Former ZPRA members in Bulawayo are mourning the deaths of three ZAPU stalwarts’ spouses who died in the last week, saying they endured the burden of the independence struggle and afterwards were tormented by the post-independence government during the Gukurahundi era.
Emily Ntutha nee Nyathi, the late deputy minister Njini Ntutha’s wife, died last week, and according to ex-ZPRA members, the wife of late ZAPU member Lazarus Nkala was buried last Sunday.
They also said the wife of the late former Matabeleland North Governor Welshman Mabhena died this week and is yet to be buried.
In an interview with CITE, ZPRA Veterans Association spokesperson, Buster Magwizi, said they were in a state of bereavement having lost the wives of ZAPU stalwarts.
“We remember the wives of Jini Ntutha, Lazarus Nkala and Welshman Mabhena. We mourn with their families because they suffered, having been tormented so harshly by the environment and situation that prevailed during the era of Gukurahundi,” he said.
Magwizi said Ntutha was the secretary for defence in ZAPU but was murdered at the height of Gukurahundi.
“Ntutha was murdered by the likes of Flint Magama responsible for exterminating ZAPU members alleged to be enemies of the State during the genocide of Gukurahundi. Ntutha was very focused in liberating this country and fought tirelessly to have Zimbabwe in the hands of the African communities but it is the very same African community that hunted him down,” he said.
“Ntutha was chased along in the Umguza area in Nyamandlovu in his farm and gunned down point blank, as his killers had a very clear mandate to eliminate ZAPU members.”
Former Co Minister of National Healing and Integration, Moses Mzila Ndlovu also passed his condolences to the families of the bereaved.
“Mrs Ntutha has passed on. May her dear soul rest in eternal peace. My heartfelt condolences to the family,” he said.
“MaNyathi directly bore the brunt of the independence struggle by single-handedly raising their family while her husband was incarcerated by Ian Smith for long years. As if that was not enough her husband was soon after independence murdered in cold blood by Zanu Gukurahundi thugs, permanently dashing her long-held hope of enjoying a peaceful life with her husband and family.”
Ndlovu said since January 1984, Ntutha’s widow lived with the pain of her husband’s loss which she took to her grave.
“A pain so callously inflicted by hate-ridden minds of war-mongering hypocrites who claim to be liberators but murdered innocent and unarmed civilians who made the ultimate sacrifice by fearlessly confronting the colonial system while they sold out to the colonial masters,” said the former minister.
“Liberators who pillage, gang rape, discriminate on tribal grounds and treat half the country like a colonial annex.”
Ndlovu narrated that before his assassination, Ntutha had in Parliament ‘directly and correctly’ attributed the mass murders in Matabeleland and Midlands to the Fifth Brigade.
“Instead of stopping the wanton killings, Zanu unleashed a hit squad on him. On that fateful day, a Gukurahundi unit led by Flint Magama comprising Elias Kanengoni, Kizito Chizamba and George Rushwaya followed Ntutha to his farm in Nyamandlovu. Upon seeing the group, Njini Ntutha fled his homestead. The four gave chase for about four kilometres,” he said.
“They caught up with him near Gwayi River and forced him to climb a tree by the river bank, ordered him to jump off the tree onto the river sand. As Ntutha jumped, they fired at him but deliberately missed so they could enjoy the sport. They forced Ntutha to do that several times and when they tired of it they then shot him, pumping multiple bullets into his body to end his tormented life.”
The former minister said Ntutha’s death was announced as the work of dissidents though police force and other Fifth Brigade operatives had witnessed his cruel end.
“For Mrs Ntutha, the cruel end to her husband’s life marked another episode of a lonely life, not caused by a white man but by fellow black men obsessed with ethnic hatred and corrupting power. Kanengoni was rewarded for this by being transferred to CIO where he was made Deputy Director General(Internal). When he died he was declared a national Hero,” Ndlovu claimed.
“At that time, Kanengoni’s former boss Minister Sydney Sekeramayi who stood in for the Acting President Joyce Mujuru at the Heroes Acre, spoke glowingly of Kanengoni, saying he had performed his tasks with diligence and completed them well ahead of time, which to us was the killing of people in Matabeleland!”
Ndlovu said Magama died in an army helicopter crash during counter-insurgency operations in Mozambique, while the others Chizama and Rushwaya died almost at the same time in hospital.
“So much for being used by Zanu,” he said.
