WHEN Ian Smith eventually gave in to the idea of genuine majority rule during his lifetime and long before ‘a thousand years’, he had become punch drunk because of the heavy blows he had soaked in on the military front.
Some of these blows were so devastating that it had become obvious that the stubborn colonial regime had been pushed into a corner and desperately waiting for the ‘bell’ to be saved.
There was the downing of Viscount planes, one of them timed to determine General Peter Wall’s fate, using sophisticated heat-seeking missiles (SAM-7).
That there was such complicated weaponry on the then Rhodesian soil must have sent cold shivers down the spines of the colonial regime.
And if we add to that the bombing of petrol tanks right in the heart of the well-guarded Salisbury was too embarrassing a blow for the Smith regime.
There are several other incidences where the gallantry of the liberation fighters cumulatively helped to bring Smith to his knees.
At this stage we are fortunate because the people who were involved are still alive to tell the story from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
We love to hear such history.
This will have the added advantage of saving our children from being fed with distorted facts, retold through hearsay.
However, elsewhere in this publication we carry a story, where former ZIPRA combatants are disputing claims that it was ZANLA which bombed the petrol tanks in Harare.
Rather it is they.
This is very disturbing.
Alongside the ZIPRA claims confirmed by their former intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa, we also carry repeats of detailed verbatim accounts from the ZANLA camp of how the tanks were bombed.
We leave it to the reader to decide.
But should accounts of such important events towards the liberation of our country be trivialised in such a manner?
Such conflicting claims might lead to other opportunists to take advantage and in turn create their own false versions.
We don’t like that.
Zimbabweans feel proud of the collective achievements by the liberation fighters to free the country without necessarily giving credit to individuals or any organisation.
We know ZIPRA and ZANLA had one objective as their cadres sacrificed their lives to free Zimbabwe from colonial bondage.
It was not for personal glory as demonstrated by the suicidal nature of some of their missions in which thousands perished without witnessing the fruits of their errands.
We therefore ask responsible people from both former ZIPRA and ZANLA to sit down together and end these unfortunate conflicting claims about the bombing of the Salisbury petrol tanks.
After all ex-ZANLA combatant, Cde Lobo who can give a verbatim account of what happened is still alive.
Retired Brigadier Abel Mazinyani claims the ex-ZIPRA cadres who he said were the bombers are also still alive.
In fact we would like a compilation of all major battles that were fought against the enemy both inside and outside the country.
There are several uncoordinated eye witness accounts of how enemy planes backed by ground forces were downed by our liberation forces.
The Patriot has carried accounts of famous battles like that of Mavhonde and Grand Reef, where the Rhodesian forces, with superior firepower were thoroughly humiliated.
The resistance of the ZIPRA forces at Freedom Camp after a surprise attack by the Smith’s forces needs an eye witness account.
A book made up of all these heroic events will definitely be a valuable possession.
But let’s not dilute the credibility of our famous history by trying to discredit each other.