The story of Cde Cleopas Zhakata alias Cde Dickens Muchadura

IT was one of those windy August mornings, but what I vividly remember is, on that August 15 morning, in 1978, I woke up feeling lazy.
In fact, I felt weak like I had been involved in some strenuous physical activity the previous day.
I was operating in Mudzi and Mutoko.
The liberation struggle was at its peak and at this stage, we had many liberated zones, no-go areas for Rhodesians.
I should have read much into these symptoms of weakness and tiredness.
Such feelings could be interpreted as signs of bad things to come.
And the day would turn out to be one of my worst during the liberation struggle.
The sector in which I operated was called Takawira.
I operated with five other comrades.
We had been through many battles and developed some form of telepathic understanding that is known to happen among fighting men whose survival is more dependent on each other than on individual skills.
We had developed a close bond, we were a family.
I operated with comrades Kufa Hakurambwi, Short, Deukai, Chenjerai and Mabhunu.
As we walked from Nyamuzuwe where we had gone for a routine operation back to our Makochesa Base, we fell into enemy radar.
Rhodesians spotted us from their observation point.
The sky was clear, but there was a heavy wind.
During our operations, we usually moved at night so as not to be detected.
As we quietly and steadily ambled to our base which was about six kilometres from where we had spent the night in Nyamuzuwe village, there was a strange aura of tension.
We did not talk to each other, we were not in the habit of engaging in conversation as we travelled, but the silence was just too much.
The quietness was unnatural so to say.
Who would break the silence?
We were all feeling uneasy because we knew it was unwise to move about during the day.
From the mountains, the enemy could easily see us.
We could stumble into an ambush.
We continued to trudge to our base hoping we would get there without an encounter with the enemy.
When we finally got to the base we thought all was well.
I soon left the base with two mujibhas and a chimbwido for a nearby garden.
Our base was beneath Makochesa Mountain.
We got carrots from the garden.
While in the garden I saw a huge python.
Nhamoinesu and Farai, the mujibhas, wanted to kill it, but I stopped them.
We let the python be and it lackadaisically left the garden and disappeared into the thick forest.
This was a bad omen.
From the garden I saw Rhodesian soldiers stealthily approaching our base.
They were taking attack positions.
I instructed the collaborators to keep still.
I took cover behind a Muhacha tree and began to ascertain the strength of the enemy.
The Rhodies failed to detect us in the garden although there was not much vegetation for cover.
It was actually much easier for them to spot us than miss us.
Our base was at the foot of a sacred mountain and the spirit medium of Nehoreka had forbidden us to fire guns in the area.
At the worst, we could only return fire, but not start firing.
I clutched my AK 47 tightly, one way or the other the responsibility to save my fellow comrades fell on me.
I was the one who had first detected the enemy.
My fellow comrades would be caught by surprise.
Apparently, the Rhodesian soldiers had trailed us as we made our way to the base.
I hoped the gods of the land would be with us.
We had been told that if we complied with the lore of the land no harm would befall us, we would always be protected.
I was not about to carry out some rash action, our survival depended on me creating confusion.
In no time two Canberras flew over our base camp dropping bombs.
As the bombs exploded, the Rhodesian ground force started firing at the base.
I was right behind the enemy.
On approaching our base, the Rhodies thought their rear was safe.
So when I opened fire from behind, I caught them by surprise.
Shifting positions I fired relentlessly not necessarily at the enemy, but in a manner that created the impression that we had sandwiched the Rhodies.
The plan worked for the Rhodesians panicked thinking there were many guerillas they had missed as they approached the camp.
The enemy stopped firing and began to retreat, in haste.
As they retreated so did I and made for the gathering point.
After about an hour, my fellow comrades arrived at the gathering point.
We only had one casualty, Cde Mabhunu who was shot on the left leg.
The Rhodies’ surprise attack did not bear fruits, indeed the guiding spirits of the land had ensured out safety.

Compiled by Emergencey Mwale-Kamtande