Zipra war book to be published soon

A United Kingdom based Zimbabwean lawyer and liberation war veteran says he is close to finishing his book that will put the record straight about the role played by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (Zipra) during the struggle for independence.

The book also aims to correct distortions about the liberation war by partisan historians as some history students have been made to believe that only Zanla fought the war while Zipra is mentioned in passing in some books.

The author, Irvine Sibhona, who commanded joint Zipra-MK guerrilla units up to the ceasefire in 1980,says the book is almost finished and will be with the publishers soon.

Speaking from London, the former commander said his book will correct many distortions about the liberation war and the events that took place before and after independence.

The author will also explain,among other issues,the history and formation of Zipra,its military operations in Rhodesia, the alliance with South Africa's Umkhonto we Sizwe(MK) and the role played by various battalions and brigades of Zapu's regular army at the height of the war and several attempts to unite the two liberation movements.

During the war,Zapu trained battalions and brigades for conventional warfare. Sibhona says the regular soldiers were trained in Zambia,Angola and Ethiopia but were not part of a standing regimental force as popularized by the Rhodesian army. According to Sibhona, the Rhodesian forces clashed with Zipra battalions towards the late 70s. It was the Rhodesians who disclosed that Zapu had deployed its conventional army for a final showdown that could have led to a military take over.
The battalions and brigades, adds Sibhona, were either in the front fighting alongside the guerrillas or in their rear bases in Zambia. One of such brigades was allegedly commanded by a Brigadier Stanford Khumalo.

Sibhona told me in 1980 he was given the task of escorting MK detainees who had been released from Khami to Zambia via Victoria Falls. According to him, Zapu and Zipra continued assisting MK guerrillas until 1990 after which the ANC suspended the armed struggle.

This followed the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the unbanning of liberation movements by the South African government. Meanwhile in South Africa some military historians have shown interest in the Rhodesian bush war history.

The military historians in that country want to hear especially stories of former guerrillas of both Zipra and Zanla. They want to give the former Zimbabwean freedom fighters a chance to tell their side of the war. One historian from a Limpopo university tried unsuccessfully to document the history of Zipra during the war but the former combatants based in Johannesburg turned him down.

The former Zipra cadres were recommended for the project by Cosmas Ncube,an official of the Patriotic Alliance of Matabeleland Unions (Pamu).

"The former combatants lost an opportunity to tell their side of the story and market themselves internationally," said Ncube.

One of the former Zipra officers who was approached by the historian said they refused to take part in the documentation of the war because they did not want to disclose Zapu secrets to foreign spies.