IT is 34 years since Zimbabwe attained its independence ending a 13- year gruesome war between the Rhodesians and locals and yet for some it still feels like yesterday as the nightmares of the struggle continue to haunt them.
Having experienced and suffered at the hands of the country’s colonisers and taken part in the war, the picture of what transpired is still vivid in the minds of those that witnessed the era.
Not a day goes by without 96-year-old Zinja Mhlanga Ngwazani, not by choice at times, finds himself reminiscing and reliving the experiences of the brutal war that birthed Zimbabwe.
Born in 1918 in Bulawayo, in a family of four, Ngwazani clearly remembers when the white settlers displaced his family from a place they had called home.
“I had just married, but was living closer to my father’s homestead when the white settlers came and ordered us to leave our homes,” said Ngwazani in an interview with The Patriot.
“They took away our livestock telling us we were not worthy enough to have large herds of cattle and they destroyed our fields and gardens.”
Following the displacement, Ngwazani and his family relocated to Buhera.
“We left our homes and drove to areas which still had forests and we had to clear the areas and build new homes,” he recalls.
“It was not an easy task, but it had to be done.
“The lands were not as fertile as the ones we had been chased away from and it became a challenge as we relied on farming for the family’s upkeep.”
It was during his stay in Buhera, when Ngwazani and his younger brother were approached by the white settlers and coerced to join the Second World War, fighting on behalf of the British.
“We did not clearly understand why we had to fight on behalf of the British, but it seemed as the only other way we could make money and take care of our families,” he said.
“My father appealed to us not to go as he could not bear the thought of losing both his sons in a war whose purpose he did not understand so in the end I had to stay behind and my brother went alone.
“Fortunately my young brother came back home after two years, but with nothing to show for it.”
After realising that farming alone could not help sustain the family, Ngwazani joined the bandwagon of locals who worked for the settlers at their farms.
It was during his short-lived stint as a farm worker, when Ngwazani witnessed first-hand the brutality of the white man.
“During that time one could get a three month jail sentence for accidentally bumping into a white person,” he said.
“We were not treated fairly on the farms as we were beaten by our masters for not performing well.”
Having had enough of the white man’s cruelty, one day Ngwazani snapped and beat up his white foreman at the farm.
“Having done that and knowing the consequences I had no choice but to flee to South Africa where I worked as a bar attendant,” he said.
When Ngwazani heard that locals were beginning to make plans to rise against the colonial regime, he saw this as the opportunity to come back home and help in the fight to gain independence.
“Upon returning home I worked with the late Benjamin Burombo and Masotsha Ndlovu to form political alliances with the locals and encourage them to support our cause,” he said.
Ngwazani speaks passionately of his role during the liberation struggle where he used to collect clothes and food for the freedom fighters.
One cannot help but feel pity for the old man who during the interview drifted back to the days gone by and speaks of them as if they are the present.
To him the war still lives on and everyday Zimbabwe should be wary of the enemy trying to reverse the gains of the struggle.
The scars and the emotional torture of the struggle are evident on him.
“I worked closely with my comrade Mazhengeta sourcing for clothes and food to give to the fighters,” he said.
“It was also our duty to organise pungwes.
Ngwazani was jailed and had to spend three years at Gonakudzingwa Prison for ‘intimidating chiefs’.
“The Rhodesians wanted to establish a keep in Buhera and I took it upon myself to visit chiefs such as Nyashanu, Nerutanga and Gwehu advising them on the disadvantages of a keep,” he said.
“The police heard about my mission and they came to arrest me.
“I was incarcerated with other nationalists such as the late Ruth Chinamano and Joseph Msika.”
Finally the war came to an end and the efforts of Ngwazani and many like him who supported the freedom fighters did not go unnoticed.
In 2000, Ngwazani was allocated a farm in Chivhu under the Land Reform Programme.
In as much as Zimbabweans continue to enjoy the fruits of the independence it should be remembered that those who witnessed the war carry with them some tormenting experiences from the war and these have not been easy to push behind.