The story of Agnes Mushonga
I WILL live to remember and celebrate the Battle of Nyamutsamba in Honde Valley in March 1977 in which scores of Rhodesian soldiers were massacred by the ZANLA forces in broad daylight.
I was 15 years old and doing Grade Seven at St Peter’s Jombe Primary School.
However, the school had recently been shut down as the liberation war intensified.
Until then, Honde Valley had been turned into a veritable theatre of war because of its proximity to Mozambique where the ZANLA forces were based.
The heat of war precipitated a mass exodus of young boys and girls from our home area to Mozambique to join the liberation struggle following the Nyadzonia, Chimoio and Tembue attacks.
News of these brutal attacks broadcast 24/7 on Radio Maputo kindled a desire to free the country from the yoke of colonialism among the youths.
Everyone wanted to join the struggle to avenge the deaths of our brothers and sisters who had been callously murdered by the Rhodies. Among the latest ZANLA ‘recruits’ was my elder sister, Sylvia, who skipped the border in 1976.
She left the country along with fellow students from Mutambara Mission and that was the last time we saw her alive. According to a survivor, Takunda Jombe, Sylvia was stricken with malaria at the time of the Nyadzonia massacre on August 9, 1976 and was, therefore, not in a position to flee.
I was also keen to join the Great Trek to Mozambique but my dream of becoming a ‘comrade’ was shattered because I was required to take care of my ailing mother.
Nevertheless, it was hell living in the shadow of the Rhodesian soldiers who gave villagers, particularly young boys and girls, a tough time during the day. As a result, I was forced to leave my sick mother under the care of my grandmother while I sought refuge at one of the many ZANLA bases dotted around our home area.
We were safer with the freedom fighters, who included Cdes Tepi Makanda, Bvuma, Stix, Come Dhuze, Muhondo Muchapera Mabhunu and Tichaitonga Zimbabwe.
As mujibhas and chimbwidos, our main duty was to collect food from the surrounding villages and deliver it to the bases.
Our designated base was located in Hwahwazira Mountain.
The headmaster of St Peter’s Jombe Primary School turned out to be sellout after he identified a ZANLA base on Samaringa Mountain to the Rhodies from a helicopter.
He was exposed when his hat fell to the ground, apprehended and dealt with by the comrades.
The Rhodies launched an air raid comprising helicopters and fighter jets from the Grand Reef military base in Mutare.
Starting around 10 am, it lasted a marathon four hours.
The Rhodesian army, whose ground force was poorly trained, relied on its air force for support.
One of the freedom fighters who made good of his escape sought refuge in Nyabadza Village where he donned a dress and strapped a baby on his back to elude the Rhodesian soldiers.
I saw him, from my vantage position on Hwahwazira Mountain, making his way to Paunganwa Village where he left the baby and proceeded to Mandeya.
Word reached our base during the night that reinforcements were on the way from Mandeya and that we should be prepared for all-out war.
When the Rhodies came to collect their dead, they were ambushed by the guerillas.
Miriam Matimbira, Sekai Gwete, Brian Nyabadza were ordered by the guerillas to hide behind a boulder.
I developed goose bumps when I saw a Rhodesian convoy driving towards where the freedom fighters had laid an ambush.
It was October and there was very little vegetation cover.
The lead military truck detonated a landmine as the convoy entered the guerillas’ territory. Thereafter, the freedom fighters fired non-stop into the enemy convoy, giving the Rhodies no chance to return fire.
The attack lasted for at least 30 minutes before the freedom fighters made a strategic retreat to their rendezvous in Mandeya.
When the Rhodesian reinforcements arrived at around midday, the freedom fighters were nowhere to be seen. Some of them descended on Paunganwa Village while others went to Nyamutsamba Village where they force-marched all the young boys to the battle scene to help them load Rhodie corpses onto trucks.
On the other hand, scores of middle-aged men were taken to the infamous Ruda Camp where they were interrogated, tortured and later released.
A rudimentary ‘post-mortem’ revealed that no less than four Rhodesian trucks and a mine detector were blown up by landmines while more than 30 enemy soldiers were killed in the ambush.
We stayed put at our base until midnight when we set out for Mozambique to begin our military training. The Rhodies, we later learnt from our fellow mujibhas and chimbwidos, were hunting for us.
The bottom line was that it was no longer safe for us to remain on home soil in the wake of the bloody Battle of Nyamutsamba.
Compiled by Emergencey Mwale-Kamtande.
