The story of Elizabeth Mungati

IN March 1976, we were forced into a Protected Village (Keep) which was constructed in Rukariro Village in Murehwa by Rhodesians.
From Shambahweta Village, it took us about six hours on foot with my four grand-children, Godfrey, Eneres, Elizabeth and Vincent, whose father had become a political prisoner at Khami Prison in Bulawayo.
We left our crops and livestock and carried very little food supplies because we were given an ultimatum to be inside the Keep by mid-day of March 7 1976.
I could not endure the pain of leaving my home without anyone to protect my belongings.
It was war. I had no choice and resistance would result in nothing but more trauma.
It was a tiresome journey and we were moving in a long convoy of more than 200 villagers comprised of young children, old men and women as well as middle-aged men and women.
No one was to be left behind because Keeps were meant to alienate guerillas from the masses.
Upon arrival at Rukariro, we were all gathered in the concentration camp where we were addressed by a notorious Native District Administrator (DA), one Takaendesa Kayenakayena.
There were four black DAs and two Rhodesian (white) soldiers.
Besides Kayenakayena, the other DAs were Muzondiwa, Moyo and Mharapara.
Kayenakayena accused us of feeding guerillas whom he referred to as ‘ZANLA terrorists’.
This, he said, was the reason we were driven into Keeps.
He told us ‘terrorists’ had created war and deserved to die.
What hurt me the most was my very own son Martin Mwale-Kamtande was, by then, incarcerated at Khami Prison for assisting guerillas.
I recalled how Mwale-Kamtande was dragged in chains to the High Court in the then Salisbury, now Harare, on September 9 1971.
The flashbacks were so real that for a moment I was deaf.
I could not restrain the tears of pain and sorrow.
One of the DAs noticed it and called me to the front.
There was dead silence as one of the Rhodesian soldiers asked me why I was crying while Kayenakayena was telling us how to live in our new ‘protected’ home.
I trembled with fear.
For some minutes, the Rhodesian soldier whose face was painted black and putting on a stern face stared at me before he started walking around me.
He was holding his gun and for some reason, I thought he was going to kill me.
He looked sharply in my eyes and asked why I was weeping.
At this time I was even trembling more.
“Sei iri kuchema ichiudzwa mutemo,” said the Rhodie in bastardised Shona. “Asi yaifidha magandanga.
“Saka taiunza muno nhasi ichataura.”
I kept still and quiet.
I tried to control myself, but failed to restrain my emotions.
Surely how was I supposed to hold back my tears when my son was going through the most horrific experiences at Khami where they were tortured mercilessly by Rhodies almost every day?
“Haitaure, inoti ndinopenga, nhasi ichataura,” said the Rhodie again.
A neighbour from Shambahweta called Matenzeni shouted loudly from the silent crowd: “Mwana wake igandanga!
“Rakabatwa rikasungwa.
“Arikufunga mwana wake.”
In a flash, the Rhodesian soldier clapped me and I staggered.
Before I could regain my balance, I got another baptism of fire from the Rhodesian soldier.
I remember now, he was called Dexter
I fell to the ground and pretended to be unconscious.
I heard Dexter instructing the DA to bring him a whip.
The whip was swiftly brought to him.
“Takakuudzai kuti musarega vana vachienda kuhondo,” said Kayenakayena.
“Hondo iyi haihwinwi nevanhu vatema.
“Vana venyu vanongobatwa chete.
“Munozviziva kuti mukatumira vana kuhondo tikakubatai munochiona.
“Nhasi muchadura chakakuregai muchisiya vana vachienda kuhondo.”
The DAs took turns to whip me.
I was thoroughly beaten and left half-dead.
Blood was dripping all over my body and this is something I will never ever forget.
The cruelty was so unimaginable it left the povo in the Keep traumatised.
Surprisingly, what the Rhodesians never knew was no child ever bade his/her parents farewell when he/she left to join the liberation struggle.
In fact, in most cases, parents were the last to know.

Compiled by Emergencey Mwale-Kamtande