The story of Mary Murangari
MY name is Mary Murangari and I was born in Monte Casino.
I lived in an area that experienced what I will describe as one of the epic battles of the liberation struggle.
This epic battle was fought while I was staying in Nyavanhu Chironga, Tandi area, Rusape.
I lived in the area at the height of the liberation struggle, from 1975 to 1979.
I vividly remember the events of that time.
The freedom fighters had become bold, hitting the Rhodesians hard.
The tide was against the Rhodies.
On the political front, the period was filled with a lot of historical events which put the world focus on Southern Africa.
The Soweto uprising in June 1976; the Chimoio Massacre; the shooting down of the Viscount passenger plane by ZIPRA forces; Steve Biko’s death in police custody and many more events happened in rapid succession and marked the beginning of the end of the Rhodesian era.
My father Bester Murangari Kampeza was a cook at Luke Farm, kwaRuka, also known as kwaMadziwa.
Ruka was cruel and was feared by his workers.
Workers would run away from his employment due to ill treatment.
Things did not go well for those who ran away as Ruka and his men followed them and forced them to return to his farm.
They were beaten and temporarily incarcerated in Rusape.
We were not spared from the wrath of Ruka; we got into his crosshairs and our homestead was razed to the ground.
We stayed in cells for several months before being released into a Keep/Protected Village, also known as kwaKeri.
The Keep was located on a whiteman’s farm.
We called the white farmer Karigandi.
We were informed that we were not going to be released from the Keep “…unless the whiteman died or the war ended.”
We were not even permitted to visit our relatives or friends.
This was more like a prison.
Karigandi was cruel.
He was a murderer.
He would not hesitate to punish people deemed to have done wrong in ways which could end in death.
To go shopping on monthends in Rusape, after getting our meagre salaries, we were escorted by the foreman and armed guards known as Guard Forces.
If any one of us went missing, we would not leave until the person was found.
Failing to find the missing person spelt disaster for everyone, thus we would make sure nobody disappeared during these trips.
One day in 1978, freedom fighters sneaked into the Keep when the guards were busy drinking at the farm bar.
They persuaded us to follow them quietly. The freedom fighters had cut open the farm fence.
They were putting on tree leaves as part of their camouflage.
We assembled at a mutsamvi tree.
They were about 50 guerillas, all armed with different weapons.
The one who appeared to be the leader addressed us in a low voice.
I told them that the whiteman was cruel and regularly beat us and several workers had actually died at the hands of the farmer.
The guerillas told us that they had come in response to the workers’ pleas.
The asked us about the day and time he was going to take his tobacco to the market which happened to be the following day.
That next day we heard that he was shot by vanamukoma at a place called Mudzimundiringe on his way to Matinhidza to deliver his tobacco bales onto a goods train to the then Salisbury, now Harare.
We were informed he had been shot while driving.
The police were informed but the guerillas were long gone by then.
When the word of his death reached us, we celebrated quietly.
The war ended that year and the freedom fighters were ordered into Assembly Points.
Compiled by Fidelis Manyange