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The Rhodesia Herald, 6 May 1967

CHIEF Rekayi Tangwena of the Tangwena tribe, pleaded not guilty before Mr J Kirkland at the Inyanga periodical court this morning to unlawfully occupying land in a European area in contravention of the Land Apportionment Act.

Tangwena, who says he is illiterate, is conducting his own defence.

The managing director of Gaeresi Ranch, Mr W Hanmer, said he met Tangwena on the ranch where he is living.

Tangwena was not employed. The registered owner of the land is Gaeresi Ranch (Pvt) Ltd. He had a notice served on Tangwena on September 19 last year.

Cross-examined, Mr Hanmer said he had known the original Chief Tangwena, now deceased.

When Tangwena said the area in issue was his home left to him by his father, Mr Hanmer said Chief Tangwena did not live on Gaeresi Ranch.

He lived on crown land to the east.

Mr Hanmer said Tangwena’s huts were two-and-a-half miles from the eastern boundary of the ranch.

When a dispute first occurred about three years ago concerning the boundaries between Gaeresi Ranch and the Crown land east, he had met old Chief Tangwena on the eastern boundary and explained the boundaries to him.

Mr M Dunn, a land inspector, said he went to Tsatse kraal on Gaeresi Ranch last November and saw Tangwena.

In June and July, 1965, when he had counted the squatters on Gaeresi, Tangwena was not there. The case was adjourned until June 9.

Mr G. Partington appeared for the Crown.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

The land issue was at the centre of the late Chief Rekayi Tangwena’s rebellion against white settlers, and he is among the first indigenous people to try and reoccupy land that belonged to his people. His action resulted in him being Ian Smith’s public enemy number one.

Chief Tangwena is one of Zimbabwe’s iconic heroes of the liberation struggle and a monumental figure of resistance.

One of the most courageous leaders of the liberation struggle, it was through his leadership and bravery that many freedom fighters, including Cdes Robert Mugabe and Edgar Tekere, were escorted into neighbouring Mozambique undetected by the Rhodesian Forces.

On September 18, 1969 Chief Tangwena’s family was violently evicted from the land with some of the people beaten and injured by the Rhodesian Police.

A resolute community leader who resisted eviction by the settler regime from his land, the Chimurenga story is not complete without making reference to the role played by the late Chief Rekayi Tangwena who is one of the heroes interred at the National Heroes Acre.