via Enos Nkala caused me suffering: Dabengwa by Nduduzo Tshuma I Southern Eye
ZAPU president Dumiso Dabengwa has revealed for the first time how the late former Defence minister Enos Nkala offered him a Zanu PF card while he was incarcerated at the height of Gukurahundi, saying if he did not accept the card, he would rot in prison.
Dabengwa said Nkala, the late Edison Zvobgo and Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa visited him in Chikurubi Maximum Prison in 1986 after the death of Zipra commander Lookout Masuku offering him freedom on condition he joined Zanu PF.
In an wide-ranging interview, Dabengwa also revealed how Nkala had been at the forefront of ensuring that the Patriotic Front was divided, resulting in Zanu and PF Zapu going to the 1980 elections as competing parties.
“I met him (Nkala) at the formation of the National Democratic Party (NDP), but we were not close,” he said.
“I got to know him after our arrest where NDP demonstrated in Bulawayo and we spent almost four months at Grey (Street) Prison (Bulawayo) and shared a cell.”
Dabengwa said after his release and after Zapu had been banned, Nkala went on to form Zanu along with President Robert Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole and others.
“At the Lancaster House Conference in 1979, Nkala was one of the most vocal people against PF Zapu and Zanu going into the 1980 elections as a united front,” he continued.
“We understand Nkala was strongly against participating in elections as the Patriotic Front, hence Zanu went it alone to the elections.”
The former Zipra intelligence supremo said he did not have much contact with Nkala after the elections, as he was preoccupied in the army.
“When I retired from the army, we went to see Nkala who was then Finance minister. I was with (the late) Ackim Ndlovu after registering a transport company, where we would import vehicles from the United States,” Dabengwa said.
“He liked our idea and gave advice on a few issues. However, the project never took off as we were arrested afterwards.”
The Zapu leader said Nkala visited him at Chikurubi Maximum Prison with Zvobgo and Mnangagwa.
“It was in 1986 after the death of Lookout Masuku we spoke and they said if I agreed to join Zanu PF and accepted the party card that they had brought for me, on that very day I would be released out of Chikurubi Prison and be a free man,” Dabengwa said.
“I said to them that could only happen over my dead body.
“I made it clear that I would not betray Zapu. I would not turn my back on the people that were being killed by them.
“We discussed this with friends and I did not know what he wanted from me because of the way he had treated me in prison, I did not want to talk to him,” he said.
“My friends advised that I attend his wedding.”
Dabengwa said he did not see Nkala until 2008 and was surprised to hear him criticise Zanu PF, a party he helped form.
“I would ask him why he was criticising Zanu PF yet he helped form the party and blocked the Patriotic Front, as well as his involvement in Gukurahundi and the statements he made at the time,” he said.
“He denied everything, even statements that were recorded in the media.
“He said Nkomo had succeeded in skipping the country because he was the one who warned him that there were people who wanted to take his life.”
Dabengwa said he visited Nkala when he fell sick and was admitted at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo adding that he was not surprised by Mugabe’s stance on his hero status.
“It was because of a domestic matter that I do not know up to now.
“I knew at the time of my incarceration that Nkala was not happy with Nkomo’s leadership.
“There was a domestic issue that did not have anything to do with the party, that is why he provided his house where Zanu was formed.”
“He was outspoken and spoke his mind.
“He had an independent mind and contributed to the independence of the country.
“To an extent he deserves to be given good points, but after independence there is nothing, all is wiped out by Gukurahundi and the Willowvale (Car) scandal,” he said.
“I have bundled them into one, Nkala, Mugabe and Mnangagwa and all those that caused my suffering and forgiven them. But like I always say, I will never forget what they did to me.
“Each time we spoke, I would remind Nkala of the things they put me through and tell him that at times I regretted talking to him.”
Masuku was released to hospital in 1986 and died shortly afterwards. Dabengwa was freed after the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987.
COMMENTS
“To an extent he deserves to be given good points, but after independence there is nothing, all is wiped out by Gukurahundi and the Willowvale (Car) scandal” You’re absolutely right Dabengwa and thanks for setting the record straight. He might be a hero in zanu pf’s eyes but as person, he lived a tormented life and that was worse than jail.
DABENGWA – the only man with true integrity and care for his people – how sad that history has misinterpreted his story so badly – Zimbabwe you could have been in a better place had you trusted this man.
Why wait for Nkala to die first before telling us this story
Dabengwa is Telling It as it is. Good Leaders are open and honest. Nkala was something else. I remember in Jaunda Stadium he promised the people that “Ufuna ukugeza ubuNdebele” off his body.
Lets hope that Nkala’s book “revealing all” is now published.
Nkala wa SATAN PERSONIFIED!!
fitseki wena bruno…….evry one Knws that Nkala wishd to wash himself frm being a ndebele,he hated his own kind to the extent that he crafted the gugurahundi!!his death is insignificant to the ppl of matebeland,he deserved the slow death that he got.
A certain nationalist named Lazarus Nkala died mysteriously some years before independence. If my memory serves me right he was either a brother or cousin of Enos Nkala. Rumour has it that Enos advised Lazarus to leave Zapu and join Zanu but the latter remained at Zapu. The rumour goes on that after Lazarus’ death Enos and others labelled Zapu the murderers. Is anybody out there who is aware of this? The answer might shed light to the so-called “domestic” issue by Dabengwa.
The domestic issue is about nkomo impregnating one of nkala’s sisters and denying responsibility way back in the 60’s. And they stopped seeing eye to eye from then. This Lazarus issue could have been an acceleration
This is the language of a bitter sellout who has been rejected by everyone including those people he pretends to be representing in Matabeleland. Sounds like someone seeking for sympathy, you were incarcerated because you had hidden arms, can you deny that? You were part to Mavambo project because you had received British funding to destabilize ZANU-PF to give chance to MDC-T to win the election, Can you deny that? You denied to join MDC-T proposed coalition just before the 2013 harmonized elections because Bennett offered you too little money which you thought you more valued than that, Can you deny that? You are a first class sellout masquerading as a revolutionary that is why people have rejected you.
A bitter person is you Fads. Dabengwa is a true hero. We the people of Matebelaland knows what he is talking about. He is telling it as is.
You are a Sh.noa Gukurahundi, that is why you wholeheartedly believe the fairy stories of Dabengwa hiding arms. No wonder you cant remove Mugabe from power – suffer Gukurahundi dogs!!
@Mukoma Fads
You are a Sh.noa Gukurahundi, that is why you wholeheartedly believe the fairy stories of Dabengwa hiding arms. No wonder you cant remove Mugabe from power – suffer Gukurahundi dogs!!
The mills of the gods grind slowly but finely.
true that
Mukoma Fuds, Dabengwa was tried for the crimes you claim he committed and aquitted but Mugabe kept him incarcerated all the same.
I do not know who your source is but Dabengwa has repeatedly stated that the Mavambo project with Simab Makoni was meant to stop the MDC from winning the elections. All you need to do is Google news items on Dabengwa and you will find him quoted verbatim about how he so hated Tsvangirai that he joined the Mavambo project merely to thwart Tsvangirai’s ascendency to the presidency.
So please lets not misreprent facts.
While I acknowledge the key role played by Davengwa during the war of liberation as Zipra supremo, as minister of home affairs he watched while MDC activists were tortured by CIO operatives at their offices in Bulawayo. He did nothing to stop the torture and instead advised those who were appealing to him to help stop the CIO from torturing them to “just tell them what they want”.
He was right when he said ” tell them what they want” if you were unfortunate enough to be a victim of CIO torture chambers, the only way to avoid brutality was to tell them any lie you could think of to get out of hurms way.
Here is another TsvanCry crybaby. Always crying about this and that and those. Ko iwe zvavakaita kune vamwe? Ucabanga ukuthi kulungile?
Dumiso Tavengwa should not hate Nkala or anyonbe for the incaceration he enjoyed.If anything, he should thank them for extending him the courtesy.Those are internationally accepted fringe benefits of the game of politics.He himself supervised the torture and murder of ZANU members who broke ranks with Zapu IN THE 1960’s.Does he ever mention that? He supervised distabilisation/disturbances in the west of the country in the 1980s for political milleage, can he deny that? Further, what has he to say of the torture of oppositionn members that he personally supervised since 2000? Dindingwe rinonakirwa richakweva rimwe, kuti rokweveva roti mavara angu azara ivhu.
Enjoy your incaceration privilleges queitly, you have done worse to others Tavengwa. Nobody cares for your sodding crybaby story.
Stop deliberately Shonalising Dabengwa by misspelling his name. He is NOT A SH.ONA!!
Why are you people all like Gukurahundi Mugabe who wants everyone in Zim to be ZANU PF? Why do you copy Mugabe in everything, and yet you are daily castigating him?
Hei! Hei! Mfana, Kalangas are Karangas. Never mind the Ls you got from powerful Nguni invaders. Both are Shona … the original Shonas.
eg Ndabengwa (Tawengwa), Mpofu (Mhofu), Sibanda (Chibanda),
Ndokubhaya nebhanga (Ndinokubaya nebanga), Dumbutshenah (Dumbujena)
MOYO (Moyo), Bulombo (Urombo), Bani wakaloyiwa! Kusewenzela wamwe! (Bani vakaroyiwa! Kusewenzera vamwe)! etc etc’
Actually the population of true Ngun1 in Great Zimbabwe is less than 250000.oo
birds of the same feathers parambolate in the same proximity….politicians are all the same…..he aint that peferct after all…
Yes the quarrel between Enos Nkala and old man Joshua Nkhomo was very domestic. Nkhomo impregnated one Nkala’s sisters, Ive Nkala. She had a child, a son, who was a spitting image of J.Nkhomo in both appearance and body size. He grew into a man elephant.
In the the 1970s Ive Nkala lived in Little Ilford. . . an area between Ilford and Manor Park in East London, UK.
Ive Nkala was one of a first batch of ZAPU girls hand picked to go overseas to obtain degrees. But Nkala was a bitter man because he though ole Joshie had abused his sis and showed no respect to the Nkala. It became a personal war till death. Joshie had to be made to suffer for ever.
How do you know this?
Yes the quarrel between Enos Nkala and old man Joshua Nkomo was very domestic. Nkomo impregnated one of Nkala’s sisters, Ive Nkala. She had a child, a son, who was a spitting image of J.Nkomo in both appearance and body size. He grew into a man elephant.
In the the 1970s Ive Nkala lived in Little Ilford. . . an area between Ilford and Manor Park in East London, UK.
Ive Nkala was one of a first batch of ZAPU girls hand picked to go overseas to obtain degrees.
But Nkala was a bitter man because he thought ole Joshie had abused his sis and showed no respect to the Nkala clan. It became a personal war till death.
Joshie had to be made to suffer for ever.
Eight years ago I commented on this post looking forward to the publication of Enos Nkala’s autobiography. I am still waiting. By chance I shared a cell in Chikurubi Max with Dabengwa a future Minister of Home Affairs and soon afterwards I shared a cell in Harare Central Police station with Aaron Milner a former Minister of Home Affairs. Got on well with both of them. But what happened to Enos Nkala’s autobiography?