Title: Nguo Dzouswa (Upheavals)
Author: Aaron Chiundura Moyo
Printer: Mambo Press
Pages: 200
ISBN: 0-86922-348-8
By Chemist Mafuba
AARON CHIUNDURA MOYO shows in Nguo Dzouswa what happens to marriage when the wife comes back from the struggle to face her husband who had been a sellout.
The previous preview left the husband pointing a gun on the head of his wife who has refused his suggestion that she should stop feeding freedom fighters.

Andrew has realised that behind every successful man there is a woman. Kudzai proves to him that it doesn't necessarily follow that behind every successful woman there is a man.
Aaron would have gathered more material for the book if he had been staying in Bulawayo during the days of the struggle.
The City of Kings was teeming with mischief-makers who implicated freedom fighters in unsavoury scandals of their making.

A young man appeared in Western Commonage Magistrate Court on Monday charged with making a false report. The 27-year-old security guard pleaded guilty to one count.
The prosecutor told the court how the man went to police in Mpopoma South and told them that a group of terrorists had abducted him when he was going for night duty. He made the report on Thursday.

The battalion that was sent to search the bushy area along Khami Road where the man had said the terrorists had taken him found nothing.
The man told the truth when the soldiers threatened do deal with him severely for wasting their time.
"I was afraid of losing my job," he said in mitigation. "I couldn't report for duty because I had drunk too much in a shebeen in Magwegwe. Five days later I'm still reeling from the effects of that beer."

By as early as 1976 the wreckage of helicopters that vakomana were shooting down in Gonarezhou were being brought inland through Masvingo.
The situation deteriorated fast. Information minister P K van der Byl went on to step up his terror campaign for winning the hearts and minds of the people. Ian Smith said they were "the happiest people in the world".

On Saturday mornings soldiers marched through the streets showing off their monstrous tanks to convince people that they would lose out if they supported vakomana.
One of the soldiers went berserk and shot seven people dead in front of Kingston's next to Herald. Alexander Joe took dramatic pictures for the Sunday Mail.
Soldiers would get the povo to disclose where they would have seen vakomana by having one of them fire his FN from the shoulder of chimbwido. She would be standing in from of the crowd of people.

Because of this, the povo would scatter into the mountains when they saw soldiers coming to their village with their guns at the ready.
The evening news bulletins started: "Combined Operations Headquarters regrets to announce the death in action of . . . 21 terrorist collaborators have been killed in crossfire."
Listeners could receive clearly the message from the Voice of Zimbabwe that victory was certain. But they had to tune their radios in hiding.

Authorities allowed people to read Karikoga Gumi Remiseve because it fanned tribal tensions. The radio gave a lot of airplay to Pfumvu paRuzeva.
The "on-side" guerrillas who supported the internal settlement were the first ones to come back home. They perished from air bombing raids in Gokwe where they had been invited to collect their exit packages.

The reporter who broke the news that Reverend Sodindo Canaan Banana would be the first black president of Zimbabwe was Gareth Willard in the Sunday News.
The announcement that Nick Mabodoko had been elected the first black mayor of Bulawayo sent reporters who had nothing to do with "50 000" to bars early that Friday. That number became linked with the struggle in many ways.

The number of people who perished during the struggle reached 50 000. The number of freedom fighters who came back home when the struggle came to an end reached 50 000.
The number of soldiers in the country reached 50 000 when Zanla forces and Zipra forces joined hands with the regular army in defending the nation.
The War Veterans got $50 000 - which was affectionately known as 50kgs - as a thank you for the role they played during the struggle.

Aaron Chiundura Moyo discusses people who refused to support freedom fighters in his novel Nguo Dzouswa/Upheavals.
"All the time we've been together I've been trying to make you see sense." Kudzai says this to Andrew when they are in their house. "I'm wasting my time telling you that your party is a party of sell-outs.

"The oppressor is using you to continue oppressing the mass. You can see this if you use your brain. You've lost your soul to the love of money. That's why you've accepted to be used.
"You're causing povo to be killed day and night. You tell povo that the money you collect from them goes to freedom fighters. You pocket that money.
"You tell people that freedom fighters are yours. Apart from your youths, there are no guerrillas supporting you. The enemy you support is facing defeat from freedom fighters.

"The enemy is watching you making black people fight each other. Andrew, you may like it or not, the struggle is forging ahead with popular support.
"You don't know what you're missing," says Andrew. "You'll die poor if you continue cooking food for those people. You've done enough for the struggle.
"It is time you should think of yourself. Politics is the business that can make you rich very fast.

"You can't afford to snub the party that has done so much for us. They've found a beautiful house for us. We're moving to the suburbs. I meant this to be a surprise for you."
Andrew has invited his workmates to talk to Kudzai.
"You're thinking as though you're still living in the village, Kudzai,' says Betty. "I don't know whether I'm the only one who sees that. You should enjoy your life while you still have it."

"I've gone through that life, Betty," says Judith. "I was champion in cooking for boys. I've since learnt that everything comes to an end. Kudzai will get over it if we can help her. We've to be patient with her. A person who doesn't know should be taught.
"I don't think that she has a problem," says Betty. "Kudzai is an intelligent woman. As a person who is educated, she wants to see where we stand. I would do the same if I were in her position. That's how to play the game these days.

"You've said the truth," says Judith. "She wants to see where we stand. All the people coming from the village are like that. They don't trust people staying in town. They see a sell-out in every one of us.
"You want to know where we stand, don't you, Kudzai? Tell us the truth. Nobody will know what you'll have told us. You want to know where we stand, eh"
Kudzai looks at them with a smile.

"I'm in the dark about what you're telling me," she says. "I want to learn what you do in your party. I don't know anything about politics. My husband merely said that he has joined another party. I said nothing."
"What!" the other women cry. "Didn't your husband tell you what is required of you? He must have forgotten. The post they gave him keeps him busy.

"He should have told you that all wives of senior members must work for the party. That's the first thing Andrew should have told you when he joined our party.
"My husband hasn't told me a thing," says Kudzai. "If he had told me, I wouldn't be talking to you like this. I'm telling the truth, Mai Huro, when I say there's nothing I've heard."
"We've been thinking that your husband doesn't have a wife," says Judith. "He's the only senior member whose wife doesn't work for the party. Am I lying, Betty?

"Perhaps he was afraid to tell somebody staying in the village," says Betty. "I know what I'm talking about. I once stayed there myself. Andrew must have been taking his time.
"I don't understand what working for the party means," says Kudzai. "I would be grateful if you can tell me. I want to know what I'd be doing when I join your party.

"It's no longer necessary for you to worry," says Judith. "We've come to tell you what you should know. Your husband has joined the party that most people in this country like very much.
"I'm chair for women in our party," Judith goes on. "I see to it that women like you have jobs in the party. There are eligible women fearing what people would say about them if they work in our party.
"The decision was taken: all wives of senior officials must work for the party. You'll get a lot of money - a lot more than what you get as a nurse. Ignore people who will tell you that you work for a

useless party. You'll be working for your family.
Betty laughs.

"Don't mind people who might mock you," she says. "If I were you I'd turn my back on them. The white man came to this country forever.
"He won't return to his country. You should turn a blind eye to what's going on. Accept what you're given looking aside."
Betty says she is going to start working for the party. She won't give a fig to what other people would say. She asks Kudzai when she would join them.

"My husband hasn't told me to work for the party," replies Kudzai. "A married woman needs to hear what her husband has to say on a crucial issue like this one. If I work the family would have to come to town."

"Let me know if your husband drags his feet," says Judith. "I know how to deal with men who do that. Your husband is a senior official, so you must work for the party."
"I'll come back to you when I've spoken to him."

Kudzai did that eventually when she had become Comrade Blood at the end of the struggle.
The answer that Andrew gave is found in Nguo Dzouswa, the book that Aaron Chiundura Moyo wrote with Heroes' Day and Defence Forces' Day in mind.
cmafuba@yahoo.com