The Great African Military Impostor

What is it that makes most S.A.D.C. leaders jump to their feet to give Robert Mugabe a standing ovation at every mutual function they attend? The answer is ignorance of the facts. If they really believe that he is the great modern military liberator, then they are completely off the mark. A crooked politician he may be, but a soldier he was not.

We have always been led to believe that military leaders are present in battle, not necessarily in the front line, but giving orders, either at the battle site, or directly behind it. Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Washington and Churchill all fought with their troops at some time. In Africa, both, Shaka and Mzilikazi, not only led their armies, but fought side by side with their respective impis. It set a precedent of a most noble form of royal hand to hand combat. Mzilikazi, the first Matabele king, who stood six and a half feet tall, was considered as good a soldier as any in either the Zulu or Matabele nations.

So, where was Mugabe, this military impostor, when all these liberation battles to remove white colonialism were taking place? He was certainly not in the trenches. What did this so-called military hero actually do, while thousands of his countrymen, from both sides of the Rhodesian conflict, fought and died? He was flitting from Maputo to London, pretending to be involved in the war planning.

We must realize that most of the planning of the anti-colonial wars in Africa was not done in Africa. The weapons came from China and the U.S.S.R. and so did all the training and instruction. Most of the finance came from Europe, particularly from the Nordic countries and the political permission came from the United Nations. Only the logistical support, in the form of military bases, came from the frontline African states. Cross border tactics were devised on a daily basis and could only be done by those leaders in the field, where Mugabe never trod. He never planned a thing.

For those of us who fought in the Rhodesian Army, Mugabe was never a factor when considering the enemy. He was merely one of the many politicians too far removed from the battle field to worry about. He never bore arms, never wore a uniform and certainly never visited his troops at the front. He never initiated the war, never terminated it and had nothing to do with the modus operandi of Zanla. That was the task of Josiah Tongogara, the Zanla commander.

Zanla didn’t have many war hero’s, they spent most of their time running away from the Rhodesian Security Forces, but if any one of their number deserves to be called a military liberator, that honour must go to Tongogara. Unfortunately he was killed in a “car crash” in Mozambique, in December 1979, but no one ever bought that story. There were not many motor vehicles in the Mozambique bush at that time. His own soldiers believed he was assassinated to make way for the predatory Mugabe, because it was he and not Mugabe, who was destined to lead the new Zimbabwe nation.

At Lancaster House, just prior to Tongogara’s death, Mugabe kept threatening to go back to war if talks didn’t go his way, but he was not the man in charge of the military and therefore didn’t know how precarious the Zanla position was. So unsure was he of his own troops, that in March 1980, when he became the country’s leader he appointed the Rhodesian, General Peter Walls, as head of the Zimbabwe Armed Forces. Today, instead of castigating the British Government for trying to reintroduce colonialism, he should be eternally grateful to them for hosting the timely talks that brought him to power. By the end of hostilities in 1979, Zanla were a spent force. Had the war continued into 1980, the threat to Rhodesia would have come from the west, from the Matabele of Zipra, descendants of King Mizilikazi, who were much better armed, better organized and more professional.

The sure way of knowing whether you are effective as a military leader, is to have the enemy try to assassinate you. The Rhodesians got Herbert Chitepo in Lusaka, had many unsuccessful attempts at Joshua Nkomo, also in Lusaka and always missed Rex Nhongo and Tongogara on hot pursuit missions into Mozambique. However, there were no plans to eliminate Mugabe, he was simply not a military threat.

Over the years Mugabe has managed to con his countrymen, Africa and the world into believing that he was the military catalyst for the removal of white supremacy in Rhodesia. But, independence came to Zimbabwe, through continual international political pressure, years of mandatory United Nation’s sanctions and a Rhodesian Front government that was less intransigent than the current Zanu P.F. thugs, and not, by military victory. We have now reached a stage where none of Mugabe’s political colleagues, none of his “war veterans” and none of his soldiers had anything to do with the Liberation War. All he is left with is a bunch of bullies. He claims to have a degree in violence, but as always, he relies on others to carry out his dirty work. I doubt if he even had a playground fight when he was at school

If African leaders are so desperate to find a real man to represent their anti-colonial sentiments, a much more appropriate leader can be found. The name Nelson Mandela comes to mind.