How ZPRA, ZANLA were allocated camps in Entumbane

WE round-up our interview with former freedom fighter Lieutenant-Colonel (Rtd) Alson Masilinge Muleya. Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya who trained as a regular officer cadet at the Zambian Military Academy in Kohima joined the armed struggle in April 1977. He was then deployed to the front and operated in the Northern Front 2 (NF2), a ZPRA operational area that covered districts such as Binga, Lupane and Nkayi.

In the previous instalments, Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya spoke about how he started his political activities in his home area in Beitbridge District, Matabeleland South Province as a member of the Zapu Youth League. Today Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya tells our Assistant Editor Mkhululi Sibanda (MS) about his operations in Binga. Below are excerpts from the interview. Read on…

MS: Let's resume our conversation with you telling us about your deployment to the front.
Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: When we were deployed we were sent to Kanjele, which was not far from the Zambezi River. Our orders were that after crossing over into Rhodesia, we would hit the Mlibizi Bridge. The strategy was to avoid detection at all costs by the Rhodesians as we moved inland. Our unit could have been around 18 men if my memory still serves me right. We managed to cross over into Rhodesia without any incident. We were told of the presence of other guerillas by the civilians or povo as they were called then.

The local commander there was Lemson, the now late Matabeleland South Zanu-PF provincial chairman, Rabelani Choeni. As you remember Choeni died of Covid-19 related complications in July 2021. We told Choeni that we had orders to hit the Mlibizi Bridge and he advised that we go and see the target first.

It was Choeni who counselled that although we had orders to destroy the Mlibizi Bridge, from the situation on the ground it was not a wise decision as it was of strategic importance even to the locals. We realised that he spoke sense and we abandoned the idea of hitting it. We then moved to Dandanda in Lupane, spread our operations to Gokwe and later on back to Binga in the Kariyangwe area. By that time Lupane, Nkayi and Gokwe were teeming with guerillas. However, we had split into smaller but mobile units of five. We would move in bigger units if going to hit targets.

MS: Which battles were you involved in?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: They were numerous and of one the memorable ones was when we hit the madzakudzaku of Bishop Abel Muzorewa at Marirangwe in Binga. They arrived in those villages in trucks and captured two girls whom they handcuffed. We then laid an ambush in a bid to rescue those two girls. On the day we hit them we were a unit of 12 guerillas and we were properly armed. We ambushed them and hit their truck with a bazooka first. We left nine dead there. We also ambushed another unit of the enemy at Sibankwazi where we used an anti-tank to hit their truck. It was at that battle that we managed to rescue the two girls.  After taking back the girls we quickly mobilised other youths and crossed with them into Zambia. There was a possibility of them being killed by the enemy. We spread our operations to Gokwe where we would lay ambushes and attack the enemy.

MS: When the ceasefire was announced where were you?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: We heard about the ceasefire when we were in Kariyangwe, but at first we thought the Rhodesians were playing games with us. Later on, we moved into what we called Q Assembly Point where a Monitoring Force made up of Fijians came. We were 22 so it was decided that we were very few to remain at Q, which itself did not qualify to be an AP. We were then told that we were going to Binga Centre and that we would be driven in a Puma, a Rhodesian military truck that we had learnt to hate with passion.  When we got to Binga we were told that we would be flown to Lupane as we were being taken to Mike Assembly Point, also known as St Paul's. It was at the Binga airstrip that we had serious arguments with members of the Monitoring Force.

MS: What was the problem?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: They told us that we could not board the aircraft armed. They said we should leave our weapons, the AK-47s, machine guns and bazookas as well as grenades. We told them that it was akin to being naked. We said it was a ruse to disarm us and then kill us. We didn't trust anyone. It had to take the intervention of a liaison officer from ZPRA for us to board the plane. However, we insisted on taking our weapons into the plane. They ended up agreeing. We were then flown to Lupane where we disembarked at the airstrip and from there we were driven to St Paul's.

MS: How was life at St Paul's?

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: There were many battle-hardened guerillas there, some who had been in the bush for more than four years. They had seen action in Lupane, Nkayi, Gokwe and Binga. I was then chosen to be part of the instructors taking the comrades there on some drills of a conventional army. Our commander for that programme was Regis. We were taking them through conventional tactics, discipline, we were initiating them or orienting them into a new system into what they were to expect as we were preparing for the integration exercise. That exercise involved all battalions at St Paul's.

However, some comrades who had been guerillas through and through did not understand. A lot was happening there. Then there was a disturbing incident  when some disgruntled comrades made an attempt on the life of ZPRA Political Commissar, the now late Colonel (Rtd) Richard Dube, uGedi. They threw a grenade into his room at night and he was almost killed in that incident. Later on, the guerillas were relocated from St Paul's to Entumbane in Bulawayo. Entumbane housed both ZPRA and ZANLA. There were four camps there.

MS: May you please take us through the set-up at Entumbane.

Lt-Col (Rtd) Muleya: Camps One and Two were allocated to Zanla while Camps Three and Four were taken up by ZPRA. You see the houses just along Luveve Road across Mpopoma High School made up Camp Three. That is where the ZPRA command element for Entumbane also lived. Camp Three was sort of part of our HQ. I was initially based at Camp Three, but I then moved to Camp Four when I was assigned to be the battalion Chief of Training there deputised by Lameck who was a nephew to the late National Hero, Chief Rekayi Tangwena of Nyanga. Most of our guerillas who were at Camp Four had been operating in Matabeleland South and Mberengwa during the war.

Then Camp One, which was for Zanla and Camp Four, which was ours were separated just by a fence. In fact, our Camp Four was sandwiched by Camps One and Two, which belonged to Zanla. That was the set-up of Entumbane Camp. As you might be aware there was in-fighting at Entumbane, but that one is for another day. I won't go into details, save  to say we had co-existed well as both ZPRA and Zanla fighters until the White City rally addressed by the now late National Hero, Enos Nkala on that fateful Sunday. You know guerillas from both sides used to drink beer together in nearby suburbs such as Mpopoma and Njube. We had no problem with each other.  During the first Entumbane disturbance termed Entumbane 1, I was at Camp Four which was between camps One and Two. After the disturbances, I left Entumbane for integration into the ZNA on 2 February 1981 at Llewellyn Barracks. I was given a rank of major and posted to Hwange 1:5 Infantry Battalion. I commanded A Company.