On the night of December 21 1972, after cutting telephone communications and mining the roads to the farm, Nhongo’s deputy, Jairos, and a detachment of nine ZANLA guerillas, attacked the farm using AK-47 assault rifles and RPG-7 rocket launchers, writes Dr Felix Muchemwa in his book The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe (1890-2010) that The Patriot is serialising.

IN response to all ZANLA guerilla activity in the north-east, local white Rhodesian farmers began to take stringent security precautions that included careful vetting of African farm workers. (Daily Telegraph, London, 1 January 1973)
A large security net was thrown around the whole of the Centenary area which was declared a restricted area for outside visitors. (Cole, 1984: p.44)
Collective fines of cattle or money or any other property were imposed on Africans who were found to be supporting the guerillas particularly in the Chiweshe and Madziwa TTLs as well as the Chesa Native Purchase Area.
Chief Makope of Chiweshe TTL was arrested for all those crimes, and was denied the option to pay fine. (Sobel, 1978: p.40)
Soon, ZANLA guerillas, Chimurenga, Chauke and Zindoga had infiltrated the north-east of Rhodesia and begun the most difficult part of the revolution; the mobilisation of the masses and the caching of arms in various strategic parts of Chiweshe and Madziwa Tribal Trust Lands including the Chesa Native Purchase Area.
That process took months on end.
In September 1972, ZANLA guerillas under the command of Thomas Nhari, were reinforced by another group of 15 commanded by Nhongo, with Josiah Tungamirai as his deputy.
Nhongo had defected from ZIPRA, and in due course, was to become ZANLA Chief-of-Operations.
The overall group of 60 ZANLA guerillas then split into two groups; one commanded by Gwindingwi, deputised by Josiah Tungamirai, and the other commanded by Nhongo, deputised by Jairos.
Gwindingwi’s group advanced into Rhodesia to open up the Chaminuka Sector. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.86)
Nhongo’s group of 21 guerillas advanced towards the Mozambique-Zimbabwe (MMZ) operations zone to open up the Nehanda Sector.
The group penetrated deep to the south, into the Chiweshe Tribal Trust Land, where Chief Chiweshe quickly supported the revolutionary cause.
Meanwhile, in the Chaminuka Sector of Mutoko District, Rhodesian security forces were closing in on Gwindingwi and, in a strategic move meant to divert their attention, Comrade Nhongo ordered the attack on Alterna Farm (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.37) situated 15km from the ZANLA base inside Chiweshe TTL.
Alterna Farm was owned by a Marc De Borchgrave who was notorious for ill-treating his farm workers. On the night of December 21 1972, after cutting telephone communications and mining the roads to the farm, Nhongo’s deputy, Jairos, and a detachment of nine ZANLA guerillas, attacked the farm using AK-47 assault rifles and RPG-7 rocket launchers.
After the attack, the ZANLA guerrllas made a strategic retreat and waited for the Rhodesian security forces to react. The first shots of the most decisive phase of the war had been fired. (Cole, 1984: p.36)
The Rhodesian security forces’ reaction was swift.
By morning, 15 truck-loads of troops had moved onto Alterna Farm, backed by armoured cars, helicopter gunships and spotter planes. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.37)
One of the vehicles loaded with troops detonated a land mine, killing Corporal Moore and injuring three other troops. But, Borchgrave and his family had survived the attack, escaped and taken refuge on the adjacent Whistlefield Farm which, unfortunately for them, was also attacked two nights later.
Many more attacks on European farms followed in the north-east, and on December 28 1972, three more Rhodesian Security forces were killed. ZANLA guerillas had infiltrated the entire north-east region, from Sipolio, west of Centenary to Mutoko in the east, and south-wards into Chiweshe TTL as well as Madziwa TTL.
The Rhodesian operation set up to stave off the guerilla onslaught was code-named ‘Operation Hurricane.’ (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.37)
In a sombre late television and radio broacast on January 18 1973, Ian Smith admitted that Rhodesian blacks were supporting nationalist guerillas who has recently entered the country from Mozambique. (Sobel, 1978:p.38)
He further admitted that: “The terrorist incursion in the north-east of our country has developed in a manner that we had not previously experienced, and as a result, we have to face up to a number of serious problems.” (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.74)
And, there were serious problems indeed.
The use of land mines and the targeting of isolated Boer farmers in the countryside had never been experienced since the beginning of the war in 1966. Also, much to Ian Smith’s horror, a Military Intelligence Report detailed how the ZANLA guerrillas had methodically infiltrated Chiweshe TTL and converted most of the local Africans, inclusive of Chief Chiweshe and the local spirit mediums, to the revolutionary cause. (Sobel 1978: p.38)
Smith went further in his broadcast and said:
“You may ask how it was possible for terrorists to operate in this area for so long without detection … they were able to move backwards and forwards across the border to their … base camps and were … able to avoid detection for long enough to enable them to subvert pockets of local tribesmen. Thereafter, their task was made easy through the shelter, food and assistance they received from the locals.”
There was no doubt that Smith had realised how close Rhodesia was to yet another Chimurenga. He did admit that the local masses had been subverted and that the powerful spirit mediums similar to those during the First Chimurenga had also been deeply involved.
The guerillas had made contact with Sekuru Chipfeni who later contacted Sekuru Chidyamauyu who was in direct contact with Mbuya Nehanda.
The legend of Mbuya Nehanda’s bones resurrecting as she had promised just before she was hanged in April 1898 was coming into play.
Mbuya Nehanda’s medium
The ZANLA guerilla commander, Joseph Chimurenga, met Mbuya Nehanda’s medium in the Musengezi area of Chiweshe TTL and the guerillas evacuated the medium on a crude stretcher of wooden poles and blankets, and then ferried her across the Zambezi River to Chifombo, a place of safety from where she would freely advise strategies on the prosecution of the liberation struggle as well as perform the rituals of blessing war materials and guerillas destined for the warfront inside Rhodesia.
Urimbo took great interest in the medium and her directives regarding the prosecution of the war, and, from his description, the medium must have been well over 90 years of age, in which case she would have been born around 1883.
This meant that she would have seen or at least heard about her predecessor of the First Chimurenga. However, the medium did not live long in exile.
She died at Chifombo on June 12 1973, and was buried in a shallow grave as per recommendations by fellow spirit mediums present.
After Zimbabwe’s independence, her remains were exhumed and brought home for proper burial. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: pp.74-78)
Meanwhile, back in Rhodesia, the medium of Mbuya Nehanda’s crossing into exile had proved an inspiration to many African people, including schoolchildren, who flooded across the border into Mozambique to join in the struggle.