The story of Cde Ephraim Kanengoni

IT was when the Second Chimurenga was at its peak that I saw vanamukoma in our area, Mhondoro, Mashonaland West Province in 1978.
Indeed the noose was getting tighter and tighter around the necks of Rhodesians.
Far-flung places like Mt Darwin and border areas like Nyamapanda and Kotwa had by this stage of the war become liberated zones and the guerillas were bringing the war to the doorstep of the Rhodesians.
All sense of security had been stripped off and Rhodies were desperate.
We were not very far from the then Salisbury (Harare) and every day the number of guerillas operating in our area increased while Rhodesians operating in our area became fewer.
I was born on June 6 1956, the second born in a family of 10 children; eight boys and two girls.
My early schooling took place at Chirozva Primary School which I attended up to Standard Three.
Madzakutsaku (an Auxiliary outfit) – an offspring of Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Ian Smith’s ‘marriage’ — operated in our area in 1978 and theirs was a ‘reign’ of terror.
They harassed villagers.
Deep down they knew they were sell-outs, serving an evil regime for money and this made them a brutal lot.
Their cruelty, however, reached new heights when vanamukoma began operating in the area.
The truth is that they avoided the guerillas as they never wanted to engage them.
They feared and they knew they stood no chance against vanamukoma.
They preferred to harass innocent villagers, pretending to be eager to find them, but we knew better.
Chief Nyika was active in mobilising the masses, ensuring that we attended the pungwes where the freedom fighters taught us about our role and importance in the effort to attain independence.
I will never forget the day I witnessed the ‘disciplining’ of mapuruvheya, the Auxiliary forces.
Out of the whole lot, there were three who were notorious.
I vividly recall the one called ‘Douglas’; I have forgotten the names of the other two.
These three had made our township, Mamina, their fiefdom.
They banked on the comrades never visiting the township during the day.
The Auxiliary forces had turned the growth point into their torture base.
For instance, women coming from the fields or anyone just going about his/her business could be summoned and receive a thorough beating for no reason other than being suspected of collaborating with ‘magandanga’.
My mother was a victim of these sell-outs.
At one point, she was thoroughly beaten with an electric cable after being accused of feeding vanamukoma.
It was a mind-numbing experience.
Thus one afternoon, the fighters decided to deal with these wayward fellows who were harassing vabereki.
It was during the afternoon when vanamukoma paid the notorious sell-outs a visit.
Earlier on, a number of us had been taken into custody by the Auxiliary forces and taken to Rhodesian soldiers who tortured us for information.
The comrades suddenly happened upon the relaxed Auxiliary forces.
They were so relaxed they never thought freedom fighters would ‘visit’ or dare attack them at the township in broad daylight.
But this was 1978 and the fighters were hitting the Rhodies hard.
The guerillas were now an efficient fighting machine.
During this period they were initiating attacks and rarely retreating when they engaged the enemy.
The notorious three would feel the full wrath of the fighters.
So dull were the Auxiliaries that they did not sense danger even when the township became unusually deserted.
As the mujibhas, we had alerted people to make themselves scarce so they would not be caught in the crossfire.
Not more than four comrades had been assigned to deal with this nuisance.
From a distance we watched.
The comrades opened fire and they had positioned themselves in such a manner that the Auxiliary forces were pinned.
There was no room to escape.
The sell-outs panicked.
They did not even realise that they could have gotten inside the shop and used back windows to make good their escape.
Instead, they decided to make a run for it and became easy targets.
Vanamukoma easily picked them, one by one as they ran like headless chickens. That was the end of the notorious three.
Compiled by Richard Khosa