Someone Wishes to Speak to You (40 page)

As a bug had been recently found on the phone of the Scouts’ Commanding Officer, Reid-Daly, and it was expected that a foreign power had a mule in the CIO, Jan had taken the precaution of wearing gloves throughout her time in her husband’s office, as well as being as quiet as possible prior to returning the keys to exactly the same position she had taken them from. She was aware that all of her husband’s telecommunication equipment was routinely security-checked by one of his trusted warrant officers, including the positioning of a sensitive tape recorder; she had worn slippers and opened the draws as silently as possible to avoid making any noise.

Jan had the opportunity to tell Mathew the details of what she had uncovered when they met at Carnock Farm, two weeks after their meeting in the botanical gardens. Mathew in turn passed it on to Augustus Pitt at the earliest opportunity.

Pitt was delighted, but told Mathew it was crucial that he should be kept abreast of any further information about the assassination attempt. Pitt had also been told by an MI6 colleague, but not Michael Lamb, that a ComOps communication had been intercepted, stating that if ‘one man, one vote’ elections were to take place, and if Robert Mugabe
were to run for presidency, there would also be an attempt on his life. According to the document, the assassination would be scheduled for when Mugabe was electioneering in the southern Beitbridge district of Rhodesia. This, too, would have to be prevented.

In mid-April it was reported that with a high degree of precision Rhodesia’s SAS, and not the Selous Scouts, landed several Land Rovers on the Zambian side of the Zambezi and drove brazenly into Lusaka. They attacked Nkomo’s house so ferociously it was almost demolished, and a large number of ZIPRA personnel were killed. According to a subsequent CIO report, Nkomo had not been at home as he had been tipped-off beforehand by British intelligence sources. The incident caused Zambia’s President Kenneth Kaunda considerable embarrassment, for he had been hosting an OAU conference in Lusaka at the time of the attack.

Some time later, Jan told Mathew that the Selous Scouts had made three attempts to infiltrate a small assault team into position for the proposed attack on Nkomo’s house in Lusaka, but all of these were abandoned due to mechanical failures, bad weather conditions, or to the lack of sufficient financial resources. The operation had also left one of their officers in an infamous Zambian prison. Because of the Selous Scouts’ failure to successfully execute the mission, ComOps had decided to transfer the job to the SAS. This greatly wounded the pride of the Selous Scouts, and demoralised Major Paddy Bushney, whose moods became even more unpredictable. Mathew and Jan were never to know whether the information that they gave to Augustus Pitt had resulted in Joshua Nkomo being constantly on the alert for an attempt on his life, and as a result escaping the SAS attack on his home.

On 31 May, Ian Smith concluded his last day of office. The following day, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, after a seventy
per cent electoral turnout, took office as prime minister and head of the new Government of National Unity, but it was only South Africa who was to recognise the new government of their neighbour.

Soon afterwards, Paddy Bushney had a
braai
at his home to celebrate the outcome of the court martial of the commanding officer, Reid Daly, which he had accepted an invitation to attend. Although the court had declared, ‘While having regard to the tenets of military discipline that a guilty verdict had to be returned’, he had simply been sentenced to a reprimand. The court martial was the consequence of an incident that took place at a reunion dinner hosted by the RLI at its Cranborne barracks on 31 December 1978, to mark the regiment’s seventeenth anniversary. Reid Daly gave an impromptu speech during which he thanked the army commander, Brigadier General John Hickman, for bugging his phone and remarked that if he ever saw Hickman again, it would be too soon.

According to reports, within minutes the two were in heated arguments and had to be pulled apart by colleagues, with Hickman demanding that Reid-Daly be arrested for insubordination.

The Vaughan-Jones and Mathew had been also invited to the
braai
, and Mathew was surprised at how amicable Bushney was towards him. He told Mathew that he had read his article in
Rhodesia Science
about the pros and cons of the Zoological Society of Rhodesia’s proposal for a zoo at the Graniteside site, although he did add rather sarcasticly that if a zoo was to be established, the Selous Scouts had a number of humans that they would like to put into it. After asking Mathew how his lecturing at the university was progressing, and whether he was still studying monkeys, Bushney had introduced him to the guest of honour Reid-Daly, about whom Mathew had heard so much.

*    *    *

During the university’s summer break, Piet Erasmus made contact with Mathew and requested him to return to the Vumba and to see Chief Chidzikwee, as soon as a meeting could be arranged. Erasmus said that the South African Government were keen to learn as much as possible about the Manyika tribespeople’s attitude toward Rhodesia’s newly elected government. In particular, whether the chief was likely to change his political support of the current Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Government of National Unity led by Bishop Muzorewa, or did he think that the Lancaster House Conference, which was due to take place in London in just under three months time, should instead favour the Patriotic Front (ZANU & ZAPU), headed by Robert Mugabe.

Although Mathew said he was reluctant to return to the Vumba because of the danger involved, he knew only too well that he would have to comply. Since his last visit to Umtali and the Vumba at the beginning of the previous year, he had met up twice with his D.O. friend, Jim Prior, in Salisbury. Prior had told him how fortunate he had been to escape the sustained terrorist attack on Umtali on 17 October, ten months previously, a barrage of rocket and mortar fire had descended on the city; some fifty shells had landed over an area of a square kilometre injuring five people, including one of his office staff.

Making contact with Chief Chidzikwee proved to be far more difficult than on previous occasions, and at one stage Mathew considered that the chief was reluctant to see him again. It was only due to the help of his good friend Edgar Chidzikwee that the meeting was eventually arranged. Edgar stressed that it should be completely confidential and told him that due to an increased amount of intimidation being carried out on his fellow tribesmen by ZANU/PF activists, his father wished to be seen as being as open-minded on the political situation as possible, until a final settlement resulting from a nationwide election of one man, one vote could be achieved.

*    *    *

The weekend prior to Mathew’s planned meeting with the chief, he stayed with Jan at Carnock Farm and met her brother-in-law, Willie Smoelke, for the first time. Willie was very welcoming to Mathew and seemed genuinely pleased by his relationship with Jan. He said that he had never liked the way Major Bushney treated his sister-in-law and although like the majority of his military colleagues he greatly admired Bushney’s leadership skills, he had never enjoyed being in the major’s company.

On Sunday, Mathew headed to Inyanga to see the Kinlochs. Addie was staying with her father for a few days, taking a break from her new job at the Victoria Museum, which she was enjoying greatly. Angus Whitton had also been invited to Sunday lunch, although the news he had to share with them was not good. He explained that there had been a considerable increase in terrorist activities in the Inyanga region, and described the events of the Elim Mission massacre that had taken place in the Eastern Highlands, close to the border with Mozambique, just over a year ago. From everything that Mathew had been told about the bravery of Inyanga’s residents, in spite of the constant terrorist threat to their personal safety, he could only be greatly impressed by the stoicism of the farmers and their families. They stood fast with their refusal to give up so much of what they had managed to create, rejecting the suggestion they should vacate their properties and go to the safety of Salisbury or across the border to South Africa.

Before his meeting with the chief, Mathew spent the night at Jim Prior’s flat in Umtali. Jim explained that he’d been surprised when informed by an unspecified ‘higher authority’ in Salisbury that Mathew had been given clearance to visit the Vumba region again. He had been given instructions that Mathew had to be accompanied by an armed plain-clothes
Special Branch African marksman, who would be waiting for him at his D.O.’s office at 8 a.m. the following morning. Mathew accepted an invitation to stay at the flat again on the Wednesday, after his return from the Vumba. It was obvious from Jim Prior’s conversation that he was unaware of the forthcoming meeting with Chief Chidzikwee, and for the chief’s sake Mathew decided not to mention it. However, it was later established that Mathew’s return to Umtali, and his forthcoming visit to the Vumba, was already known to ZANLA. A ZANU/PF informer who worked in the D.O.’s office had passed on the information that he was to visit his old camp at Castle Beacon, as well as to rendezvous with Edgar Chidzikwee who was to take him to a meeting with his father, although it was not known where this was to take place.

The next morning, Mathew collected the plain-clothes policeman from the D.O.’s office just after eight-thirty, and drove to the meeting place that Edgar had described to him in such precise detail. Just two thirds of the way up into the Vumba Mountains, and not too far away from the still-closed Leopard Rock Hotel, he had been directed to turn off onto a rough track where, round a corner, he would soon come across a small forest clearing on the right, where Edgar would meet him soon after 10 a.m. When Edgar arrived in an old borrowed Ford pick-up, much to the surprise of the man from Special Branch, the two men greeted each other like long-lost friends. After which it had taken them some time to persuade the policeman that his duty was to guard Mathew’s Land Rover, as opposed to accompanying them to the rendezvous with Edgar’s father, whom they had been careful not to identify.

Twenty minutes later, Edgar had driven into a small settlement consisting of no more than five
rondavels
, and after scattering the usual ubiquitous assortment of hens he parked his pickup behind another vehicle under the shade of a sizeable fig
tree. On entering the hut, the tall figure of Chief Chidzikwee rose from a stool in the dimly lit shadows, greeting Mathew with his customary firm handshake. At first, Mathew found the chief to be very reserved. It took almost an hour of general conversation before he managed to gently move on to Rhodesia’s future. Mathew had one particular question that he needed to ask.

‘Chief Chidzikwee, are you supportive of Bishop Muzorewa’s Government of National Unity, or is the Manyika tribe more in favour of a Patriotic Front government under the Shona leadership of Robert Mugabe, should the outcome of the forthcoming Lancaster House Conference suggest that after a free election, such a government could be formed?’

‘I’m not ready to answer that question, but I will say that myself and my tribe have been subjected to a great deal of pressure by ZANU/PF activists to ensure that when free elections do take place, we will vote for Mugabe and a ZANU/PF government. In the meantime, I have had to allow the ZANU/PF activists the freedom to distribute their propaganda leaflets within our tribal lands, without any interference.’

When the time came for Mathew to leave, he said, ‘I must tell you that my time in Rhodesia is drawing to a close. Not only is my contract with the university soon to be completed, but also by the end of the year I will have to return to Great Britain. My father is very old and I need to take over the management of our family estate in the north of England. I just want to say goodbye, and thank you.’ The two men stood up to shake hands with genuine warmth and affection. They both knew that this would be their final parting.

As Edgar drove back to the Land Rover, both men were quite subdued at the realisation that they too would be unlikely see each other again. On arrival at the forest clearing, they found an extremely relieved-looking marksman from Special Branch, who had locked himself into the vehicle. Before Edgar left, he said, ‘Perhaps one day I shall be able to visit you in
your country, and be able to make some more canopy platforms for you to observe your country’s monkeys from.’ Mathew hadn’t got the heart to say that England had never had wild primates living in its forests, but told Edgar how important it was for him to always take care of his country’s valuable wildlife heritage.

As Mathew already knew that there was little or no evidence of there ever having been a hut at Castle Beacon, he had through David Montgomery been granted permission by the National Parks Department to spend a night at its headquarters in the Vumba Botanical Gardens. On their arrival at Montgomery’s former home, it looked like a mere apology to the pristine residence that it once was. But Mathew was pleased to renew his acquaintance with Joshua Dombo, who after Montgomery’s departure had been given a small wage to act as caretaker to the property.

During their conversation over a meal of rice and goat meat, washed down by some bottles of Castle lager which Mathew had sensibly brought with him, the policeman was surprised at Mathew’s command of the Manyika dialect. During their lively conversation, both the policeman and Joshua gave Mathew a good insight into the thoughts of the local community about its level of support for Muzorewa’s Government of National Unity. They both reiterated how much the political activists of ZAPU/PF were continuously bullying people to support their party.

After an uncomfortable night on a mattressless bed, Mathew was up and shaved by dawn, in a similar fashion to the timetable that he had always adhered to while carrying out his primate field studies. As he knew that he had to be back in Umtali well before sunset, he thanked Joshua for the breakfast of eggs and goat milk, gave him some banknotes, and wished him well for the future. Mathew and his armed escort then drove to the nearby village, where he had visited Edgar and Joshua quite regularly during his time in the
Vumba. Although it had been over four years since his last visit he was surprised to find how deserted it was, but he did meet a few of the inhabitants that still remembered him. The village headman, Edgar’s distant cousin, Kingstone Chimuka, asked him into his
kraal
to have a lunch of mealies with him, while the Special Branch man was left rather unceremoniously to guard the Land Rover to prevent an assortment of scantily dressed children from climbing all over it. Gabriel provided Mathew with some valuable additional information about what had occurred in the Vumba region since ZANLA’s rocket attack on the Leopard Rock Hotel.