The Rebel in Me: A Zanla Guerrilla Commander in the Rhodesian Bush War, 1974-1980

This is the true story of a young guerrilla commander brought up in a Christian family in Rhodesia, a former colony of Britain. Exposed to the excesses of a colonial regime where race and racism determined one’s status in society, and influenced by the radical anti-racial views of his parents and later of fellow students and work mates, his character began to change. A chance encounter with a captured guerrilla fighter helped complete the metamorphic transformation of his rebel character, and was catalytic to his decision to cross into Mozambique to join the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) led by Robert Mugabe, which was waging a protracted revolutionary armed struggle to liberate Zimbabwe. Known by his nom de guerre, Dragon Patiripakashata, he led several armed guerrilla incursions into Rhodesia, before being promoted to the General Staff and appointed an instructor. For the final eighteen months of the war, until 1980, he served as ZANU’s Chief Representative to Socialist Ethiopia.

Mutambara invites the reader to view the Rhodesian bush war through the eyes of a guerrilla commander, experience the trials and tribulations of a freedom fighter, the satisfaction of working among the masses, and the joyous celebration of achieving freedom and independence. He outlines the psyche of those who engage in revolutionary armed struggle and why, even when exposed to extreme hardship and continual assault by a superior military adversary, they remain committed to their cause. This book also takes a different view of Mugabe, reviled by most Western governments and yet who remains immensely popular among his people.

Agrippah Mutambara was born in 1951 in the small mining town of Shurugwi in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. Because of the bottleneck system of education, he could not secure a university place; however, after independence he later obtained a degree in Business Administration. In May 1975 he quit his job as Council Secretary for Neshuro Council in the Mwenezi district and left the country to join the armed struggle. After independence in 1980, he joined the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) where he held various appointments including Commandant of the Zimbabwe Staff College, Commander of 4 Brigade and later 6 Brigade. On retirement from the army, Brigadier-General Mutambara was tasked to start a national service programme before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has held various ambassadorial appointments and is currently Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozambique and Swaziland. He is married to Esther (nee Gotora) and has five children.