By Andrew Nyathi aka Tommy Mazinyo
ZPRA OPERATIONAL AREA BL1
TRAINED IN CGT1 ZAMBIA FURTHER TRAINED IN DRESDEN EAST GERMANY
Operational areas .HURUNGWE, ZVIMBA, SANYATI ,MAKONDE ,MSENGEZI, VUTI ,NORTON ,KADZEMA ,ZOWA ,MAGUNJE KAZANGARARE ,MAKUTI SALISBURY
My name is Andrew Nyathi. I trained as Tommy Mazinyo. Further trained as Nebuli Dube and operated as Commissar Tommy.
The objective was to establish ourselves as a serious military challenge to the Rhodesians forces, establish liberated zones and pave the way for the ZPRA regular force for the capture of Salisbury.
It was critical for ZPRA to be understood, accepted and supported by the masses. It was therefore my job to ensure that:
(a) Comrades behaved properly and were appreciated by the masses.
(b) That masses on the other hand assisted us in various ways that included food, shelter, information about the movements of the enemy.
(c) Keep peace and tranquility amongst the masses in conditions of war.
As a trained commissar, it was important to have the skill, ability and structure to achieve our objectives. For the skill and ability, ZPRA high command made sure that some of us were trained politicians, of which I was part of the comrades who were trained in the commissariat work in GDR (German Democrat Republic) was part of the Socialist countries that supported our cause.
This training ensured that the fighters were committed fully to the struggle of liberation. Therefore, as a commissar, one was the cog that dealt with the fighters’ issues, nationalists’ issues, masses’ issues as well as the enemy propaganda.
One was also the second in command as well as being the advisor to the command, to avoid fighters becoming mercenaries.
Guerrillas were masters in many fields to keep the struggle for liberation on course. It was the duty of commissars to keep everyone aware of current affairs as they affected our struggle as well as the international developments, yet being a soldier remained.
It was also my duty to articulate what Zimbabwe would look like economically, political and socially, including the security of persons.
We believed and explained the evilness of the imperialistic system of governance by the white minority.
We were going to replace it with a new system of governance that would be predominately, intando yenengi,gutsarushinji, majority rule based on one-man vote.
We believed people should share the wealth of the country, all must have a say in the affairs of the country.
We believed in equality of people partaking in the opportunities available. We believed in the freedom of every person and establishment of an egalitarian society.
We preached the need for coexistence of persons, communities and nations. We believed in working together as children of the soil.
After the failure of internal talks (Smith Rhodesia Front and Nkomo ANC (ZAPU)) as well as the Malter and Geneva, the armed struggle systematically intensified.
The nationalists became convinced the only option left was that of intensifying guerrilla warfare. As a youngman of that period, it was clear that we were the people to take the struggle forward.
Together with Freddy Chilis from Salisbury, R Chifamba from Fort Victoria, Ishumael Kabaira from Murewa, Owen Nyoni Youth Secretary from Bulawayo and myself being the
Youth Chair of Mpopoma Matshobana branch were recruited to join part of the struggle by Cde Willie Musarurwa who was the Publicity Secretary of the ANC.
We proceeded to Botswana and Zambia where we got our military training after which we all went for further training in different fields and in different countries.
Surprise, upon deployment I was deployed together with Ishmael Kabaira as senior commissars. Our commanders were Richard Mataure Deputy chief of operations, R Savanhu Chief of Engineering and urban operations, Regional Commander Soft Magarasadza, Urban section commander Quartro and Medical officer, Majoni, Mahopolo, Curtain and others.
Unfortunately, the other section commander, Tshwaleni, a comrade from Plumtree, accidentally killed himself releasing the trigger of the bazooka.
This was bad news to the fighters but as a commissar, that was my task to raise the morale of the fighters and to keep the masses focused.
Planning attacks on the enemy was one of the ways of boosting the energy of the fighters by achieving victories urgently.
As a commissar, one has to be versatile in all situations.
After the Viscount incidents, it was my duty clarify to the Head Office, what happened and how it happened.
On the other hand, the enemy responded with very aggressive attacks on our bases, they scotched the terrain, they used napalm on our bases.
It was my duty as the commissar to explain this and the need to hide comrades in cotton bales and anything that would protect the lives of comrades.
Welfare of the comrades
The Freedom Fighters needed their welfare to be taken care of, therefore, it was the duty of the commissar to move with reconnaissance section to approach the:
(a)the ZAPU structure
(b) the administrative structure
To solicit for the necessary welfare in the form of food, clothing for the Urban section especially.
It was critical that we get accurate information continuously, both for planned attacks or enemy positions, even the safety of our forces.
It was my duty as a commissar to preserve the military discipline of all the freedom fighters. If someone behaved badly I would send them back to Lusaka. Injured comrades who needed special care and attention were also my responsibility in liaison with the medical officer.
Communication
Defending the masses was one of our key strategies, by making sure the enemy is cut off through planting landmines and laying ambushes on the roads. We also cut the telephone lines whilst we protected the buses that brought crucial information for us. In this process we used the youths of the area.
Where we believed the enemy had picked information about us, we would train those youths internally or send them to Zambia for training.
It was the commissar’s duty to ensure the smoothness of these processes. If an enemy formation or camp is assaulted or overrun and equipment captured as well as money, it is sent back to Lusaka to boost the Party coffers.
The overseer of all that was the commissar. In the no go areas or liberated zones, the commissar would set up some structure that would run the affairs of the given community.
Mainly it was about the short term survival of the people, for it always that the goal was to liberate the country.
“Go make a mark for ZPRA forces, the masses and the struggle” so said Commissars Khwela, Emanuel Siziba (Professor Neshamba) and Zwangami.
Enemy movements
The enemy movements were of such great interest to us because our lives depended on it. The last thing you ever wanted was to fall into an ambush or be caught unaware. As a guerrilla, one isn’t allowed to die recklessly, because to train a guerrilla is very expensive and more valuable than to produce an ordinary soldier.
Commissar at the Front: The typical day, I would start the day like this at a gathering point;
a) Explain our position geographically
b) Deal with the topography of the area
c) Talk about the enemy information, typical would be about; Dzakutsaku, Greyscouts, helcopters and spotter plains, Rhodesian ground forces, support units, sellous scouts’ movements and known armaments they could be carrying.
d) Explain any friendly forces in the area,
e) Deal with current affairs and activities by other comrades in other operational areas.
f) Establish the new G P and Codes
g) New Assignments by the Commander; new orders, marching formation, reconnaissance section, safety covers for all sections, assault commands or withdrawal commanders. The comrades would respond; “Hova Commandiri!”
h) I would then warn against cowards and say: “Lingaginywa yi ravin” that would be to say, Don’t be swallowed by valleys. Again the comrades would respond by saying; “Hova Commissar!”
Party Structures
ZAPU/ANC had party structures throughout the country and especially in the northern part of Rhodesia.
Language for me never became a problem for two reasons, a) Comrade Kabaira was more fluent than me, so he could explain issues clearly contrary to the wrong narration that ZPRA were Sindebele speakers.
I was also able to speak the language of the community with less difficulties. The community itself would also try to speak in the ways the fighters would understand, in fact tribal sentiments only started to strengthen after independence, once provinces were named according to tribes, then the national thought worsened.
Our relationship with the masses started with the structures of the Party that gravitated into personal relationships and trust.
It was important to cultivate that relationship to a persoour.to person relationship due to the fact that life or death was always present.
So as a trained person, it was important to make sure that both sides are protected however. I would know the correct information about the people but made sure that they themselves know less about us as a protection measure.
We also explained the existence of the ZAPU exile governance structures that already required linkage with the internal structures for the good and ease of future administration. Everyone was to work towards the zero which never came to pass due the compromise of the Lancaster House Agreement.
It was important to explain to the masses that the society that we were going to build was going to be based on bringing and partaking in electricity, modern technology and technical knowledge, equality in production, productivity, distribution relations, and share relations = egalitarian relations (Ubuntu). The masses would positively receive this message.
