HERE comes the month of December.
The rains are finally here. Yesterday I was sitting on the veranda of my house watching a huge, dark, anvil shaped thunderstorm approaching on the horizon. Cool winds blew in my face.
Streaks of lightning, pearls of thunder send chills down my spine. Then before I knew it, bang, down fell the rains in torrents.
Beautiful rains. Invigorating. Exhilarating. There is nothing as wonderful as the December rains in Zimbabwe. They are joy to watch. They deserve celebrating.
But for us patriotic Zimbabweans there is more to celebrate in December besides the rains. Our victory in the liberation war. Yes, December is our victory month. Below we show why we say December is our victory month and why we Zimbabweans must every year that passes celebrate this month as our victory month.
In the middle of 1979, the British realised that the Zimbabwe liberation war had reached dangerous levels, for their people, the Rhodies.
Yes, the Rhodesians were limping on the back foot.
The entire country had become a liberated zone. And so the wily Brits decided to bail out the Rhodies by convening a Commonwealth conference to persuade them to end the war.
That conference was held in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, in August 1979. The conference resolved that the two warring parties in Zimbabwe at the time, us freedom fighters and the Ian Smith regime were to meet in London that December, to hammer out an agreement to end the war.
The two parties agreed to attend the London conference that December.
In order to have a strong bargaining hand at the London Conference the Rhodies who were in fact dead men walking anyway foolishly decided with the assistance of apartheid forces from South Africa and mercenaries drawn mainly from the United States of America and Britain to attack our (ZANLA) major camps in Mozambique.
Mapai in Southern Mozambique and Mavhonde near Chimoio.
The attacks on the two camps took place in September and October 1979. In both instances, by their own admission ‘vakarakashwa’, they were heavily defeated.
And so instead of going to London with a strong hand, they went there with their tails between their legs.
On December 23 1979, I was leading a ZANLA force in the Midlands district of Chirumhanzu when a mujiba arrived with a letter from my commander one Patterson Onyango which simply said “mukoma Ngwena, let us meet Kumutete”.
Kumutete was our code name for the open lands of Central Chirumhanzu.
To cut a long story short Onyango gave us details about the London meeting between our leaders and the Rhodies.
He told us that the Rhodies had finally capitulated on December 21 by signing an agreement to end the war.
And so the war had come to an end. It was over. Finished.
On hearing that we all jumped into the air raising our AK 47s in triumph. We broke the good news to all the people up and down our operational area which triggered wild celebrations throughout Chirumhanzu.
This was the case in the rest of the country, great celebrations for the end of the war and our victory that December.
According to the London agreement we freedom fighters were requested to go to what were termed Assembly Points in far flung parts of the country.
As very disciplined forces we left for the assembly points and never left them until the elections were over.
The Rhodies were ordered to be confined to their barracks. But they never obeyed the order to stay put in the barracks. In fact they even wanted to bomb us while we were in assembly points. Here is one confession on this, by one of their commanders.
“Late one evening in March 1980, I received orders for the battalion to proceed immediately to Kotwa assembly point. The unit moved overnight and by early the following morning had established itself adjacent to the airstrip. Orders were issued. A series of Dakota Para Daks arrived to assist with airborne deployment. A Rhodesian artillery sub-unit was placed in close support”.
However, the Rhodies were told not to be foolish but to go back to Harare and accept that they had officially surrendered in December 1979 in London.
And so the rebel unit eventually went back to Harare. But the Rhodies were not finished with their shenanigans. This time they decided to steal all army records from offices and get them out of the country. Below is a confession by one of them.
“The last parade had been held. In due course, Regimental Sergeant Major Ken Reed and I drove together with various records, trophies, items and trunks to the military air base near Hartley. There as per arrangement a South African C130 with lowered rear exit awaited our load.
“Ken and I came to attention and saluted as the items were loaded. Later I visited the War Museum in Johannesburg and confirmed all had arrived safely.
“Some of the stuff are also in the Rhodesian Army Archive at the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol, England.”
Can’t these items be returned to Zimbabwe?
The Rhodesians were not finished with their stupidity. While we were out in assembly points they marched through the streets of Harare like the Roman armies of Julius Caesar after winning a war.
“The battalion (Rhodesian Light Infantry) arranged a mass convoy show of force through the city of (Harare). Peter Mincher my second in command and I were dubious of such an exercise. We allowed it to proceed and stood in the street as the passing commandos saluted their farewell.
“On the final morning each major troop position included a piper from the Churchill school pipe band. These gusty youngsters piped with gusto all our songs.”
But despite all these silly actions which were the last kicks of a dying horse, the Rhodies finally held their final parade.
“Bill Blakeway conducted the final parade ground service and the handing over of the regimental and queen’s colours. These were spirited away to Salisbury (Harare) Cathedral. We marched off the parade ground and into history .”
Yes, that was the end of Rhodesia.
Yes, the Rhodesians had been defeated and sent packing. But it is always important to remember that it was in December 1979 that they signed an agreement of surrender and the liberation war itself ended. We must therefore consider December as our victory month and so every year we must celebrate it with parties as we did in December 1979, when the war ended with our victory.