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31 Evictees’ cries of desperation fell on deaf ears Throughout the night, government trucks droned and coughed. Their load of crying babies, bleating sheep, blaring goats and rattling pots produced a noise of misery, desperation and utter dejection. The noise, as expected, fell on deaf ears. The anger of 46 years ago shows on the faces of my informants, who had been brutalised and traumatised by the experience. “Were you lumped onto the lorries together with your cattle?” I ask. One man shakes his head frantically and, finally, supports it on his cupped hand. That’s another sad story weighing heavily on the man. Young men were asked to drive the cattle to Bulawayo, over 100 kilometres away. After four days weary march, they arrived in Bulawayo, where the cattle were loaded onto a train going to Victoria Falls. One man grins, recalling the melodrama when the train pulled out on its way to Victoria Falls. One truck, which was supposed to carry the herdsmen, was not connected to the train. So off went the cattle, leaving behind the stranded and worried young men. Frantic efforts were made to reunite them with the cattle. Fortunately, a lorry was found to take them to Gwayi Siding, where they found the cattle penned in waiting for them. Meanwhile, the Government trucks had arrived in Lupane that morning. All the evictees (amadelika) were dumped at Mpahlwa Number One. They were expected to venture out into the surrounding bush to commence construction of new homes. This they would do once they had been reunited with their cattle. Fatigued, grubby and hungry, the herdsmen drove their cattle from Gwayi Siding towards Mpahlwa Number One, a distance of over 60 kilometres. At this point the man whose head had all along been supported by his cupped palm gets up and curses, “Mntanami, amakhiwa ...”(My son, the white men …). In Lupane District there is a green plant that is highly noxious. They call it umkhawuzane. It is not found in the Matopo District. In September and October, the killer plant has green leaves that are irresistible to unschooled cattle from Maphaneni. On seeing this plant, the cattle went for it in a big way. The drivers, equally ignorant of its hazard, thought their cattle had stumbled upon good succulent foliage. The cattle died in their hundreds. The goats and sheep at Mpahlwa Number One also fell for the deceptive plant. This was a devastating blow to the evictees. For them, their livestock was their lifeblood. This was a double tragedy that haunts them to this day. 32 Two men join us. One is Nyasa Nyathi, and the second is Marogwe, alias Masiketi. The second man’s names mean the same thing. He gave the names to his donkeys, and now their names have become his. Nyasa Nyathi is quite a sight, a black sight I should say. He wears a black suit, black socks, black tie and a black shirt. His hair is pitch black. His story of eviction is an exception in that he did not come from Maphaneni in the Matopo District. I enquire more about the conditions prevailing here in 1951. On arrival in the Lupane District, the evictees found that fields had already been surveyed and pegged out. Thatch grass had been collected. Boreholes had been sunk and a few more were sunk after their arrival. There were no clinics when they arrived here. Later a clinic was built by the Catholics at St. Paul’s Mission, on the Shangani River, which was an extension of St. Luke’s. There is a similar story with regard to schools. The colonial government just did not bother to put up schools for ‘natives’. They left this function to the various church organisations. One year after their arrival, the Catholics built Mpahlwa Two and Three, and Pupu. Gobhi, the school nearest to where we are, was built by the Anglicans. As far back as 1918, the Dipping Ordinance was already in place. In a letter to the Editor of the Bulawayo Chronicle of October 18, 1918, one farmer complained: “Now that our Dipping Ordinance is in force, who have Chartered Company made responsible for the dips in the natives reserves? For instance, I am farming near Indaba Duna native reserve and dip my cattle regularly every Saturday, yet the natives in this reserve have not dipped their cattle for seven weeks, owing to either the windmill having broken down or water troubles.” For these evictees dip...

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