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Ranga Mataire-Group Political Editor

SEVENTEEN families are settled on Altena Farm, located a few kilometres from Centenary Business Centre in Mashonaland Central Province. 

The families are beneficiaries of the Government’s land reform programme that has thus far empowered more than 300 000 households.

Sadly, very few people know that the farm holds a special place in the history of the liberation struggle. The importance of the sprawling farm is not only because it was the first target hit by ZANLA combatants to properly start the Second Chimurenga on December 23, 1972. 

The farm is also a symbol of how Zimbabwean masses paid the ultimate price for supporting “vanamukoma”.

But this is not where the story begins.

The story begins at a training camp in Mozambique with an address by ZANLA commander General Josiah Tongogara to a group of 45 well-grilled combatants itching to have a go at white colonialists.

This was to be a guerrilla war, and combatants are best advised to avoid direct confrontation with the more superior Rhodesian military force.

But then this is mid-July, a month when trees shed off their leaves, streams run dry and rivers subside. This is never an ideal time to start a guerrilla war.

Apart from the assured support of the masses, there was a need for the green lush of the countryside to camouflage combatants’ movements.

So, just after Cde Tongo has finished psyching up the fighters, one brave cadre going by the name JV raises a hand: “Cde Tongo, are you not sacrificing us by sending us to fight at a time like this when the rivers and all other sources of water are dry? This is the time when the vegetation is dry and not convenient for a guerrilla war.”

After a short pause, and with unblinking bloodshot eyes fixed on Cde JV, Gen Tongo asks the other comrades their views. The response is unanimous. They all agree that they need to wait until the first rains hit the country.

And so a military operation that was supposed to signal the start of a sustained armed struggle is delayed as the combatants wait for mother nature to turn in their favour.

The delay, however, does not deter Cde Rex Nhongo (Solomon Mujuru), Mayor Urimbo (Samuel Mamutse)and others from secretly slipping into Rhodesia to undertake some reconnaissance.

The first homestead they arrive at to announce their presence was that of Chief Mukorekore. And as was the cultural norm, the chief takes the combatants by night to a spirit medium of Mbuya Nehanda, who resided in the nearby Dande area.

The spirit of Mbuya Nehanda instructs Chief Mukorekore to take care of the comrades until the end of their mission.

It was a dangerous mission needing extreme caution. The message to everyone was to be that the comrades are his in-laws from Rusape. They are in the area only to collect the outstanding lobola. It was a message drilled even into children.

Chief Matthew Mukorekore was one of those children. He now recounts how the comrades had to act and behave like part of his father’s family.

“They had to undertake the same routine tasks that everyone was doing so as not to raise any suspicion. It was Cde Rex Nhongo, Cde Mayor Urimbo and others. 

“But one day, as I led an ox-drawn plough with Cde Nhongo marshalling the cattle, a well-known African policeman arrived at our homestead.  He first asked me who the men were, and I told him that they were my uncles from Rusape,” says Chief Mukorekore.

He went on to interrogate Cde Nhongo, who repeated the same message; he had come with his brothers from Rusape to collect the outstanding lobola. The policeman seemed satisfied and left.

The brief encounter with this “mubhurakwacha” made the comrades change their modus operandi. 

They moved about a kilometre away from the homestead. They dug a big pit close to a small stream. There, they would spend much of the day, only briefly leaving the pit when food was delivered. How they did their reconnaissance, nobody knew.

After about three months, the group left Centenary back to the rear in Mozambique. The ground had been set to effectively start the war.

The Return

Before crossing the Mukumbura River into Zimbabwe on November  11, 1972, the group of 45 cadres had earlier been addressed by Sekuru Chidyamauyu at Chamboko base. 

Everyone was instructed to bathe in a pool close to the base. Sekuru Chidyamauyu had applied some protective herbs into the pool.

After bathing, they would be given small pieces of a root, which they would carefully place in the hair, just above the forehead.

Sekuru sternly told the cadres to behave themselves; never engage in adultery, and never greet women by shaking hands. They were reminded that this ritual was a “mhiko” that their forefathers had undertaken in earlier wars.

At dusk, the column of 45 cadres entered Zimbabwe from Chamboko base and immediately split into two groups. One group commanded by Cde Nhongo got into Dande. 

Another, led by Cde Kenneth Gwindingwi, left for Mutoko. The Mutoko group did not go far as they were intercepted after camping at a dam. The Rhodesians pounced on them before they could split into smaller units. Some were killed, others captured, and the rest retreated to Mozambique.

The group commanded by Cde Nhongo regrouped on top of Mavhuradonha Mountain near St Albert’s Mission. It then split into two sections of 10 men each group. 

One was led by Cde Pedzisa, while the other was led by Cde JV. The plan was that Cde Pedzisa’s group would identify a target and pounce on Christmas Day, while Cde JV’s group was to isolate a target and hit it two days later.

It was agreed that after the initial targets, each unit would operate independent of the other. But as in any war situation, things don’t always go according to plan.

Current Chief Chitemamuswe Mukorekore, Matthew Chitemamuswe, whose father provided sanctuary to the reconnaissance team led by Cde Rex Nhongo, recounted how the comrades changed their plans of attacking Altena Farm on December 25, 1972.

Chief Chitemamuswe is one of the 17 families now settled on the farm.

“The target had already been identified almost four months before the actual arrival of the comrades in this area. This farm was owned by Marc de Borchgrave, a farmer of German origin.”

 “He was very unpopular among the local population. He was notorious for ill-treating his workers,” says Chitemamuswe.

So unpopular was the farm that locals called it the Slave Yard. The farm owner was known for throwing defiant workers into the tobacco incinerator.

The presence of guerrillas was now a public secret among the locals. INTAF (Rhodesia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs) officials had also noticed something ominous; information was becoming ‘dry’. They informed their superiors, who ignored the intel.

One of de Borchgrave’s workers heard of the presence of the ZANLA cadres at a homestead known for selling traditional brew.

In excitement, the worker trudged to the homestead. To his surprise, the so-called guerrillas looked like ordinary villagers. It is said the worker drank one too many, and failed to return to the farm the following day.

After a roll-call at the farm, de Borchgrave discovered that one of his supervisors was absent. Other workers said he had been spotted imbibing the traditional brew at the homestead some distance away. In anger, the farmer rode his horse to the beer homestead. He found his worker still in drunken stupor, passed out.

Known for his ruthlessness, de Borchgrave savagely flogged his worker and dragged him back to the farm.

All this happened in full view of some of the comrades, who included Cde Pedzisa. 

This savage attack infuriated the cadres. It forced them to change their plans of attacking the farm on Christmas Day. They could not wait. They moved it forward to 21 December.

At around 3am on December 21, the fighters laid landmines on the road leading to the farmhouse and cut the telephone line. Altena Farm house came under a barrage of attack from an array of weapons that included assault rifles and rocket launchers.

De Borchgrave escaped on foot to the nearest farm, Whistlefield. His wife drove the car towards the same farm. Miraculously, the car missed the landmines. De Borchgrave’s eight-year-old son was not so lucky. He was injured in the attack, and is said to have died later.

“This attack signalled the beginning of the armed struggle, not just in this area, but in the whole of Rhodesia then. The attack sent a clear message to other farmers and the Rhodesian authorities that the comrades meant business,” says Chief Chitemamuswe.

The morning after the attack, the cadres learnt of the farmer’s escape to Whistlefield farm. On December 23, 1972, at around 1am, the guerrillas attacked Whistlefield Farm, injuring de Borchgrave and other occupants of the house. The double-storey house crumbled, but again none was killed from the attack. The comrades retreated and waited for the Rhodesian forces’ reaction.

Indeed, the reaction came. It was harsh, swift and devastatingly changed the lives of the local population.

Headman Jackson Chawarura of Chawarura Village under Chief Chiweshe Mukorekore said 10 local recruits who included Pemson Munaki, Robert Jingamvura, Frey Dematsanga, Erasmus Zimbit and Muza that were camped at Karugo Mountain waiting to go for training in Mozambique were sold out by informers.

The Rhodesian forces thought the young men were actual guerrilla fighters. They combed the area and bombed the location where the recruits were hiding in caves. Only two survived.

Parents of the slain recruits were called to identify their children. Pictures were taken with the parents hugging the corpses of the children. The pictures were then used for propaganda purposes as a warning to other parents not to allow their children to join the war.

“Parents of the young recruits were later arrested and sent to jail. They served I think 5 years each,” Headman Chawarura recalls.

After this raid came “Operation Overlord”, which drove everyone into the “Keeps”. These were essentially Concentration Camps, where one’s life was strictly regulated.

Conditions were dehumanising. There was time set aside for relieving oneself. Each person was required to bring their waste in his hands to the security personnel before placing it at a designated area.

The idea of driving people into the Keeps was to starve the comrades of any contact with the local populace, which provided them with information and food.

Unfortunately for the Rhodesian forces, the strategy never worked as the fighting had now spread like veld fire in other areas beyond the Chiweshe Tribal Trust Lands. The Rhodesian forces felt overwhelmed. Desperate, they went about harassing, arresting and wantonly torturing suspected war collaborators.

All this did not dampen the spirit of liberation that had taken over the masses. Independence was to come in April 1980.

Expressing his sentiments on the attainment of independence and celebrating 42nd years of Uhuru, headman Chawarura said the history of Altena farm must never be forgotten.

“My wish as headman is to see that farmhouse hit by the comrades gets some kind of national recognition as a heritage site. We can’t let it crumble. It must stand as a symbol of the resilient spirit of our people in fighting an oppressive system,” said the headman.

Despite losing thousands of villagers for the liberation of the country, headman Chawarura’s heart is consoled by the fact that indigenous black people are now proud owners of the farm.

“These families are not just from Chiweshe, but from other areas. I am a happy man, but my wish is that the memory of Alterna Farm and Rukogo Mountain must never fade. These must stand as reference symbols of never letting the country become a colony again.”