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Leroy Dzenga Features Writer
Hoya Bridge stands tall in the lightly wetted Hoya River. Surrounding it are shrubs and thick bushes, which give a clue that it has not been used in years, decades maybe.

From a distance, it looks like a complete bridge abandoned to its own fate. But the community cannot afford the luxury of ignoring such critical infrastructure. Getting closer to the bridge, one is awakened to the reason why a seemingly critical aid of passage is deserted.

There is a sharp brusque cut midway across the channel it stands over. Elderly community members in the area remember the days the bridge used to be a functional structure until the link between Chadereka and Kairezi was blown up during the liberation struggle.

Taremedzwa Chikara (57), also known as Cde Taremedzwa Chimurenga, was just 11 years old when the bridge was bombed. Although she was not yet part of the war, she recalls the day freedom fighters bombed the bridge.

“It was in 1973, when we heard on radio that the bridge had been bombed. We had just moved into concentration camps and the news got to us that the comrades were now angry and ready for war,” Cde Chimurenga said.

The bridge connecting Chadereka Ward 1 and Kairezi Ward 23 in Mashonaland Central’s Muzarabani District provided a route for Rhodesian forces as they went to attack freedom fighters undergoing training in Mozambique.

“Frelimo forces and our own comrades bombed the bridge because it made the Mozambican bases vulnerable to attack. All we heard was a hard thudding sound, which was later confirmed by the comrades who were involved, that they had cut the enemy’s link to where our brothers were training,” she said.

“The white forces built the bridge so they could cross to the other side and plant what were known as TnT bombs, which they scattered along Bhinya Road, which leads to Mozambique. A number of our fighters sustained serious injuries.

According to her, freedom fighters did not need the bridge because they employed alternative paths to cross to the other side.

“No one was worried that the bridge was no longer functional; comrades crossed through the most unorthodox of points owing to their training. It was the Rhodesian forces who struggled because they preferred to use designated points of entry,” Cde Chimurenga said.

Another war collaborator who has come of age, Joel Gwenera (75), whose war nom de guerre was Cde Vhuu, says the destruction of the bridge was a strategic move in the face of war.

“After the bridge was bombed, Rhodesian forces started using an alternative route, which passed through a dry part of Hoya River. It was bushy enough to allow a number of ambushes on Rhodesian forces as they tried to find a way from Chadereka to Kairezi,” Cde Vhuu said.

He remembers engaging with fighters who were involved in the attack as a mujibha, although he does not recall the name of the artillery employed.

“The type of weapons used for the mission resembled a pestle (mutswi) and they would load the ammunition one at a time. For one to operate it, they placed it over the shoulder, it was meant for assignments like the one they executed on the bridge,” Cde Vhuu said, smiling in reminiscence of the day.

The features on the weapon Cde Vhuu described point to a Bazooka, a man-portable rocket launcher weapon. The same way they celebrated the attack on the bridge, Cde Vhuu says they would want to celebrate its restoration.

Taremedzwa Chikara aka Cde

“If this bridge is brought back to functionality, we will slaughter a cow and celebrate as a community because the pain of living without it is unbearable. We have turned into an isolated community; this is despite the fact that we have a lot of ex-detainees and war collaborators in this area,” said Cde Vhuu.

Although the burning of the bridge was a necessary evil at the time, 38 years later, people in Chadereka and Kairezi are fighting a war of their own. Born in 1981, just after Zimbabwe’s Independence, Irene Muzangaze never got the chance to enjoy the convenience of a bridge in her area.

“We were born hearing tales of how the bridge used to work. I can never understand how a bridge of such significance to the liberation struggle can still not be functional up to now,” Muzangaze said.

The disconnection between Chadereka and Kairezi is a headache for the two communities as they have to cross Hoya River in search of a number of key services.

“Pupils from Kairezi have had to move here in Chadereka for the school term so that they are able to attend classes, especially in the rainy season. Their children attend Chimoyo Primary School as they do not have schools on the other side,” Muzangaze said.

Even those in need of health facilities go through the same ordeal. For people in Kairezi to access the clinic, they have to cross the river and if Hoya is flooded, they have to go to Mount Darwin, which is a longer distance.

Joel Gwenera aka Cde Vhuu

“It is tricky in times of emergency as Hoya gets violent with even light showers,” said Muzangaze, narrating the challenges they are facing.

Have there been efforts to fix the bridge?

“Over the years, people have been coming with notebooks and their big cars asking questions. We have since lost hope because of the way we have been deceived. Some of us have fields on the other side of the river.

“If it rains, we are unable to cross. You can imagine what that does to our productivity,” Muzangaze said, expressing how she no longer holds her breath towards the bridge’s repair.

Cars which need to pass along Bhinya Road (on which the bridge lies) follow an undefined cart trail, which cuts through the river about 100 metres from the bridge. Hoya River commands multiple tributaries and gets huge volumes of water every time it rains as it feeds into major rivers like Musengezi.

Hoya bridge was destroyed as collateral damage in the quest for independence. Now that the country is liberated, people in Chadereka want the bridge restored so they can go about their business without hindrance. The incumbent MP, Alfred Mufunga, could not be reached for comment.