LAST week I looked at how the Ian Smith regime established Protected Villages (PVs) in an attempt to counter the Maoist, ‘fish and water’ guerilla tactic and how freedom fighters in the country depended on the people for sanctuary.
I also looked at how the Rhodesian Ministry of Internal Affairs introduced PVs in war zones, especially along border areas in 1976.
The Rhodesians, who were also veterans of armed conflicts in Malaya and Kenya, anticipated that PVs would cut the contact between guerillas and the masses.
They believed that such a move would in turn deny guerillas material supplies, food and intelligence information.
In the long term it was hoped the tactic of using PVs would pacify and persuade the allegiance of the masses by protecting and giving them services there, but this was not to be as the system dismally failed as more people sneaked out of the PVs, fled into towns or joined the liberation war.
This week we look at the life outside PVs and how those who ran away from the ‘Keeps’ coped with life.
Outside PVs, people encountered deplorable conditions such as absence of safe drinking water.
In an effort to neutralise ZANLA troops, the Rhodies used hazardous chemicals to poison clothing, canned food, drinks and aspirin.
They also used biological agents such as the bacteria vibro-cholerae and anthrax bacteria which were used to infect farmland and water sources.
The first elaborate proof of the use of poison can be traced to 1975 or 1976, in spite of claims that it was in use as early as 1973.
The Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) instructed doctors and chemists from the University of Rhodesia (now University of Zimbabwe) to research, identify and experiment with a variety of chemical and organic agents that could be used as a secretive ‘terror feature’ in the war against guerillas.
The head of the clinical programme in the university’s Anatomy Department, a Professor Robert Symington, recruited and trained a number of workers (including his colleagues) and students to carry out this research,
One Mr M. J. McGuinness, who headed the Chemical Weapons (CW) programme and other clandestine operations, originated from the Selous Scouts headquarters in Bindura noted that, “25 gallon-drums of foul-smelling liquid were supplied to the base many times in 1977”.
The chemicals were poured into huge pieces of tin for sun-backing and the residues were ground into powder.
The powder was applied onto stock piles of denim clothing commonly known as jeans, which were taken to the Selous Scouts’ André Rabie barracks where it was soaked into chemicals.
The deadly powder was also mixed with manufactured foods such as meat and beans before being re-canned, or applied into bottles of alcohol with a micro-needle.
Numerous prisoners were taken against their will to the Selous Scouts at Bindura and were allegedly used as ‘human guinea pigs’ to test the efficacy of the poisons and their bodies were clandestinely buried in mass graves as mentioned in my previous articles.
In one area in Mashonaland West Province, 10 civilians and livestock died after drinking water from a poisoned borehole believably targeted at guerillas.
In 1976, a Zambian newspaper reported that Rhodies had begun to poison water sources as a weapon against ZANLA guerillas in south-eastern Rhodesia in one of their atrocious operations (Zambian Daily News, 1976).
This was ‘an inhumane exercise’ because the poison killed civilians, livestock and wild game in addition to its intended target, although the Rhodesian authorities rejected the report in its entirety. (The Rhodesia Herald, 1976, Zambian Daily News, 1976)
One hundred and fifteen (115) Africans were reported dead in November 1977 after drinking poisoned water in south-eastern Rhodesia and were buried in a mass grave (Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1979).
More civilians died after buying poisoned clothes from unscrupulous local agents, who had been recruited by the Special Branch and Selous Scouts.
The agents were paid $1 000 bonus for each ‘confirmed’ death of a freedom fighter.
When the anthrax plague began to kill cattle in the white-owned farms and ranches, the Rhodesian Army psychological operations officers accused infiltrating guerillas for its outbreak and spread.
The black nationalists argued that the original outbreak was a result of the white administration-designed move to starve the guerillas and their supporters.
Today, more than three decades after independence, the area continues to be affected by repeated outbreaks of anthrax believably introduced in the area during the war of liberation.
Disillusioned by the increased guerilla infiltration the RSF introduced a scorched earth strategy where they destroyed anything which could be of use to the enemy.
The aim was to starve the civilian population and force the guerillas into submission or cause desertion of civilians (who had fled from PVs) back to the ‘villages’ because of hunger.
Overall the scorched earth strategy was meant to cripple the civilian ability to sustain their support to the guerillas.
To force the civilians into the PVs, the Rhodesians destroyed boreholes and poisoned food if they did not burn it.
This led to the death of many people as a result of poisoned food or simply due to its shortages.
Livestock was reported to have died of thirst as the owners were driven into the PVs.
At times the RSF used the French-built Mirage and Vampire jets, Canberra bombers and helicopters to bombard homes, granaries and livestock.
The aircraft were also used to burn grass in a desperate attempt to flush out the guerillas from their hideouts.
Thus, the entire ecology suffered as a result of the Rhodesian Security Forces (RFS) initiatives in the area.
Most cattle were lost because they were left unattended as people were forced into PVs.
In order to restore the memories of those who lived in the PVs, the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe has identified more than 10 PVs to be proclaimed National Monuments.
Officials said some former PVs in Mt Darwin, Chiweshe and Shamva have so far been identified and research to proclaim these into National Monuments is ongoing.
Officials from the department have already confirmed that field studies and subsequent reconstruction of some of the notorious PVs is ongoing and is awaiting proclamation upon completion.