Mugabe: my part in his victory..........

Just by way of a change from our penetrating analyses of current affairs, how about a bit more literary criticism? I had started to write up my diary from 1980 when I was overseeing the elections in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Here is an extract. Does anyone want to know this stuff anymore?

‘Every Saturday morning one of each of the Provincial supervisors had to report to Government House in Salisbury for ‘morning prayers’ to brief Lord Soames on the situation.

These sessions were attended by representatives of all the UK participants – election staff, F&CO people, the military and the UK police.

Soames would ask each person to report by Province.

When it got to the Midlands Province, both the military and the police reported ‘All quiet’.

I differed somewhat.

I told the gathering that there was a substantial force of Rhodesian African Rifles manning an ambush position at Gokwe, way out in the Zambezi valley. There had been a skirmish action between the Greys Scouts and terrs in the vicinity of Belingwe, and there was a substantial (and highly illegal) presence of South African troops.

The senior British officer present poured buckets of scorn on this.

‘The troops you saw at Gokwe were Royal Rhodesia Regiment reservists’ he told me, so what made me think they were RAR?

‘Because they were black’ I replied, ‘RRR is an all-white regiment. My colleague was an officer in the RAR so he knows what they look like, and I was Intelligence Officer in 5 RRR, so I know what they look like!’

Not to be put down, he went on ‘Well, the troops you saw at Belingwe must have been RRR. What makes you think they were SA?’ Clearly his Staff College course had never taught him not to ask a question unless he already knows the answer.

‘Because they were dressed in South African army camo, speaking Afrikaans, had SA vehicle registrations, and were spending Rands’.

‘Well, we have heard nothing about a skirmish near Belingwe. How do you know what happened – or if?’

‘Because we saw the Scouts moving, we heard gunfire, and when we asked what this was about we were told!’

The following week I had another story to tell about the RAR in Gokwe.

I had been allocated a Jet Ranger helicopter to get around the province quickly during the election proper. After landing at Gokwe, I called on the RRR position.

The (white) officer in charge greeted me with ‘I’m glad to see you , and I will be even more glad when you go away’. When I asked him why, he said ‘This is the only war we’ve got and we’re looking after it!’

I took off on a lengthy trip around bush out-stations. When I got back our flight engineer, who had stayed behind, was in a state of great excitement. The weekly supply convoy from Gwelo was due to arrive that day. A group of renegade terrs, who preferred a life of banditry to honest toil, had set up an ambush position. The RRR set up an ambush position immediately behind them.

When the convoy arrived the terrs took up firing positions. So did the RR and promptly wiped out the lot of them. The corpses were piled up in the police cells.

This Report was not questioned by either the police or the military. They had clearly bonded with their Rhodesian counterparts and were quite happy with such tales of derring-do.

**********

The unsung hero was John Barratt, the very capable Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council.

Intimidation and violence was rife on all sides, and the Governor had to decide whether it was possible to have an election that could possibly be called ‘free and fair’ in those conditions.

The UK security forces, both military and police, were vociferous in their opposition to the elections going ahead. They were all for a lengthy postponement, although they were less clear on how this would reduce the levels of intimidation.

They were highly prejudiced against Mugabe, and their sympathies seemed to lay wholly with Smith, so their objectivity in advising their Governor was very dubious.

John let the argument play itself out and then simply said ‘Governor, unless we get this election out of the way on schedule and then leave this miserable country there will be a bloodbath’.

Soames looked around the room, put his chin in his hand and said ‘Well, gentlemen, just pity the poor bugger who has to make this decision!’