Rega Zvipore
By John George Mayowe,
MSU Press, 2015 pp327
ISBN 978 0 7974 6139 0

THIS book is a welcome addition to the struggle narrative based on eyewitness accounts.
John Mayowe aka Robert Mandebvu’s Chimurenga reminiscences are based on his lived experiences during the war as well as his wide-reading of the global anti-imperialist struggle.
Second Chimurenga biographies from the side of the Patriotic Front are steadily growing after years of being overshadowed by Rhodesian forces’ narratives. Nationalists like Comrades Simon Muzenda, Fay Chung and Edgar Tekere have done their bit.
More was expected from the military commanders following contributions from the likes of Josiah Tungamirai, Felix Muchemwa and Dzino Machingura.
Expectedly the contributions that have trickled in have been mainly from comrades of Commissariat background; Alexander Kanengoni, Agrippa Mutambara and now Mayowe.
Mayowe’s book is fired by strong political convictions about the struggle and unwavering commitment to national pride and identity.
Written in very deep ChiKaranga, the book is dedicated to Josiah Magama Tongogara, Sukai Muyambasi Tongogara Nee Masiiwa, Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo and Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, ZANLA and ZIPRA combatants (John 15 v13) and the Mayowe ancestry through Baba Mukundi George waMayowe, waChakoneni-Chakona, Mhikuro (Mabika) vokuMatsai, Bikita.
That in itself says pages about the man and his beliefs.
Rega Zvipore is a must-read for all desperate to know about the Second Chimurenga from an indigenous, but scholarly perspective.
It quenches that thirst with daring and philosophical courage when dealing with internal contradictions within the struggle, “mhidigari dzinowanikwa munyaya dzazvamatongerwo enyika”, like the Vashandi and Hamadziripi issues.
Divided into 15 chapters and well-illustrated with colour photographs, Mayowe’s offering seeks to bequeath to this, and future Zimbabwean generations, a rich recollection and analysis of the struggle, an effort that is in sync with the new curriculum.
The book has a foreword by prominent local historian, Professor Ngwabi Bhebhe, who ably contrasts the juvenile enthusiasm of Mayowe’s group of five who selflessly gave up their University studies to fight Rhodesian injustice only to land themselves into the tribulations of the struggle reality; hunger and internecine power/class/ideological struggles.
With that baptism, they matured into struggle veterans.
The book seeks that we be strengthened and emboldened by the courageous sacrifice of the freedom fighters’ works, “ushingi, utsanzi nokugona kuita mabasa.”
The opening chapter sets the tone of determination, sacrifice and selflessness that characterised the struggle for Mayowe and his four colleagues.
The winds of revolutionary change were blowing in Mozambique and the resultant excitement caught up with Mayowe and his friends.
Buoyed by reports of ZANLA success in the north-east front and angered by the assassination of Chitepo, nothing could stop them; not even Ariston Chambati’s anti-revolutionary counsel: “Musanyengerwa navanhu kuenda kuhondo. Makomuredhi enyu vanoverenga chibhuku chaMao vasingachinzwisisi.”
When the day came, Mayowe withdrew the last of his savings to buy five second class train tickets to Mutare, for himself and his colleagues; Martin Ndebele, Willard Duri, Christopher Mutsvangwa and Masimba Mwazha.
And when Chris and Martin picked ZW$90 lost fees for a schoolgirl and then made successful efforts to trace her in Mutare, this was ominous of the just cause they were about to join.
Jhunta, their first port of call once inside Mozambique, was a microcosm of the struggle they had just entered; enforcement of military discipline in an environment characterised by sell-out paranoia.
As soon became apparent, the whole struggle became a series of struggles; struggle for acceptance by veterans, matrenado – older freedom fighters; struggle for military training opportunity, ‘rwendo rwokuenda kumafunziro’ and struggle for ideological acceptance within the movement.
At Nyadzonia, Mayowe and company had their first taste of organised leadership under Gutura and Evaristo Marowa.
They went through well-structured training in political orientation and basic military manouevers.
And just when they were warming to the well-run camp life, there was a change of guard that brought in Bombadiare’s tyranny.
The boldest part of the book is in its treatment of suspected enemy agents John Dube, Mawema and their colleagues in the Security Department.
The Special Branch infiltration fears were perhaps vindicated when the top three commanders at Tembwe Base Two deserted the struggle and took with them critical records.
Chimoio’s poor anti-air defence systems at the time of the attack also left a sour taste in Mayowe’s mouth.
We can’t wait for the day the Rhodesia military intelligence archive will finally become accessible!
Mayowe little doubts the hand of Special Branch in the ideological and leadership struggles that occurred.
He saw the hand of Special Branch in the closure of Whampoa/Chitepo College and the heavy handedness by the security in dealing with Vashandi issues.
With regards the Hamadziripi’s ideological wars, Mayowe did not hesitate to chastise the ethnic undertones, neither was he encumbered from casting aspersions on the political activities of Sanyanga, Chambati, Shamuyarira and Tekere.
With the closure of Chitepo College, Mayowe began a new career as ZANU external representative to Angola, Libya and the Scandinavia, a role he continued to play in post-independent Zimbabwe.
I first met him as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Mozambique and I can still relate his voice then to Rega Zvipore now.
Mayowe, in Rega Zvipore, offers a 360-degree endorsement of the struggle ideas of Chairman Herbert Chitepo and General Tongogara.
The book invokes healthy debate and self-introspection within the revolutionary Party.
Its strength lies in some of its bold and controversial assertions on the hand of the Special Branch in the struggle.
Midlands State University and E.A. Makhado must be thanked most sincerely for publishing and editing this book.
It was a thorough piece and I struggled to pick editorial errors, save perhaps once where Mayowe’s group was counted as six, not five.