SADC SUMMIT 2019: Villagers query Mgagao Camp decision

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Villagers argue that the Mgagao Camp, which was a base for many freedom fighters, should not have been turned into a prison

Kilolo. The government turned into a prison the area that was offered to freedom fighters of southern African countries in 1969 by Kihesa villagers in Mgagao Ward, Kilolo District.
However, villagers have a different opinion over the government’s decision, calling for the latter to relocate the prison.
According to some of them, the Mgagao Camp, which is in Iringa Region, should have been turned into a college or a historic site.
The Mgagao Camp also hosted former Uganda President Milton Obote after he was overthrown by Idi Amini in January 1971 - but was reinstated to power in 1979 with considerable help from the Tanzania government.
The camp hosted freedom fighters from different countries of the southern African region and 1994 marked the end of receiving them after the apartheid system ceased in South Africa.
After all the African countries ultimately gained independence from alien rule, the Mgagao Camp remained under government control and it was decided that it should remain unoccupied.
The government decided to make the camp as a memorable place to honour the freedom fighters.
However, it backtracked on its earlier plan, saying the camp does not reflect the main goal of its establishment.
Makalius Kindole, a resident of the Kihesa Village in Mgagao Ward, said in 1969, the government asked the villagers to allocate a suitable piece of land for setting up a camp for Angolan freedom fighters.
Mr Kindole says after the southern African countries gained independence through the Mgagao Camp, it was to turned into a prison and their land was more expropriated instead of being returned to them as earlier promised by the government.
He explains that the government decision of turning the military training camp of the freedom fighters into a prison, which is now keeping law-breakers, has altered the original military concept.
“Personally, I took it as a bad idea for a place, where Nelson Mandela, after being released from 27 years spent in prison, once visited and spent nights, but today it has been turned into a place in which criminals stay,” he said.
“Yes, I agree, it is the government’s institution, but truth be told, it is not a good use of area, which won the country plaudits.”
A resident of Kihesa Village, Mr Japhet Kinyafu, suggested that the government should consider reversing its decision and change use of the area by involving the countries whose freedom fighters trained at the camp.
He suggests that the government should turn the camp into something with a positive impact instead of hosting criminals.
According to him, it is an important place where people from various countries can come and learn about liberation struggles.
He said many guests had been visiting the area, wanting to learn its history, but they were unable to get what they wanted to get because its was turned into a prison.
“We received many visitors from various countries who wanted to learn more about the Mgagao Camp, but they could not get what they wanted.
“Some went to the village office where they are informed verbally without viewing the area because it is hard to enter the prison,” he said.
Mr Kinyafu asked the government to reconsider its decision and relocate the prison.
He expressed the opinion that the government, in cooperation with the countries that received military training and gained independence through the area, could sit down and come up with an idea, which will restore the historical relevance of the place.
“We, villagers, think it could have been better if the government left the area as an open space with its ruins instead of establishing a prison there,” he said.
“They had better turn the facility into a college for training military officers.
“Sadly, it is criminals who are kept in this area rich in history. We would have been thankful if the government relocated the prison because we voluntarily allocated our land for the freedom fighters and we expected our village to have a memorable thing when they left,” he said.
He lamented that the government hasn’t honoured its pledge to compensate them for offering their land to freedom fighters.
According to Mr Kinyafu, prisoners have continued to occupy other areas which rightly belong to the villagers. This has been causing complaints, but no solution has so far been found.
“We believe the government knows the importance of the area, so we are surprised that it turned it into a prison,” he added.
In his opinion, he says the Mgagao Camp-turned prison depicts that the likes of Mandela and the others, who died in prisons, deserved to be jailed, tortured and killed.
He suggested that the place should have been turned into a college or some such institution of higher learning, whereby those countries that received training there to liberate their countries could get united and put in place a huge memorable thing.
Janet Onesmo, a resident of the area, has appealed to the government to give assistance to those local women, who had children with the freedom fighters.
She said some of the children did not succeed to access education because their fathers had already left the country.
As the freedom fighters continued with the military training, the Kihesa villagers were lucky to see the then leader of Angola, Agustino Neto, who arrived at the camp to see and encourage his soldiers to keep fighting against their colonists.
After the Angolan freedom fighters had left the camp, freedom fighters from Mozambique arrived at the camp, but did not stay long as they gained independence and left before Zimbabwean freedom fighters arrived at the same camp.
The Zimbabwean freedom fighters stayed for a long time at the camp because independent African countries had to bring together leaders of different political parties of Zimbabwe.
Three political parties including ZANU, ZAP and UANC met under their leaders, namely Ndabaningi Sithole, Abel Mzorewa and Joshua Nkomo.
The leaders were called upon to attend a meeting of the then the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) with the aim of making them have one goal of liberating their country, despite having different political ideologies.
After the reconciliation, all the leaders went straight to the Mgagao Camp, where the Zimbabwean freedom fighters were staying, and held a meeting with the former about the independence, stressing it was very important for each and every Zimbabwean.
It did not take long, Zimbabwe gained independence and its freedom fighters had to leave the Mgagao Camp.
After the Zimbabwean freedom fighters left, it was the turn of South African freedom fighters, who arrived and stayed at the Mgagao Camp for a very long time until the apartheid system was abolished and universal suffrage was established in 1994 in their country, to where they returned.
The presence of the freedom fighters at the Mgagao Village resulted in leaders from different countries that were struggling for independence to visit the area.
From Angola was its leader, Neto, and from Zimbabwe were leaders of three political parties, who visited the Mgagao Camp, which was later visited by South Africa’s Mandela after being released from prison in a period when there were still the freedom fighters from his party.
Mr Mandela visited the Mgagao Camp twice together with his wife, Winnie Mandela, whereby they spent nights at the camp.
When the first president of Uganda, Mr Obote, was overthrown, he fled into exile in Tanzania and lived at the camp.
Residents of the area had to forge a good friendship with the freedom fighters so that it could not be easier for an enemy to attack the camp and fail to understand who a soldier was and who a civilian was.
They mingled one another to mislead enemies so that the latter should fail to know where the camp was located to avoid it being attacked.