Kutlwano Magazine

LEST WE FORGET

Source : Kutlwano

Author : KUTLWANO

Location : GABORONE

Event : Commemoration

That was how the late God Father of Setswana literature Papa Lee remembered the dead brave warriors of yester years. Men who died for their land, for their dignity and for peace.

But as men come and go in this world-as they live and let live-they are always trapped in a tragic, vicious circle that wounds the savage in them. Some say its history repeating itself. Others argue that it`s the basic universal fault in the human make-up. But whatever it is. This vicious irrationality and the trapped, wounded savage crossbreed dirty, bloody and senseless human suffering.

Yesterday it was bloody tribal greed and arrogance. Last night it was brutal blood sucking colonialism. Today it`s violent white racist cheek. The love for freedom and dignity is trapped between pride and conscience. War or peace? A no-choice choice!

It`s fight until you are dead and cold or surrender your humanity. Batswana are not in a hurry to do that to murder their freedom! They never will! Our dead warriors should be remembered as the highest price we paid for that principle.

Fifteen young human lives are the last thing anybody is prepared to lose. Though their death was a gallant contribution to the relentless struggle for human-dignity-that alone can never equal the only ONE contribution that man gives to this world - BEING ALIVE!

Had they lived the world might have benefited a lot from their minds and sinews. Many have lived long enough to see men rise from humble beginnings to the tallest towers of learning, power and prestige.

Who was Doctor Quett Masire 20 years ago? Who was Professor Thomas Tlou 10 years back? Who could have thought that a starving, primary school teacher in Northern Rhodesia would be Zambia`s first head of state and one of the most powerful political figures in Africa? NOBODY!

But only a few years from now the brave young men will be a mere dim memory of bad days gone. Should they rise from the dead only to find out that they died for a cause nobody is prepared to die for?

That is not remembered too well either! Those are the dagger-edged questions that should constantly prick our consciences. The most frightening question however is: ‘How are we going to deal with white supremacy??` The dead dealt with it in bloody terms.

Are we, the living, simply going to say: ‘understand, brother! We are not that black and ugly! Why don`t we gird ourselves up? The bored rural unemployed, the white-collar job civil servant, the revolutionary student and the street-roaming delinquent.

Learn to be proud and angry! To fight to the last man, woman or child. And if someone in Moscow or Havana remembered to send us a ‘handle-with-care` parcel we should whoop with joy. ‘Ride on brother! Aluta Continua!` We should shout.

Of course we do not have resources. We do not have food. We do not have nuclear power and the cancer that goes with advanced technology. But we have PRIDE AND THE WILL TO SURVIVE!

Rest in peace our loved ones.

“God do not forgive Smith and white supremacy for they know what they are doing!”

THE FALLEN

Sgt Moremi Mothudi (Shoshong)

Sgt Daniel Setlhogile (Tshane)

Pvt Moliti Lesole (Tshimoyapula)

Pvt Mathe Mathe (Serowe)

Pvt Lesitamang Mponyo (Mponyo)

Pvt Olaotse Ikobeng (Serowe)

Pvt Sejo Katung (Serowe)

Pvt Anton Mlandu (Jackalas)

Pvt Olaotse Oefile (Molepolole)

Pvt Oabile Modiko (Molepolole)

Pvt Mokgadi Rasekedi (Molepolole)

Pvt Monyoi Mosweunyane (Tobane)

Pvt Bathusi Nteta (Molalatau)

Pvt Stanley Thebele (Tati Siding)

Pvt Mbakile Butale (Butale)

THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT LESOMA

‘The Kazungula Massacre!` Ambush or whatever you care to call it. The sad fact is that Ian Smith has once again added a dirty bloody chapter to history. He punctuated each sentence with a bullet and scribbled his racial signature with blood. The red blood of young seventeen Batswana. The nation moaned, fainted. It was the kind of history nobody was in a hurry to forget and forgive. While we cried those who thrive on other people`s misfortunes shamelessly distorted facts propagating the most shocking lies since man started telling lies. They want to tell us what happened, how it happened and why it happened on Monday, February 27, 1978 at Kazungula. But only those men who carry the permanent bullet and bayonet stamps of Kazungula can tell us the truth. Kutlwano Editor Dynosius Rabantheng talks to Lieutenant B. Sennanyana- a survivor and senior army man who was on the spot.

BDF AMBUSH

Rabantheng: Lt. Sennanyana what exactly happened on the 27th February at Kazungula?

Sennanyana: At two O` clock in the afternoon of Monday, February 27 two youth called at our camp. They said that they were sent by Lesoma village headman to report that Rhodesian soldiers were seen near the village on our side of the border. We left for the village in a platoon of thirty soldiers. We reached the village within fifteen minutes but had difficulty finding the headman. The people we found gave us confused unsatisfactory reports. We found the headman later. He said that actually the Rhodesians were seen on their side of the border but villagers were worried by what they thought was a military built up. The headman said the soldiers had come in large numbers with helicopters and military trucks. We patrolled and surveyed the area until six o`clock in the evening when we left for our camp. On the way back we ran into an ambush.

Rabantheng: Would you say it was a chance encounter or a well planned trap?

Sennanyana: I would say the trap was well laid. Those people knew what they were up to. They knew where and how to get us and they did. It was sinister. Horrible. The attack was strategic, swift and paralysing. We did not have a ghost of a chance to shoot back or think clearly. All we knew was that we were under heavy attack and everybody tried hard to survive. Bullets and hand grenades were ripping our vehicles apart. Left, right and centre. The vehicles caught fire and our spare ammunition caught fire and exploded. It was horrible. I was driving the leading vehicle and my only chance was to drive through the ambush. I almost made it but they hit my rear wheels just when I drove past their firing line.

Rabantheng: How did you escape from the burning truck?

Sennanyana: Honestly I do not know! You see the first bullet hit me in the arm and all along I was driving with one hand. When they hit the trapped by roaring flames in the trucks I watched my men die. There was nothing I could do except pray. Later the Rhodesians charged kicking and slashing the dead and the injured with bayonets. Our injured soldiers bravely withstood the crushing boots and piercing bayonets without showing any sign of life.

To wrap up their devilish job they seized some of my injured men and threw them into the blazing Land Rovers, took our guns and left. Most of them were white and they were more than hundred in number. I staggered in the darkness trying to find my way home. I thought I was the only survivor. Some of the men we had left at the camp later found me that night. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that some of my soldiers had survived. In fact all the survivors found their way home except for those who could not walk. The ‘missing seven` later told me a pathetic story about how they walked individually in the dark through the terrifying forests without a slightest idea of where they were going. Some slept on tree tops while some crawled into holes like snakes. It is sad.

Rabantheng: After the ambush the Rhodesians made a bogus excuse saying their soldiers mistook you for freedom fighters. Where do you think they got that funny idea from?

Sennanyana: Which ever freedom fighter ever drives in military trucks? With BDF plate numbers for what matter? The Rhodesians are very much fond of that excuse. Every time they attack us they always say they thought we were freedom fighters. It`s a silly stupid excuse. I have never seen a single freedom fighter since I joined the army.

Rabantheng: How did the rebel soldiers enter our country; did they fly, drive or walk in?

Sennanyana: I strongly believe that they left their transport on their side of the border.

Rabantheng: From past experience how reliable are reports such as the one you got on the 27th; could it be possible that you were given false information deliberately?

Sennanyana: There is no way of knowing how reliable the reports are except by going to the scene immediately. The problem is that the situation is tense and people are panicky. Rhodesian`s frequent incursions into our country make the situation even more complex. However, I have no reason to believe that there were deliberately given false information.

Rabantheng: In the past what was the nature of your encounters with the rebel soldiers?

Sennanyana: It is obvious that we act with outmost restraint whenever we meet Rhodesian soldiers. Otherwise the border situation would be different from what it is today. We only shoot in self defence. In the past they used to shoot at us from their side of the border and we would shoot back if necessary.

Rabantheng: Given the nature of the report you received from Lesoma would you not say it was a tactical blunder to use vehicles?

Sennanyana: Mobility is one of our cardinal rules in border patrol. We had to get to the scene as fast as possible. The use of vehicles was not only important but imperative. In any case we had no reason to believe that the Rhodesians would want to ambush us. We are not in a state of war with them. We are merely patrolling our border.

Rabantheng: Was there any attempt to investigate the conflicting aspect of the report you received at the camp and the one you received at Lesoma?

Sennanyana: Investigations are still going on and in any case the matter would have been investigated irrespective of the Rhodesian ambush. ENDS