Eyewitness accounts of the day JZ Moyo was killed by a parcel bomb Part 2 Cde Jason Zayapapa Moyo

Pathisa Nyathi
At this juncture we are going to deal with each victim separately. We shall deal with JZ Moyo first and later deal with Ethan Dube. JZ was killed by a parcel bomb in 1977. The heinous act took place after the botched-up Geneva Talks of 1976 where there was some altercation between him and his leader Joshua Nkomo.

At the meeting there were British agents whose role was never explained, but known. JZ Moyo was a stumbling block to resolution of the Rhodesian constitutional impasse. The altercation has been used by some conspiracy theorists to advance the view that JZ Moyo’s demise was as a result of internal rifts.

That way the real accomplices went scot free.

Before going any further with the matter, it might be pertinent to indicate some interviewees whose testimonies form the basis of the arguments in this article.

In 1997 I conducted several interviews of some people as part of my preparation for the writing and publication of a biography of Tarcisius George Malan Silundika. At the same time, I conducted interviews in preparation for the biographies of Edward Ndlovu and Nikita Mangena, both of which are due for publication this year.

All in all I interviewed no less than 50 people who participated in the struggle for independence in different roles and capacities. It is material that I had completely forgotten about. Now that the independence celebrations were going to be held in Bulawayo and, related to that, we were to write articles on the history of the struggle, not up to independence day but throughout the year, led me to revisit my archive.

I have since dusted the old handwritten files whose contents were never going to see the light of day. The information simply amazed me and the contents were not going to be preserved beyond my temporary sojourn on this planet.

With regard to the interviewees in the compilation of Silundika’s book, due for publication later in the year, the following were some of the interviewees: Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu, Dumiso Dabengwa, Jack Amos Ngwenya, Mrs Martha Silundika, Patrick Hikwa, Luke Mhlanga, Jonathan Majingosi Ndlovu, Nelson Palani Dube, Naboth K Nyathi, Charles Nyathi, Makhathini Guduza, Lovemore Dube, Richard Ncube (Farai Madiro), Zenzo Mzaca Nkomo, Durban Moyo and Isidor Ernest Dube, among others.

The late Dumiso Dabengwa

It will be noticed that there were very few interviewees who were not part of the struggle outside Rhodesia such as Mrs Martha Silundika and Patrick Hikwa.

More importantly, the vast majority of these interviewees are now late. There are only about three out of several of them that I know to be still alive.

Be that as it may, there were few that directly narrated events leading to the death of JZ Moyo, either because they were in the office when the incident happened or they were, on account of their daily duties, privy to the happenings on the fateful day. There are three individuals in this category, namely Jack Amos Ngwenya, Durban Moyo and Isidor Ernest Dube. Durban Moyo (Gibsom Mpofu) worked in the Information and Publicity Department headed by, at National Executive level by Silundika.

At management level Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu was editor in chief and under him were several officials including, Isaac Ronald Mswelaboya Sibanda, Jameson Mthethwa, James Manguni, Raymond Takavarasha, Lovemore Gondo, Shully Mashingaidze, Alois Hwingwiri, Jerry Mdluli Nyathi, Andrew Chikuse, Albert Ndinda Magaisa, Joseph Masuku, (later) John Mbedzi.

Durban Moyo and Carlos Dube were in the rooms belonging to Desire Khupe that were, at that time, housing the ZAPU offices in Lusaka. His role on the day will be explained further below. Durban Moyo came from Manama area in Gwanda and he and Isidor Ernest Dube were interviewed jointly on 8 March 1997 and Moyo was further interviewed separately on 9 March 1997 and both interviews were conducted in Waterford, Bulawayo.

Durban Moyo joined the struggle in 1973 and joined the Youth League at Kabwe(then Broken Hill). Isidor Ernest Dube(Sipho Moyo) went to the Soviet Union in 1966 where he remained till 1967 the year Edward Mondlane of Frelimo was killed. He trained in Intelligence at Simferopol, Yalta. These together with the Chief Administrator Jack Amos Ngwenya provided information regarding the events leading to the death of JZ Moyo.

Ngwenya went to Lusaka by car in the company of Willie Musarurwa in 1963, in March. Nkomo, who had completed his three month house arrest at Bidi in December 1962, travelled by train with James Robert Dambaza Chikerema to Lusaka.

The mission was to open up an office in Lusaka, so the four went to see Gore Brown in Lusaka where Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa was to become the head of office in Lusaka in anticipation of independence in October 1964. However, when he returned to Rhodesia he was detained at Gonakudzingwa and Jack Amos Ngwenya became the head of the ZAPU office, a job he held till the arrival of released nationalists when he was assigned to Helsinki, Finland as Party Representative at a time when many other individuals that had worked in Lusaka with JZ Moyo were scattered all over the friendly world as Party Representatives: Edward Mhambi, Easter Ndiweni, Gordon Munyanyi, Report Mphoko, Mrs Sihwa, Malachai Madimutsa(later replaced by Joseph Zwangami Dube), Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu and Jack Ngwenya, inter alia.

We pick up events two days before the fatal explosion. JZ Moyo had gone to Maputo on Patriotic Front business. He had gone there with Joseph Msika, Dumiso Dabengwa, Elliot Masengo, Nikita Mangena and Ambrose Mutinhiri. Due to poor flight connections between Lusaka and Maputo, they only got to Lusaka on a Friday. It was pointed out that JZ Moyo had contacted his girlfriend in Francistown, Botswana. The Rhodesians were known to listen in to telephone conversations, a common practice in intelligence gathering. So the Rhodesians knew a parcel was to be sent to JZ.

On Friday both Durban Moyo and Carlos Dube went to the post office to collect magazines that came from North Korea. These, together with twenty kilograms of meat were in the office, on the floor when the parcel exploded. The people authorised to collect mail from the post office were Jack Ngwenya, Carlos Dube and one Kenneth regarding whom no further information was furnished.

However, when Carlos Dube and Durban Moyo collected the magazines, the post office official refused to hand over to them the parcel(actually parcel bomb), demanding that Jack Ngwenya the head of office come personally to collect the parcel. The magazines were scanned using a scanning machine which was placed on the table on the eastern side of the room/office.

The late Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo

Indeed, the parcel, wrapped in khaki paper, was collected by Jack Ngwenya. Apparently, this is the parcel that contained the bomb. The question now is why did the postal official at the post office refuse to give the parcel to Carlos and Durban? One theory is that he, like more post office personnel in Francistown, were part of the Rhodesian counter insurgency network.

From Francistown post office there was an air letter for JZ Moyo. That one was handed over to Carlos Dube and Durban Moyo. It was duly screened. Then came Saturday. Some of the senior officials from Maputo wanted to get to the office before it closed at 1.00 pm as was the tradition.

JZ Moyo came along with Dabengwa, John Nkomo and Jane Ngwenya. Sikhwili Moyo(Madalaboy) was there but did not enter the office where the explosion took place. He was in the adjoining office separated by a wall of board which did not get to the roof.

On the fateful Saturday morning, JZ Moyo was keen to get in touch with Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa in Salisbury (now Harare). Carlos Dube manned the telephone which was on the table on the eastern side, where the scanning machine was placed.

The ZAPU officials named above were in the office, which was referred to as the Underground Office. Jack Ngwenya went to resume his seat on the other side of the table. JZ Moyo, as Commander-in-Chief of ZPRA and the most senior of the officials present, sat in the chair opposite that of Jack Ngwenya. In my notes the diagram of the room and where the officials were sitted is drawn. At one corner of the table, near Jack Ngwenya, sat Dumiso Dabengwa. On the edge close to JZ sat John Landa Nkomo.

There was some waiting for the connection to Salisbury which Carlos Dube was facilitating. Conversation done, it was time to deliver the mail to JZ Moyo but only after he had made a few social calls. The parcel was in a drawer on the side where Jack Ngwenya sat.

I remember well Isidor Ernest Dube saying to me JZ Moyo had said, “Umuntu uyafa khonapha.” JZ Moyo meant he could possibly die.

There had been a precedent when Ruth First died in a similar bomb in Maputo. She was girlfriend of Joe Slovo of the Communist Party of South Africa. This is what led ZAPU to acquire a scanning machine which detected the presence of metal objects.

According to Jack Amos Ngwenya, the parcel was not scanned because the handwriting on it was quite familiar-that of JZ Moyo’s girlfriend in Francistown.

They had no reason to suspect anything amiss and that was the mistake they made. As Gibson Mayisa pointed out in the interview with Nduduzo Tshuma, the lady was absolved of culpability.

A source I interviewed later indicated to me that the Rhodesian intelligence needed the girlfriend’s handwriting to remove suspicion. Jack Ngwenya, in particular, would have recognised the handwriting. The parcel sent from Francistown was genuinely from the girlfriend containing the delayed Christmas gift that JZ Moyo had asked for.

Once the parcel was intercepted by the Rhodesians, they steamed the parcel open, removed the contents and replaced them with a bomb, that unbeknown to the girlfriend. For that to succeed personnel at the post office had to be part of the trap.

In Francistown the postal official must have accessed the genuine parcel, handed it over to the Selous Scouts who tempered with it and returned it to the same official for onward transmission to Lusaka where their agent awaited it. That complicity became more obvious at the Lusaka post office.

Quite clearly, there was no way Jack Amos Ngwenya could have been an accomplice. He would not have sat where he did and handed something that lethal to JZ Moyo who was seating opposite, on the other side of the table. There the enquiry set up to investigate the death was right.

Jack Ngwenya would have found some excuse to absent himself from the scene. The conspiracy theories that abound are a result of the propaganda by the Selous Scouts whose brief was to capture, kill and generate misinformation calculated to cause conflict, division and mutual suspicion within the party, all in the effort to slow down the pace of war.

“Nansi iphasili yakho.” Here is your parcel, these were the words uttered by Jack Ngwenya as he handed over the parcel to JZ Moyo. The explosion then came. It started with a spark. There followed immediately three explosions which extended to the roof which was of corrugated iron sheets.

“Take cover!” shouted Carlos Dube who had been sitting in a chair next to the eastern table.

“Jump!” followed another instruction from Durban Moyo.

“It’s a bomb!” screamed Carlos Dube. As the commands came in quick succession, both Carlos Dube and Durban Moyo began evacuating people from the office where JZ Moyo lay distraught with his intestines out. It was Carlos Dube who kicked open the door leading to the outer office. He went on to kick the door to the outer office where Sikhwili Moyo was.

Jack Amos Ngwenya did, in another interview, indicate that Sikhwili Moyo was playing a game of draughts with Desire Khupe the owner of the Underground office. Approach to the office was sealed off. Dumiso Dabengwa whose hands were burnt was taken out through the single window in the office. He had been trying to render assistance to JZ Moyo.

Sikhwili Moyo was first to be taken out of the outer entrance, followed by Dabengwa through the window and John Nkomo, also through the outer door of the second adjoining office. Sikhwili Moyo had suffered lacerations. John Nkomo, who was putting on a suit, had half his jacket ripped off and almost half his body burnt.

Once the area was sealed off, the Zambian Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Milner, who was raised by the Catholics in Southern Rhodesia, appeared on the scene in the company of one Mudenda.

Among the ZAPU personnel who arrived on the scene were Elliot Masengo, the first, and was soon followed by Nikita Mangena who had been at the Soviet embassy. On that fateful day, the following put up at the Zimbabwe House: Jane Ngwenya, Nikita Mangena and Elliot Masengo.

Word was sent to the camps regarding what had befallen the Commander-in-Chief of the ZPRA forces, JZ Moyo.

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