Luthuli Detachment – The Hwange Thunderbolt

By Ezekiel Hleza

After intense military training abroad, Umkhonto we Sizwe freedom fighters are determined to return home to South Africa as armed combatants alongside the masses struggling for liberation. Their planned route back necessitates crossing through Rhodesia. So they share their intentions with fellow comrades from the ZPRA forces also battling Rhodesia’s regime.

This dialogue gives rise to a joint military alliance when ZAPU and ANC leadership approve the strategy. Thus, the Luthuli Detachment is born – a combined battalion from ZPRA and Umkhonto we Sizwe named in honour of the late ANC President General Albert Luthuli. On the eve of departing to reach South Africa, these joint forces cross into Rhodesia, though not without casualties.

After successfully navigating the treacherous Zambezi river into Rhodesian land, an explosive encounter in Hwange Game Reserve turns it into the chilling rendezvous point where the Luthuli Detachment’s destiny collides with history’s call to duty. Will they accomplish their mission of participating alongside South African masses hungering for emancipation?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9781398449374

Ezekiel Hleza

Ezekiel Hleza was born in Matholwa, Kafusi, Kezi, and grew up in his home village of Madipuduhudu in Gwanda. He attended Makokwe Primary School and Manama High School. After high school, he attended the University of Zimbabwe for his B.A. Degree and the Graduate Certificate in Education. He teaches English Language and Literature at Tshelanyemba High School. He has also briefly taught at Mpopoma High School in Bulawayo and Chamnangana Secondary School near Zezani in Beitbridge. A father of one daughter, he has published the following books: Emfuleni Wezinyembezi, Uyangisinda lumhlaba and Don’t Cry for Me.

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About the Author

Ezekiel Hleza was born in Matholwa, Kafusi, Kezi, and grew up in his home village of Madipuduhudu in Gwanda. He attended Makokwe Primary School and Manama High School. After high school, he attended the University of Zimbabwe for his B.A. Degree and the Graduate Certificate in Education. He teaches English Language and Literature at Tshelanyemba High School. He has also briefly taught at Mpopoma High School in Bulawayo and Chamnangana Secondary School near Zezani in Beitbridge. A father of one daughter, he has published the following books: Emfuleni Wezinyembezi, Uyangisinda lumhlaba and Don’t Cry for Me.

Dedication

For my daughter, Lisalobuhle Nomaswazi Hleza.

And for the people of Zimbabwe and the people of South Africa, and for the people of Africa and the world.

Copyright Information ©

Ezekiel Hleza 2024

The right of Ezekiel Hleza to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with Sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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 permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398409088 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398449374 (ePub e-book)

ISBN 9781398449367 (Audiobook)

www.austinmacauley.co.uk

First Published 2024

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Acknowledgement

I must admit at the outset of this appreciation that I cannot with my pen walk in the shoes of John Dube, Chris Hani, Jomo, Andries Motsepe and their fellow comrades who when the sun set at Wankie, in the very morning of sunrise, found their way in the unfolding darkness with the blazing fire of the A.K. 47. However, neither John Dube nor Chris Hani and their fellow comrades at Wankie can take the place of the story teller, the historian, the dramatist, the novelist, the poet or the musician, swapping the A.K. 47 for the poet’s eloquence, the musician’s melody or the novelist’s suspense. That would be like singing and dancing for oneself at the same time as if the whole wide stage of life was ever designed for only one person. The Wankie stage is wide and broad enough for all roles that society has designed for its wholeness and fullness. I would have liked to collect and gather all the spent cartridges and bomb and grenade shrapnels that littered the bloody and charred battlefield of Wankie and piled them into an everlasting monument and memory of that battle, not only as a tribute to the Luthuli Detachment but also as a relay baton exchange from one generation to the other. But then 13 August and other days of August of 1967 and 18 April 1980 and 27 April 1994 were a challenge on their own, a challenge that allowed the conspiracy of time and nature to somehow subdue my noble intentions.

Fortunately, because the story of Wankie and the Luthuli Detachment is not confined to the Wankie battlefields alone but goes beyond the rotting spent cartridges and shrapnels and the unmarked graves. It is found in the fast dwindling band and the fading memory of the few survivors and its participants. It is found in the archives of the struggle and those of its adversaries. It is found in the communities that witnessed those events in their different forms. For the above reasons I have been fortunate to have read and heard about the battles of Wankie from ZPRA, Umkhonto we Sizwe, the Rhodesian participants and other sources as well. My interaction with Dumiso Dabengwa, Abraham Nkiwane, Moffat Hadebe, Ectwell Siwela (Peter Banda), Jonathan Moyo (Jomo) left me without any doubt on my mind that this was a generation that understood that it was in an intergenerational relay race. This was a generation that understood that each intergenerational lap was clearly marked from its starting point to its finishing line, with only one golden baton to be handed over at each of the intergenerational finishing lines. This was a generation that understood too that as it ran its lap it was not its duty to teach the next generation how it should run its lap or hand over the golden baton but leave its example. Solomon Mahlalebophile Hleza, my father, who facilitated Moffat Hadebe and his comrades escape from Grey street prison in Bulawayo in January 1965, while also doing his job as a prison guard was running his lap too. My mother Selina Siqonyiwe Mlilo who gave me the story of There is a home in Canaan also ran her lap.

My writings leading to the writing of Luthuli Detachment: The Wankie Thunderbolt have been influenced by my teaching experience as well as being a member of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA). It has been a challenging, interesting, enriching and fulfilling experience for me made even more exciting by the support I received from my colleagues Edgar Moyo and Dumisani Ndlovu. We ran our lap together.

Because this book is in many ways influenced by my recent publications: Don’t Cry for Me, I am eternally grateful to Dumiso Dabengwa and his family who supported the book’s launch in London. Without the company of Albert Nyathi and Immaculate Kwashira on the London Trip, the London tour would not have been what it was. Mr Amos Mazula Ndlovu, Miss Rosina Ncube, Mr Christopher Maphosa and Dr Ralph Mguni deserve a special mention. Special mention too goes to the M.C. of the function Mr Ezra Tshisa Sibanda and Mrs Janet Banana, former first lady of Zimbabwe at independence, who gave the prayer. Not to be overlooked is Gracious Zanele Tshabalala, my cousin. Mr Bongani Halimana who facilitated the book launch in South Africa which was graced by Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, Mrs Zodwa Dabengwa, Abraham Nkiwane and King Bhungane deserves a big thank you. My gratitude would be incomplete without mentioning the support I received from my Cousin Themba Honest Mlilo and his wife Nelly Ndlovu and my uncle Branis Moyo (Shumba), himself a ZPRA veteran of the liberation struggle in the Southern front who also graced the function.

The death of Dumiso Dabengwa during the course of writing this book and the National hero status bestowed upon him as well as the tribute to him from President Emmerson Mnangagwa testified to a man who belonged to a generation that had fought a golden fight had a bearing on the pace and tempo of the writing. Added to this was also the tribute from the South African delegation to his funeral led by Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo representing President Cyril Ramaphosa and veterans of the Umkhonto we Sizwe including Rt. Major General Jackie Sedibe. It was a tribute to a man who belonged to the generation of the commanders of the Luthuli Detachment.

In addition to the above this book also came as a direct consequence of my article to the Chris Hani foundation on the need for a monument on the battle of Wankie. For this article tribute must go to Immaculate B. Ndlovu who at the time was my colleague at Tshelanyemba High School and also a former student of mine at the same school. The first readers of this book are my colleagues at Tshelanyemba High School who typed the manuscript; Ruth Sukoluhle Dlomo-Nkhoma, Banelenkosi Moyo, Sakheni Ncube and Sabelo Goodwill Mpala. Sabelo also carried the extra burden to ensure that all my communication with the publishers was attended to as expeditiously as possible, I am eternally indebted to them for their support.

Joining the above are those who met the earlier and later costs of the book on the road to the publisher and publication namely; Khethiwe Jiyane Nkomo a former student of mine at Tshelanyemba High School, Dr Edwin Moyo, Godfrey Sijiye Tlou, Barry Posiwe, Ndabezinhle Scotch Dube and my cousin Gracious Zanele Tshabalala (Thulani Nyathi). I am indebted to them for their unstinting support.

In honour of Dr Dumiso Dabengwa who supported my work since our meeting which was facilitated by Rt. Col Richard Dube (Gedi), Nombulelo Dabengwa and Mrs Zodwa Dabengwa and the Dabengwa family have paid a very substantial amount towards the publishing cost of this book as per my contributory contract with the publishers. Dr Dumiso Dabengwa himself would have done no less. I am forever grateful for this great support.

Finally, I am grateful to my publishers, Austin Macauley Publishers, for offering me a second publishing contract.

Indeed in this intergenerational relay team race, it is not our duty as the present generation to teach the next generation how they should run their intergenerational lap and how they should hand over the intergenerational golden baton stick, they will copy from us.

Ezekiel Hleza

Act 1 Scene 1

It is August 1967 in a thick bush about 500 m from a railway siding between Wankie and Dette where the action begins with Paul Petersen about to leave the Lobengula Unit. He is engaged with the commanders of the Unit, Jomo, Andries Motsepe, Rogers and Kidmarongrong. Except for Paul Petersen, who is armed with a Makarov pistol and a UZI pistol machinegun, the rest are armed with AK47 automatic rifles.

Act 1 Scene 2

The action takes place at Kongwa Training Camp in Tanzania in May 1967. It is a meeting between members of the High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the Special Affairs Department, High Command of ZAPU. Present are Joe Modise, Chris Hani, Walter Mavuso, Joe Slovo, Akim Ndlovu, Dumiso Dabengwa, Abraham Nkiwane, Robson Manyika, Ethan Dube, Roma Nyathi and John Dube.

Joe Modise: (Chairing) Amandla!