Zimpapers Logo

Gibson Nyikadzino, Zimpapers Politics Hub

THE bravery and courage of Zimbabwe’s heroes, both the living and the dead, who were made up of nationalists, liberation war guerillas, trade unionists, the clergy and students impress on our nationhood a lasting legacy espoused by the inseparability of those who moulded it.

In history and modernity, the painful sacrifices that led to loss of lives for Zimbabwe’s freedom remain sad epochs. Building on the sacrifices made, Zimbabweans need to translate them to address issues and realities they are living today and satisfying their aspirations too.

Because there is liberty in abundance, citizens must not live as if they do not know what to do with it. To be free, to have liberty and independence means working hard, because some worked very hard and had hope they would enjoy the fruits of such. The departed heroes and heroines, in their thousands, have to be remembered and their presence should be felt even in their physical absence.

As Zimbabwe’s economic renaissance and transformation takes shape, shifting fortunes and perceptions, those who struggled for these strides need to be firmly remembered. It was Gustav Hasford who said: “The dead only know one thing, that it is better to be alive.” Our heroes should and must not die for the second time, they have to be memorialised and immortalised, who among the many included:

Benjamin Burombo (1909-1958)
Born in 1909, Burombo was a fierce trade unionist and political organiser. He came from a relatively well but not so stable family. As a young man, he failed to obtain anything beyond primary education and tried his hand at many activities. As a black man, he was disenfranchised of opportunities as an African in Godfrey Huggins’s Rhodesia. He took a career as a cook, cafe owner, storekeeper, farmer, cattle-trader, security guard and insurance salesman where he was rarely successful.

Having learnt a few things about labour politics and basic law in South Africa, in 1947 he appeared on the political scene through trade unionism. Given the practical exclusion of Africans from the Rhodesian spheres, he fought for the rights of the downtrodden.

On April 10, 1958, Burombo the nationalist, political organiser and trade unionist who legitimately advocated for unity and cooperation among Africans died.

Herbert Chitepo (1923-1975)
He was a professional lawyer, nationalist, politician and an embodiment of revolutionary ideals and values. Known as Chairman Chitepo from his election in absentia as ZANU’s national chairman at the party’s 1964 Congress, he cared a lot for the internationalisation of the struggle for black freedom. He said such internationalisation was part of the freedom fighters’ global strategy against capitalism, racism, and imperialism.

To respond to these capitalist entanglements, Chairman Chitepo believed that the country could only become independent through an armed struggle. He also chaired ZANU’s War Council/Dare reChimurenga. He was killed in a car bomb in Lusaka, Zambia, on March 18, 1975.

Josiah Tongogara (1938-1979)
General Josiah Magama Tongogara started his revolutionary activity in ZANU in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1963 before becoming the ZANU Secretary of Defence and Commander of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Forces (ZANLA). An astute military leader, he led the liberation army with so much focus and vision. In 1973 General Tongo, as known during the war, became Chief of Defence and replaced Noel Mukono as the Chairman of the High Command and representative of the army on the Dare reChimurenga.

He led his fighters to the efficient prosecution of the war as the chair of the High Command, which also comprised members that included Cdes Charles Dauramanzi, Sheba Gava and Josiah Tungamirai who represented the liberation army in the Central Committee.

In January 1975, Cde Tongo led trained guerrillas on a rescue some of members of the High Command who were held by the rebels as hostages in the camps in Mozambique. The rebels, led by Thomas Nhari (real name Raphael Chinyanganya), Dakarai Badza, Fidian Kashiri, Cephasi Tichatonga, Siza Molife, Sam Chandawa and Timothy Chiridza, were contained in the beginning of February. Cde Tongo died in Mozambique on December 26, 1979 in a car accident.

Alfred Nikita Mangena (1943-1978)
Cde Mangena was the commander of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU). In November 1964 Algeria offered ZAPU military training facilities for 120 recruits, from who Cde Nikita Mangena was to become one of the most distinguished military commanders of the struggle for independence.

After receiving military training in Algeria, he worked as one of the ZIPRA instructors at Morogoro, Tanzania, before being called up to Zambia to head the ZIPRA army, where he was deputised by national hero Lookout Masuku. He was part of the ZAPU/ZIPRA War Council that included Dr Joshua Nkomo as Chairman, and other members were Akim Ndlovu, Dumiso Dabengwa, Samuel Munodawafa and Masuku.

Cde Mangena, who had successfully rebuilt the ZIPRA army from scratch after the disruptive political crises by the Ian Smith regime against nationalist leaders, was killed on June 28, 1978 when his vehicle detonated a landmine set by the Rhodesians in Southern Zambia.

Solomon Mujuru (1945-2011)
His nom de guerre was Rex Nhongo, and is remembered, among other things, as the first black commander of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) after having served as a ZANLA commander during the country’s liberation struggle. He joined the liberation struggle in the 1960s as a member of the ZAPU Youth League.

He skipped the country into Botswana and managed to travel to Zambia, before receiving military training in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Egypt and Tanzania. He later joined ZANU and in 1970 he was appointed to lead the group of 45 freedom fighters to cross into Zimbabwe from Mozambique’s Tete province.

That made him the first sectorial commander to lead a ZANLA group of freedom fighters, responsible for the opening up of North-East zone of Zimbabwe. He commanded freedom fighters at the Nehanda front, before receiving a message from his superiors at Chifombo that he was wanted to attend a Dare meeting to review the whole war situation.

As part of the ZANLA supreme command, Cde Mujuru was responsible for the liberation forces’ entire military operations, supervision of deployment and movement of troops in Zimbabwe and co-ordinating the entire forces from a central command in Mozambique.

We know our heroes
The political and moral unity of the liberation movement and of the people it represented and directed, implied achieving cultural unity. In Zimbabwe’s independence, unity played a key role in overcoming the machinations of the colonialist regime.

Co-operation among nationalist leaders, trade unionists, freedom fighters, peasants, the landless blacks, students and the clergy cannot be dismissed for cheap gain. No matter the level of negativity from detractors, Zimbabwe’s nationalism and right to self-determination was a sacrifice that was made by people who, if they were alive, would be enjoying their freedom as much as any other Zimbabwean.