Winds of Destruction

by Peter John Hornby Petter-Bowyer

  No active support would be given to any nationalist party or force acting against South Africa. This was to guard against any external aggression from that quarter.

  It would be the military triumvirate’s urgent task to settle any fears within the population, black and white, and seek their backing and assistance to make Zimbabwe a prosperous and happy place again. Tourism was to be actively promoted and anyone wishing to leave the country should be allowed to do so without any restrictions or penalties being applied so as not to induce doubt or panic in others.

  This was the basic plan that may very well have come into being if Mugabe, having walked out at Lancaster House, had not been forced to return to the talks by President Machel. Mugabe was at Heathrow Airport intending to fly off to New York when Machel told him to get back to the Lancaster House talks immediately or else withdraw his forces from Mozambique.

  ZIPRA believed Mugabe relied heavily on Tongogara’s strength and backing and that he would have been in a stronger position had Tongogara returned to the country. However, the radical political members of ZANU saw him as a threat to their own futures, having obviously been given the details of Tongogara’s discussion with ZIPRA by Josiah Tungamirai. Whatever their reasons, they hired a well-known East German assassin to kill Tongogara. This particular assassin specialised in ‘vehicle accident’.

  Lookout said that the assassin, whose typically German name I have forgotten, arrived in Maputo ten days before Tongogara’s death. Three days after the fatal vehicle ‘accident’ and immediately prior to his departure for Europe, Enos Nkala met him at Maputo Airport to make payment, in American dollar notes, on behalf of himself, Simon Muzenda, Dr Herbert Ushewokunze, Edgar Tekere, Edison Zvobgo and a couple of others, for services rendered.

  Visits to ZANLA Assembly Points

  THE SEVENTEEN ASSEMBLY POINTS IN which ZANLA and ZIPRA personnel were being housed and fed by the CMF were given the name of the place upon which each was established. For simplicity’s sake, alphabetic identification was also used. These were A to R. (the letter ‘I’ is not used as a military abbreviation to avoid confusion with the numeral ‘1’)

  Sequentially identified around the border areas in a clockwise direction were the APs commencing with the first ZANLA group located at AP Alpha near Hoya in the northeast. AP Romeo at Rukomechi Mission in the north was the last ZIPRA point. All APs were to be visited by the Ceasefire Committee.

  Because we would be the first senior RSF officers any of our former enemies would be seeing in the flesh, General Barnard and I were apprehensive, but not to the same extent as the ZIPRA and ZANLA commanders who were about to visit each other’s armed forces.

  We set out for AP Alpha early one morning in an RAF Puma helicopter. The crew of this helicopter, like many of their colleagues, had experienced difficulty in map-reading their way around the country with no familiar navigational aids to help them. I told the skipper not to worry as I would be keeping an eye on our position from the rear cabin and he could call me forward if he needed to do so.

  I sat with Rex Nhongo and Mugabe’s deputy Simon Muzenda because we would be traversing areas that Rex had walked eight years earlier. I found it both strange and surprisingly pleasing to show Rex such places as his original base on the escarpment next to St Albert’s Mission, the route he had taken from the Musengezi River up the escarpment and the location of Altena Farm where his first action triggered Operation Hurricane.

  The visits to AP Alpha and Bravo went off well enough, though it was patently obvious that most of the men in the camps were anything but bona fide ZANLA. The few regulars were easy to spot because they carried standard issue AK-47 assault rifles that were in fair condition. The rest carried old beaten-up SKS rifles that had been out of use for over ten years save for the few issued to LTTs in 1972. At Marymount Mission (AP Bravo) I saw half a dozen sophisticated Swiss sniper rifles. They were obviously brand spanking new, never having been exposed to the rigours of the bush, but none had ammunition.

  I stayed very close to Rex Nhongo wherever he went, just in case anyone decided to take a pot shot at me. I noticed that Lookout and Dumiso were doing the same and that Generals Acland and Barnard, accompanied by Brigadier Gurdon, kept close to the CFM officers.

  Of all the ZANLA APs we visited I remember AP Charlie best. It was situated at the disused Nyagoma School in the extreme northeast. Here the ZANLA inmates were accommodated in British Army tents set in lines under a forest of superb trees that formed a continuous overhead canopy over many acres.

  This photograph was taken late in the visit during a refuelling stop at Kariba. From left: Rex Nhongo, unknown standing in for Tungamirai, General Acland, Lookout Masuku, Brigadier Gurdon, PB, General Barnard and Dumiso Dabengwa.

  During our briefing in one of the classrooms by Australian CFM officers, a landmine detonated in the Cordon Sanitaire some five kilometres to our east. A few minutes passed before a second mine detonated causing the AP’s senior ZANLA man to rise from behind me and move to Rex who was sitting directly in front of me. He bent down and whispered in Rex’s ear, “Madora wa tuka.” This annoyed Rex who, in a loud voice, asked the man if he thought he was deaf. Of course he had heard the mines explode, “They must have been triggered by baboons.”

  After the briefing we strolled through the camp to an open patch of ground where over 1,500 armed men stood five lines deep along three sides of a box formation. We positioned at the centre of the fourth side and Rex Nhongo moved to the centre of the square to give the gathering the same message he gave at every assembly point. This was to say the war was over and everyone had to work together to establish the new Zimbabwe. He had brought two senior RSF ‘comrades’ with him to prove that he was already working with his previous enemies. He said nothing about the Brits.

  Having completed his talk he signalled me forward to address the gathering and introduced me in Shona. “This is Comrade Group Captain PB, once our enemy in the sky but now my friend. He will tell you why he has come to see you.” I asked Rex if I should speak in the vernacular. “Certainly not,” he said, “I do not want these people to know you understand their language. I will interpret what you say.” So I made a series of short statements in English and Rex passed these on in Shona.

  Right to left: General Barnard, General Acland, PB, Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku.

  At one point Rex misinterpreted what I had just said, deliberately I think, so I asked him to correct this. He immediately told the men that I was not satisfied with his interpretation and corrected the error. I nodded in agreement and completed what I had to say in mediocre Shona. Only in Africa could such anomalies pass without fuss. Rex then led the gathering in song, as was ZANLA’s custom at the conclusion of every meeting.

  Only people who have experienced massed African voices in the open will understand the power, richness and purity of sound that comes from a people who harmonise perfectly without training or effort. I hated the chimurenga lyrics but the sheer volume and beauty of voice overrode the objectionable racial hatred expressed in the words.

  Having left our position, every head was turned to watch us passing behind one echelon when I spotted a face I recognised. I immediately broke away from the official party and strode through five lines of perplexed men, mostly armed mujibas. The man I was moving towards turned away abruptly.

  When I reached him, I asked, “Hey Timothy, what are you doing here?” There was no reply and he remained facing away from me looking down at his own feet. Accepting this rejection, I said, “Behave yourself Timothy. Visit me when you get to Salisbury.”

  The official party had come to a halt to see what I was doing. As I returned to Rex’s side, he asked me who it was I had spoken to. I said I knew him as Timothy. Our servants in Salisbury had told Beryl and me about a youngster who was sleeping in a toilet in the suburb of Hatfield where we lived. He had lost his parents in the Mtoko area and, though tended by an uncle, was living a miserable existence. We decided to take him on as a
n assistant to Obert, our gardener. Timothy was given a warm comfortable bed, clothing, food and spending money. He was fine for many months and we were about to send him for schooling at our expense when he began to give Sarah and Obert a hard time. He had been warned to behave himself, but this did not work so we got rid of him. A year had passed since last I saw him.

  Rex listened to my story then expressed his mirth with his typical deep belly laugh rolled into his rough smoker’s voice as he said, “He will be in for a tough time now! Everyone here has seen you and heard you talk. First they may wonder why you went to Timothy, but will then come to the conclusion he was passing information on ZANLA’s activities to you in Salisbury.”

  The implications of this were frightening, so I asked Rex to make sure no harm came to the young man. “Do not worry,” said Rex, “he will not be hurt too badly. After what you did for him he deserves a bit of rough treatment for letting you down.” (In July 1980 Timothy was disbanded and visited us in Salisbury. He was well and confirmed that he had been severely harassed, “but not too badly hurt.”)

  Of all the Commonwealth Monitoring Force teams in the ZANLA bases, only the Fijian team at AP Hotel appeared to be popular with the inmates where there was a modicum of order and discipline. This probably had a lot to do with the colour of the Fijian’s skin. Otherwise all ZANLA APs were packed with scruffy, ill-disciplined mujibas who scowled andslouched about. As already mentioned, there was very little evidence of men possessing the calibre and looks that typified the ZANLA operators we had either killed or captured in operations. Other than the Swiss sniper rifles, weapons were old and dilapidated. The operational weapons inside Rhodesia were very obviously still in the field with many hundreds of ZANLA’s regulars involved in electioneering work.

  ZANLA mujibas.

  Unlike General Barnard and me, General Acland and Brigadier Gurdon seemed impressed with what they saw, whereas Lookout Masuku and Dumiso Dabengwa were horrified and their disdain for ZANLA showed clearly in their facial expressions.

  No notice whatsoever was taken of our comments about the types and state of weapons until these Brits saw how ZIPRA’s men were armed.

  Visits to ZIPRA APs

  AFTER ZANLA, ZIPRA LOCATIONS WERE like a breath of fresh air. It certainly opened the eyes of the Brits and might even have made them realise why we insisted that all ZANLA APs were full of mujibas. The reason Rhodesians preferred ZIPRA was immediately apparent to General Acland and Brigadier Gurdon. They could see that the ZIPRA men were dressed in clean, crisply pressed uniforms; they moved with purpose, smiled easily, displayed good discipline and acted with courtesy.

  It was possible to walk around without an escort, which I enjoyed. Wherever I went I was saluted and greeted in a friendly manner and also drew men who wanted to walk and talk with a Rhodesian Air Force pilot. It was only at AP Romeo, the very last Assembly Point to be visited, where Lookout Masuku had unusual events planned.

  As our helicopter was making its long descending approach to Rukomechi Mission, one could not help but notice, from about five kilometres out, that many anti-aircraft guns were tracking the Puma helicopter. Lookout Masuku had forewarned the RAF crew of the guns so the helicopter captain was perfectly happy to maintain direction and descent.

  Because nothing had been said to any of us in the rear cabin, the sight of those tracking guns put fear in the eyes of Simon Muzenda, Rex Nhongo and Tungamirai’s deputy. I was also feeling uncomfortable until I saw the smile on Lookout’s face as he winked at me.

  When we alighted from the helicopter, the bush that surrounded the small LZ came alive as hundreds of armed ZIPRA men rose from the cover they had used to camouflage their presence. The Brits seemed impressed and ZANLA shrugged it of as unnecessary bravado.

  Guard of honour.

  This style of marching, both fascist and communist.

  A guard of honour awaited our arrival and General Barnard was invited to inspect the men dressed in East German fleckcamouflage uniforms. Their goose-step march-past made my skin crawl, but one could not miss the fact that we were watching trained soldiers.

  This style of marching, both fascist and communist, made my skin crawl.

  After the usual briefing, this time by ZIPRA officers, we were invited to a parade to be followed by a weapons demonstration. Some 2,000 ZIPRA soldiers were formed up in tiered lines from ground level to the top of the long earth embankment that served as a grandstand for the mission’s football field. The visiting party formed up in a line facing the assembly with CMF and ZIPRA officers behind.

  Lookout Masuku moved forward and gave a short message to his troops. He then said that he would introduce the members of the Ceasefire Committee individually. Lookout gave place of honour to the Rhodesians and for reasons already known to me I was introduced first. I simply took one pace forward, saluted and stepped back into line. General Barnard followed me. Next Lookout introduced General Acland and Brigadier Gurdon before ZANLA.

  Rex Nhongo was standing right beside me. As he stepped forward to salute, he was greeted with the menacing metallic sounds of heavy weapons being cocked. Being so close to him I went cold, expecting to be shot at any moment. Rex ignored the deliberate insult, saluted and stepped back. When Tungamirai’s deputy stepped forward, weapons were cocked again. ZIPRA’s hatred of ZANLA had been shown in a very graphic but typically African way!

  Formalities over, we were asked to turn around to watch anti-aircraft crews deploy and fire their weapons. In the absence of an air target, a prominent white rock on a large hill about three kilometres away to our left was declared to be the target. Whistles were blown and out of the bush to our right emerged three crews pulling wheeled guns to a position some thirty metres to our front. One 23mm and two 14.7mm guns were set up quickly, and one of the 14.7 pieces commenced firing but jammed after expending about ten rounds. The others then opened fire, creating one hell of a dim. Green and red tracer rounds raced away with the red 23mm rounds travelling noticeably faster than the green ones. The accuracy was impressive.

  The senior ZIPRA commander of AP Romeo insisted that I should take a close look at the guns. He boasted that these had shot down some of our aircraft at Kariba. I did not argue with him because he seemed so pleased about something that never happened.

  Back row: S. Karoulis, K. E. Wainer, Pte (RWS) C. A. Brooking, H. F. Dixon, WO2 J. Knight, C. Gardiner, C/Sgt (RWS) M. S. Finch, Cpl (RWS) K. M. Anderson, M. M. Partington. Centre row: A. Webb, Lt N. Dunn, Lt-Col B. G. Robinson OLM MCM, Maj A. M. Linder OLM, Maj A. B. C. H. Dalton OLM, Sqn Ldr R. R. MacGregor, Col H. Meyer, Wg Cdr C. J. Dixon DCD, A. J. Barthorpe, I. Young, S. Stevenson, Sgt R. D. Williams, W. Ackhurst. Seated: C Supt R. H. H. E. Harvey, Lt-Col J. M. Templer, Lt-Col P. J. Burford MLM, P. R. Cocksedge, Brig L. Jacobs MLM, B. Page MLM, Lt-Gen B. P. Walls GLM DCD MBE, Air Mshl M. J. McLaren CLM, Maj-Gen A. B. Campling DCD, Gp Capt P. J. H. Petter-Bowyer MLM DCD, Asst Cmmr G. E. Hedhes, C Supt A. J. Worden, Col E. M. Willar (Rtd) MLM DMM.

  Elections

  UNTIL A NEW GOVERNMENT WAS elected into power, management of the country vested with the British Government in the person of Governor Lord Soames, though law and order remained in the hands of NATJOC. In terms of the Lancaster House Agreement, Lord Soames had the responsibility of preparing all polling stations and ensuring voters enjoyed total security and freedom of choice. Of greater importance was his responsibility to ensure that no political party indulged in the intimidation of voters during the lead-up to elections. Any party found guilty of intimidation was to be disqualified wholly or in part by proscribing specific electoral zones.

  In this task Lord Soames failed dismally. Mugabe’s ZANU party not only disregarded its undertaking to get all ZANLA into the APs, it kept 90% of its forces in the field with orders to indulge in cruel electioneering methods including murder of important members of black opposition parties. Soames knew this was going on but refused to invalidate Mugabe’s party either wholly or in those areas where intimidation was greatest. The
British had neither the courage nor integrity to stand by the very agreement they had brought upon the four contesting parties. Appeasement in the face of threats from the OAU and black Commonwealth leaders was obviously more important to Britain’s long-term objectives than the future of the people of Zimbabwe-Rhodesian. When Henry Kissinger met Ian Smith many months later he explained the paradox like this. “The politics of convenience has little to do with truth or logic!”

  We had become accustomed to British duplicity but could not abide what we perceived to be total inaction by our NATJOC in forcing Lord Soames to act on British undertakings. The NATJOC’s attention seemed wholly distracted by other matters.

  For some weeks a team had been assembled in COMOPS to monitor loads of incoming data to pre-determine the final outcome of elections. Information poured in from all provinces giving voter numbers and their political leanings. As I recall it, the opinion being expressed to NATJOC was that Ian Smith’s RF party would secure all twenty white seats and Joshua Nkomo was sure to get at least twenty N’debele seats. Muzorewa and Sithole only needed to win eleven seats to allow a coalition between these parties to block Mugabe’s ZANU party. The team advising NATJOC was adamant that Muzorewa alone would do better than this.