‘I shared my husband with the liberation struggle’
DURING the Second Chimurenga, it was a principle that politics led the gun.
This meant that every bullet fired was expected to be preceded by a political decision.
There were times when nationalists would be surprised by sounds of detonation.
Despite the gravity of circumstances surrounding the struggle for liberation, there was a third force fighting for a cause divorced from the cause pursued by ZANU and ZAPU.
Cupid’s arrow ran its own parallel war, aiming for hearts carried by those renowned for being firm and stoic.
Cde James Chikerema was among those who were shot during the thick of nationalist politics.
In the 1960s during his time in Zambia, the exiled ZAPU nationalist found himself finding comfort in the arms of a young Southern Rhodesian girl whose family had crossed Zambezi to work as farmers.
Phildah Goto, the girl in question, was in her late teens when she got to know of James Chikerema.
It was not in her wildest of dreams that she would raise seven children with the man she remembers as a straight talker.
“I was staying with my Uncle in Kabata. VaChikerema was friends with one of the neighbours, he would frequent the house but I did not know that he was eyeing me,” she said.
During the time, those who had come from Southern Rhodesia were treated with great suspicion.
Gogo Chikerema moved out of her uncle’s house to stay alone in another area, cutting interaction with Cde Chikerema until one day in early 1965.
“One day I was at the bus stop and a car stopped. VaChikerema was in the company of his elder brother Christopher Chinamhora. He stopped and asked why he no longer saw me at my uncle’s. I told him I had moved out, and I was staying alone. They offered to drop me home,” she said.
This marked the beginning of a friendship.
The frequent visits continued for months, and an unsuspecting Gogo Chikerema kept serving the pair with food they requested.
“His elder brother Chinamhora then said my younger brother is yet to marry and he is interested in you.”
There was a 20-year-gap between Cde Chikerema and Gogo Chikerema.
“I asked him how such a man, in his forties, was yet to marry. I then asked for time to reflect on the advance, during which VaChikerema would make frequent visits,” she said.
Cde Chikerema had his signature look, comprising a crisp shirt, cross belts, a tie and a smoking pipe which charmed his belle.
“He was a very smart old man, so I fell for him,” Gogo Chikerema chuckled as she described her impressions of the man who was to become her husband.
At the time she had no idea what he did for a living.
After getting the seal of approval, Cde Chikerema wasted no time and sought Gogo Chikerema`s hand in marriage.
He approached her father, who insisted that the lobola ceremony be held back home instead of Zambia.
This is when Gogo Chikerema got her first taste of the life she had signed up for.
“I was smuggled back into Southern Rhodesia. I had to wear tattered clothes as a disguise. We could not risk them knowing that I was marrying VaChikerema,” she said.
Upon understanding that her man was a political operator, she had to contend with carrying the load of raising the family.
He was always on the move, with a routine even she could not predict.
“I am grateful for the way I was raised. I had been taught that a woman should work for her family. We would wake up at 4 am in the morning, this helped me adjust to my new life. VaChikerema would go away for a while, I would leave him to his devices. In my heart, I did not want to disappoint him because he had a mission,” she said.
An arrangement had been made for Gogo Chikerema and her children to stay in Makena with a benevolent family called the Patels.
“I would rear chickens and pork, taking care of my children. The only painful thing was waking up to take the children to school and collecting them. I did not have a helper,” said Gogo Chikerema.
However, for Gogo Chikerema, she had to learn to find gratification in war stories.
“It was hard to talk to him about anything else outside the liberation struggle. I understood I had to share VaChikerema with his dream for a free Zimbabwe, it occupied his heart and mind before anything else,” she said.
Driven by his “one man, one vote” philosophy, he was too spirited sometimes to a degree of potential detriment.
She witnessed first-hand, the toll of organising resistance to a well-resourced settler regime took on nationalists.
“There were times he would be distant, as the war raged and there were times he would have to leave in a haste. He would say it is dangerous to tell me where he was going, just in case someone would try and forcefully extract the information. Sometimes Rhodesian forces would use torture,” she said.
Despite the obvious danger, Gogo Chikerema does not remember a day her late husband appeared to be considering throwing in the towel.
“He loved Zimbabwe. He was not worried about death or losing his children. Those were threats that came but he was not bothered,” said
Gogo Chikerema.
Unfortunately, like most nationalists who have died, Cde Chikerema did not leave memoirs behind.
However, Gogo Chikerema said he did note down some of his experiences.
“He left notebooks. There is one I read in which he references the Victoria Falls Conference (of August 26 1975) and they met with Smith on a train. He wrote and said this is the best day of my life, because we have come out as one people. It made him happy that everyone of significance in the process of liberation was there, Ndabaningi Sithole, Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe and others were there,” said Gogo Chikerema.
After Independence, Cde Chikerema spent a lot of time with his family.
This is when he would deposit in their minds tales of the days they confronted different settler regimes, while navigating regional politics in neighbouring countries.
Even though Cde Chikerema opened the lid on many issues, there is one secret he took to the grave, the source of tension between him and his nephew former President Robert Mugabe.
Mbuya Chikerema said she is not surprised that it was President Mnangagwa who conferred the national liberation hero status on her late husband.
“President Mnangagwa has the focus to understand where we are coming from, where we are going, and where we are. He has a better understanding of Zimbabwe in its different phases in history and can help us look into the future. That is my view,” she said.
Theirs was a story of unconventional love, formed in times of turmoil but sustained into a new republic.
Gogo Chikerema still cracks a bright smile when she talks about her husband, VaChikerema.
She feels relieved that the memory of her husband is now permanently etched in the annals of Zimbabwean liberation war history.