By Siyabonga Zondo

SOUTH AFRICAN by birth, my aunt Cathrine Cele, participated in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
She became involved in the liberation struggle through her marriage to my late uncle who was a Zimbabwean.
Soon after their marriage which took place in South Africa, both my aunt and uncle decided to come back to Zimbabwe, and headed straight to Nyanga where my uncle comes from.
After spending about three months in Nyanga, some people in the village started spreading falsehoods that my uncle was a traitor working in South Africa.
According to my aunt it all stemmed from jealousy as some villagers were not happy that he had married a foreign woman, while others could not understand how he as a Zimbabwean was working in South Africa.
They reported him to Vanamukoma who were patrolling the villages spreading the word of the liberation struggle.
Having been falsely labelled a traitor, my uncle was shot dead.
After the loss of her husband, my aunt in her bitterness on November 11 1976 joined the liberation struggle.
Together with the comrades, they crossed Kairezi River and met FRELIMO soldiers who took them to Guru Camp.
It was at Guru Camp that she met more Shona people from Zimbabwe and my aunt began to understand that she was already in the struggle to liberate Zimbabwe.
She also understood that she had to contribute in the fight for the independence of her husband’s relatives.
From Guru Camp, they went to Bataliao in Tete Province before going for military training in Tembwe.
She received military training as a dedicated wife who wanted to fight the system that had led to the death of her husband.
She knew that the problems in Zimbabwe were the same with those in South Africa.
At Tembwe, she went through orientation and was trained to be a Medical Officer (M.O).
At one time, she was tasked to operate as a carrier of ammunition near Caborabasa.
From there, she resumed her duties as a Medical Officer at Bataliao and she survived the Tembwe attack in 1977.
After the attack, she went back to New Tembwe before being sent to Depression Base by the late Cde Josiah Tongogara.
Depression was a base mainly used for secretariat and for three months, she stayed there with Cdes Muchatama and Prudence among others.
My aunt also operated in Maputo where she worked in the Department of Information and Publicity.
She talks of a printing machine donated by Germany which made their work in the information department easier.
The printing machine enabled them to start printing the Zimbabwe News, a magazine that was influential in telling the liberation story to Zimbabweans.
In the Information and Publicity Department, my aunt worked together with other comrades that included, Vito Ferrari, Msekiwa and Charles (Webster Shamu).
Like many women who participated in the liberation struggle, my aunt mainly operated as a Medical Officer and as a secretary in the Information and Publicity Department.
She remained in the Information and Publicity Department until ceasefire and after independence she was enrolled to work in the Department of Information.
She never married again to date.
However, her participation in the liberation struggle showed the dedication of an African woman who longed for a liberated Africa.