called me and said I should stop looking for
Nikita since he was in
Lusaka en route to
Algeria for military training.
He also told me to stop looking for a university place for
Nikita.
I was devastated.
TC: Why were you devastated?
SN : Nikita – I called him Rodgers – was a very intelligent young man.
I thought he deserved to go to university. I had also promised his mother that I was going to do everything that I could to make sure Rodgers gets a good education.
I failed her.
TC: So there you were. You were recruiting other youngsters yet you didn’t want your relative to become a guerrilla fighter?
SN : Again, like I said earlier, Nikita was very intelligent.
We wanted him to get a good education and then
after school, he would then serve the liberation movement in another capacity.
TC : Were you reunited with Nikita after he went for training?
SN : Yes, on four occasions.
After training, he returned to Zambia and I met him four times at our favourite meeting and drinking place - the Andrews Motel in Lusaka.
He told me that he was very sorry for letting me and his mother down.
During the meetings, he often talked about his two children, whom he said I should take care of in case something bad happened to him.
He was very much worried about the future of his children.
My wife, who was Zambian, assured him that his children were most welcome in our home.
TC: In your view, why do you think Nikita was giving you this responsibility?
SN
: Rodgers’ life was at great risk and he knew he could die any time.
He wanted to secure the future of his children.
TC : Do you still remember the last time you spoke to him? What did he talk about?
SN
: For whatever reason, that day Rodgers was very much worried about his children, Lotshe and Laila.
He begged me to look after his children should he die. I assured him that I would take care of his children.
TC: How did you receive news of his death?
SN : The ZAPU leadership told me about his death. I received a call from a distant relative whose mother was Mangwenya. He was a senior ZAPU official.
From Chingola, I then went to Lusaka to attend his funeral.
When I went to his funeral, the ZIPRA leaders did not come to me to say they were sorry.
Remember, I was his guardian before he went to war.
Many stories were told about how he died. Some of the stories are fictitious and hard to believe.
I believe he died from injuries he sustained after a landmine explosion.
TC: To come and say sorry for what? SN : The ZAPU leaders knew that when Rodgers left his studies and went for military training, he was staying with me.
As a sign of respect, they should have approached and consoled me.
TC: But that was during the war? SN
: Yes, it was during the war.
As his uncle and the one who had looked after Rodgers, it was only proper for the ZAPU leadership to approach me and at least say something to me.
During the funeral, it was as if I was not even there.
Instead, they allowed an impostor to stand up and act as Rodgers’ close relative.
I was not even allowed to view his body as it was being lowered into the grave.
TC: What might have been the reason for the snub?
SN
: I wish I knew.
I suspect that some of the senior ZAPU leaders were jealous of my close association with the late Dr Kaunda.
I was very close to Dr Kaunda and other senior Zambian politicians and would often sit with them at the top table during functions. I was well-connected and I worked closely with Cde Simon Chikwavaire, the late former mayor of Harare.
Rodgers was buried at the Leopold Cemetery and when I asked them to give me the number of his grave, I later discovered I had been given the wrong number.
After Independence, a proclamation was made for remains of guerrillas that died in foreign lands to be brought home for burial.
Rodgers’ body was brought home and buried at the National Heroes Acre.
TC: Did you fulfil Nikita’s wish of taking and looking after his children?
SN:
I did exactly what he had requested me to do. My family took his children in and we lived with them until Independence.
Rodgers’ wife was also a guerrilla fighter and was therefore not in a position to look after the children.