ZIMBABWE People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA)’s founding commander General Alfred Nikita Mangena was a commander par excellence and a military tactician whose strategies, some implemented long after his death, helped liberate the country from the repressive Rhodesian government.
Yesterday marked exactly 45 years since General Mangena passed on in a landmine explosion on June 28, 1978.
He was killed just hours after burying 30 bodies of his comrades killed in a landmine explosion following an ambush by Rhodesian forces near Deka Drum on the Zambezi Valley.
The 30 ZPRA guerrillas were being deployed into the country to confront the enemy. They were part of troops that had just completed military training in Angola.
Unfortunately, while on the way, their truck was ambushed by Rhodesian forces upon crossing a stream near the Zambezi River and it was subsequently hit by a controlled landmine. All the comrades who were in the truck died on the spot save for the driver.
In an interview to mark the death of General Mangena, former ZPRA chief of military intelligence, Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane, was overcome with emotions as he recounted his experiences with the late liberation struggle icon.
“The late ZPRA Commander, Cde Nikita Mangena was a forceful commander, a very intelligent person and a commander par excellence. Some of military strategies, which were later implemented after his death helped liberate Zimbabwe,” he said.
“There are no words to describe how devastated I was upon learning of the death of Cde Mangena.
“In fact, his death sent shockwaves everywhere.”
Rtd Brig Gen Mazinyane said as a liberation movement, they were conditioned in such as a way that they were prepared for the inevitable. He said his first interaction with Gen Mangena was in Tanzania during his military training.
“Cde Mangena was a military strategist who had so many plans and ideas which, sadly were never implemented in his lifetime. I joined the liberation struggle later than him and when I went for training in 1969 in Morogoro in Tanzania, Cde Mangena was my instructor,” he said.
Gen Mangena trained in Algeria in 1963 where he was selected for further training as an officer cadet. He came out as the best student while training together with combatants from the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), African National Congress (ANC) and African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) liberation movements.
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane said soon after his appointment to the ZPRA High Command in 1976, he continued working with his commander.
“We contacted each other almost daily due to the nature of our work. Cde Mangena was a man who wanted things to be done in a proper manner and at times we would go to the front together,” he said.
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane said ZPRA, a Zapu armed wing, became a clearly defined army under the leadership of Gen Mangena and it had a code of conduct and a continuous military strategy.
“As ZPRA under the command of Mangena we interacted with other liberation movements in countries such as Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. In fact, when the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) moved out of Zambia, they gave us some of their assets,” he said.
“One of the places MPLA occupied was Victory Camp, which later became a military camp for the ZPRA female combatants.”
Gen Mangena was the first ZPRA commander and the title given to him then was Chief of Staff. The title of commander was reserved for the President of the party, the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo. Gen Mangena and other members of the Zipra High Command then namely Cdes Cephas Cele (personnel and training), John Dube (operations), Jabulani Ncube (medic), Lameck Mafela/Lookout Masuku (commissariat), Gordon Munyanyi (military intelligence, reconnaissance and communications) and Report Mphoko (logistics) built ZPRA from scratch to be one of the strongest liberation armies in Southern Africa.
Before that, Zapu’s armed wing fell under the Office of Special Affairs, which was commanded by Cde Ackim Ndlovu.
ZPRA was a fully-fledged department of the party as per the “proxy” document of 1971.
Gen Mangena was withdrawn from Morogoro where he had been a training instructor and appointed to perform the daunting task of commanding ZPRA. He and his High Command took reins of a ZPRA wing that had a handful of fighters, a few guns and ammunition.
From late 1971 to early 1972 Gen Mangena with less than 20 fighters to deploy into the battlefield, was bold to take the offensive. The few other fighters were confined in Tanzania.
Despite these overwhelming difficulties that were facing him and his colleagues, he forced the Rhodesian forces to go into a defensive mode.
The Rhodesians introduced a patrol boat on the Zambezi River. They asked for the South African forces’ assistance who had to leave in a hurry after some heavy losses.
They even closed the Rhodesia/Zambia border in 1973 in a desperate move to try and arm-twist Zambia to stop the Zipra offensive.
“During operations, the first adversary of ZPRA fighters was the Zambezi. ZPRA fighters had to conquer this river before anything else. The intensity of ZPRA operations were hindered by means of fording the Zambezi,” said Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane.
“It was until the ZPRA High Command under Cde Nikita Mangena decided to solve the problem once and for all. It was decided that it reinforces its flotilla boats. The command came up with an unorthodox source for reinforcement.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane said Zipra forces were unleashed to bring back boats from Rhodesia for its use.
“I recall once we closed a fishing camp on the Rhodesian side of the Kariba by taking eight boats and most of the workers. The tactic was to wait for the workers in the evening as they took their turns in taking a bath at a makeshift bathroom at the camp,” he said.
“The worker would take his bathing tin while Zipra fighters waited patiently until the worker applied soap on his face. The jolly singing worker would be surprised, his mouth then gagged, his face voluntarily wiped off of soap so that he would follow the proceedings, a short political lecture would be given, and he would then be politely asked to volunteer to join the armed struggle.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane said Gen Nikita Mangena was a visionary commander. He said under his command ZPRA mapped out a clear strategy that kept everyone on the same footing.
“This meant all the ZPRA departments developing a strategy at the same pace. Cde Mangena and his command worked tirelessly to accomplish the goals it had set on time. The training, intelligence and reconnaissance, deployment and logistics were well synchronised,” he said.
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane said Gen Mangena and his command made sure that Zipra guerrillas were well trained, kitted, armed, disciplined and were re-supplied properly.
He said most of their operations were executed in the evening, which denied the Rhodesians the advantage of air superiority. The Rhodesian air force was not equipped for night fighting.
“The ZRA High Command under Mangena sent cadres for officer training and conventional training for the troops as early as 1977 in preparation for the conventional warfare stage of our armed struggle, although our training syllabus always had a conventional aspect,” said Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane.
He said the ZPRA command under Gen Mangena pushed for its soldiers to be included in all educational scholarships.
“Cde Mangena demanded leadership qualities and proper execution of his orders. I experienced his wrath when I was involved in an operation which was considered to be of strategic category. The operation was completed, the target destroyed, but he felt that the time taken to complete the task was not up to ZPRA standards,” said Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane.
He said Gen Mangena was also a disciplinarian who demanded total discipline from ZPRA ranks.
“The high discipline he demanded was frustrating to rogue elements, reactionaries and those infiltrated into ZPRA ranks by the enemy. Cde Mangena built a ZPRA which worked hand-in-glove with the masses,” said Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane.
“Counter revolutionaries found it difficult to operate effectively in such a well-disciplined organisation. Cde Mangena was great a motivator. He did this by regular visits to the camps and bases. He instilled a sense of self-belief into the comrades when things looked gloomy.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane said Gen Mangena was so engulfed by the revolution that he even named his son and daughter Lotshe and Leillah respectively.
Lotshe was the commander of Induba regiment under King Lobengula and Leillah was named after a Palestinian heroine who was recently invited to South Africa by its Parliament.
“Cde Mangena dedicated every atom of his body to the liberation of Zimbabwe. He was a military genius. He is a revolutionary icon and he will always be remembered,” said Rtd Brig-Gen Mazinyane.
Gen Mangena’s son, Lotshe whose father died when he was two years old, said yesterday was a sombre day as the family remembered the liberation icon.
“It is a sombre day for us as we mark 45 years on the passing on of our father who was among the key liberators of our country, Zimbabwe. Had my father lived up to this day, I believe he would have made a difference in my life,” he said.
“I was only two years when my father died and I can imagine the pain my mother went through after losing such a great and loving husband.”
Lotshe said he learnt that his father was a disciplinarian and dedicated soldier who sacrificed his life to liberate the country.
Gen Mangena’s widow, Mrs Sikhubekiso Madeya Mangena, said the day her husband met his death remain a plaque in her life.
“I will forever miss my husband and this day evokes those painful memories of how he died in course of liberating our country. He was a dedicated soldier who wanted this country to be independent,” she said.
Last month, President Mnangagwa met Mrs Madeya Mangena and her son Lotshe at the State House in Harare.
The meeting was part of the broader engagement that the President has been having with widows of former freedom fighters in trying to appreciate their challenges and how they can be addressed. The late General Mangena is a revered freedom fighter and commander, whose life was cut short when his Land Rover hit a Rhodesian land mine in Zambia in 1978.
He was 33 at the time of his death.
His remains were reburied at the National Heroes Acre on August 11, 1998.
To his honour, the Second Republic, named the cantonment which houses the Zimbabwe National Defence University and other institutions the Rodgers Alfred Nikita Mangena Barracks.
He is celebrated for his military acumen and tactical shrewdness in both guerilla and conventional war.
The late commander was born in 1943 in Mberengwa, Midlands Province, and attended Mhamande Primary School and studied at Chegato High Mission before relocating to Zambia where he continued with his education at Chikola High School.
He was awarded the Rhodes scholarship which he did not take up. He opted to join the liberation struggle and was among the first group of freedom fighters to receive military training. – The Herald
