Mothers of the revolution http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.crp3b10035 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org Mothers of the revolution Author/Creator Staunton, Irene Publisher Baobab Books (Harare) Date 1990 Resource type Books Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Zimbabwe Source Northwestern University Libraries, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, 968.9104 M918 Rights This book is available through Baobab Books, Box 567, Harare, Zimbabwe. Description Mothers of the Revolution tells of the war experiences of thirty Zimbabwean women. Many people suffered and died during Zimbabwe's war of liberation and many accounts of that struggle have already been written. But the story of the women, the wives and the mothers who remain behind, has not yet been told. Format extent 309 pages (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.crp3b10035 http://www.aluka.org OF OF Mothers REVOLUTION Northwestern University Library Evanston, Illinois 60208-2300 I1 jL I MothersoF REVOLUTION OF Mothers THE REVOLUTION Compiled and edited by IRENE STAUNTON BAOBAB Harare 1990 BOOKS /-I I f ! ' r/1 ' I Published by Baobab Books (a division of Academic Books (Pvt.) Ltd., P.O. Box 567. Harare, Zimbabwe) © Irene Staunton, 1990 Cover design: Maviyane Pike Mapwork: Judit Hargitai and Steve Murray Printed by: Mazongororo Paper Converters (Pvt.) Ltd., Harare. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. ISBN 0-908311-25-7 Contents Acknowledgements Map Introduction Glossary Chapters: 1 Seri Jeni 2 Sosana Marange 3 Elina Ndlovu 4 Flora Sibanda 5 Juliet Makande 6 Maudy Muzenda 7 Rhoda Khumalo 8 Thema Khumalo 9 Loice Mushore 10 Lisa Teya 11 Margaret Nkomo 12 Anna Madzorera 13 Meggi Zingani 14 Mary Gomendo 15 Margaret Viki 16 Tetty Magugu 17 Agnes Ziyatsha 18 Ida Mtongana 19 Elizabeth Ndebele 20 Daisy Thabedhe 21 Josephine Ndiweni 22 Cheche Maseko 23 Joannah Nkomo 24 Betty Ndlovu 25 Erica Ziumbwa 26 Dainah Girori 27 Elsi Chingindi 28 Helen Karemba 29 Feresia Mashayamombe 30 Emma Munemo (Vii) (Viii) (vxi) (xiii) 11 27 37 43 59 67 73 85 95 105 113 119 137 145 159 169 175 183 197 205 215 223 237 251 261 269 277 287 299 Acknowledgements WE would like to thank all the women who participated in the project for receiving us with such warmth and for giving so generously of their time and their stories. We would particularly like to thank all those women who, for one reason or another, we were not able to include in this book: Mama Dube, Esther Khumalo. Mikirina Makanha, Linah Makiwa, Bertha Moyo, Jane Mpala. Fenny Mtongana, Kresenzia Muzenda, Molly Ncube. Mcondo Ngwenva. Melitha Nyathi, Emilia Ndlovu, Alice Sangarwe, Roni Sangarwe. Gremerina Zembiti. We would also like to offer our thanks to the translators and co-ordinators on the project, without whom there would have been no book: Elizabeth Ndebele, Margaret Zingani, Rose Mazena, Mary Nyamangara, Betty Biri and Eileen Mutwira. Very special thanks is due to Margaret Zingani who tirelessly translated and transcribed the majority of the tapes from both Shona and Ndebele and who was a wonderfully supportive companion on many journeys. We would also like to thank everyone who has shown their support and encouragement: in particular, Thandi Henson, Amos Kanvonga, Jeremiah Khabo, Mia Lewis, Mette Maast, Margaret Manyau. Eugenia Matthews, Langton Mavudzi, Joshua Mpofu, Revd Menson Mpofu, Ruvimbo Mujene, Edward Mutema, Connie Ndebele, Joshua Nyoni, Sethembiso Nyoni. William Nyamangara, Sita Ranchod, Elizabeth Rider, Silas Tarivingana; and Margaret Waller and June Webber who processed the photographs. We would also like to acknowledge with gratitude the support of NORAD, whose initial support by way of funding the research component of the book made the whole project possible. (vii) *VILLAGE, TOWN OR CITY *DISTRICT OR AREA Key Beltbxldge 68 Bezha district 50 Bindura 13 Buhera 41 Bulawayo 55 Bulimangwe district 63 Chibero 42 Chibi 46 Chibuwe 72 Chikore 73 Chimranzi 44 Chlnhoyl 15 Chipinge 74 Chirinda 39 Chisumbanje 70 Chltomborwlzl 16 Chivu 34 Chtweshe 7 Dry Paddock district 65 Esigodini 52 Glassblock 49 Gonakudzlngwa 69 Gokwe 21 Guruve 5 Gutu 43 Gwanda 48 Gweru 28 Harare 14 Kadoma 30 Kafusi Daim 66 Kwekwe 29 u100 150 km *21 -o22 23em2c Luveve 57 N,, Madziwa 6 Madziwa Mine 8 Mukaniba 40 Makunde 20 Makuti i Manama Mission 67 Maphisa 64 Masvingo 45 Mawabenl 51 Mbembesl district 25 Mhondoro 31 Msengezi 18 Mtembeswana 54 Mtshogwa 24 Murewa il Mutare 38 Mutoko 10 Mutumba 4 Mvumna 33 Mzlnyathint district 53 Nkayi 23 Nyaje 22 Nyamandhlovu 59 060 -61 .59 .58 57..55 5~6 53.52 -' 041 *64 *48 .65 Pelandaba 56 Pfungwe district 3 Plumtree 62 Range 35 Roadsdale 32 Rusape 37 Rushinga 2 201 -5 "8 .15 .16 200 N m 17 19 "18 s12 M9 M4 -10 -37 73. 71- *69 Siphaziphazi 58 Shamva 12 Silobela 26 Tegwane 61 Tshlotsho 60 Uzumba district 9 Wedza 36 Zhombe 27 Zowa 19 Zvmba 17 Zvishavane 47 Note: Very small villages have not been identified, as it has not been possible to do so with any precision. 014 '30 M31 -32 -29 *36 34- -35 .28 .33 m" .39 .40 "41 "42 "43 .45 "47 .46 Introduction Mothers of the Revolution tells of the war experiences of thirty Zimbabwean women. Many people suffered and died during Zimbabwe's war of liberation and many accounts of that struggle have already been written. But the story of the women, the wives and the mothers who remained behind, has not yet been told. These are their stories: stories that reveal courage, endurance, humour and wisdom. They are stories that celebrate the fortitude and strength of the mothers of the struggle. The war visited different areas of the country at different times and with varying degrees of intensity. For some women, the war was with them for a year or two, for others it lasted much longer. Time was not something measured in weeks or months, but by the impact of violence or grief or need: and by the rhythms of the seasons or of motherhood. Mothers of the Revolution, therefore, contains few dates. It is not a conventional history in which the women's words have been analysed, sifted or put into some other framework. Rather the book provides, in their own words, a context, a new perspective on the war, as it is remembered by women ten years after independence. As Elizabeth Ndebele put it: "Time elapses, the mind accepts some terrible things and forgets others. Now we can talk and sometimes cry over what we went through . then, we could hardly, if ever, talk about such things." Not unnaturally, several common preoccupations and themes emerge from these stories, such as fear. Fear for the lives of their children who had gone to join the struggle: fear for the survival of their homes and their children who had remained behind; fear of 'contacts' between the freedom fighters and the Rhodesian security forces: fear of the soldiers, fear of sell-outs. There is also, again and again, a remarkable sense of persistence and acceptance: acceptance of war, and the consequences of war, of situations over which they had little or no control, but which they continued to believe would, ultimately, bring a better life - freedom and independence for everyone. These women, the mothers, were both victims and actors. Throughout the war, over and over again, they fed and protected the freedom fighters and they risked their lives to do so. This they know and it is a fact of which they are proud. "The men were around, but they only used to say, 'Hurry up [with the food] before the soldiers come and beat you up!' "They regarded the vakomana as their children, everybody's children, with needs which they as women, as mothers, had a responsibility to meet. This is the underlying theme which emerges strongly from these interviews and which now needs to be asserted: "Without the women, the war could not have been won." The idea for the book developed out of my belief that unless the stories of women, especially women in the rural areas, were recorded, they would not be heard within the larger context of Zimbabwe's history. The women we spoke to were all contacted through people whom they knew and trusted, and who first asked them whether they would be willing to share their stories with us. We tried, in a comparatively short time, to cover as many different areas of the country as possible.