Hannes Wessels
On the 18th April it was the 45th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s independence and a time for reflection. The response from millions of impoverished people was a desultory one but I remember the day so clearly; Prince (now King) Charles, resplendent in his naval uniform representing his mother, the Queen, as the Union Jack was lowered for the last time. Then former President Carter sent a heartfelt message of support along with British PM Margaret Thatcher and other world leaders including the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Bob Marley was in the wings, ready to serenade the new leadership and add pleasure to the special moment.
It was a bitter-sweet moment for me; I was not sorry to see the back of the British who had led the charge to bring us to our knees, but a gleeful Robert Mugabe, the man we had been to war to thwart, was now designated to lead us into an uncertain future.
As a 24 year old, anxious to have a future in the country I loved, I searched for a silver-lining and thought I might have found it when I absorbed what was staring me in the face; the entire world, across the spectrum and all the political divides, from communist to capitalist, and from democratic to autocratic, was jubilant; there was nary a dissenting view, so how could I, and the miniscule minority I was part of, be correct in fearing this development. Maybe they were right; maybe I was a spoiled and privileged white blighted by prejudice and too blinkered to see the wider canvas.
With this thought in mind, I decided to shake off my doubts, put the bitter recent past down to an aberration in the course of time, do my very best to join the global throng in the belief that a brighter future beckoned, and embrace those I had so recently engaged as mortal enemies.
Soon after the ceremony, Prime Minister Mugabe addressed the nation and delivered a conciliatory message, calling for forgiveness, unity of purpose, and the commitment of all races to securing a peaceful and prosperous future for all. My mood improved further.
Exactly 20 years to the day, after this seminal event, at 4.00 am in the morning in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo, a military convoy carrying close to 100 North Korean-trained soldiers, policemen and intelligence operatives, formed up prior to receiving their movement order. They were acting on instructions from then President Robert Mugabe.
Before dawn the vehicles set forth, exiting the city on the road that leads north-west to the Victoria Falls and headed for the Nyamandhlovu farming area, their target a lone white man by the name of Martin Olds. This, the same who had been decorated by the same President Mugabe when he received a civilian medal for bravery after he wrestled a crocodile and saved a friend from certain death in the reptile’s jaws.
A former Grey Scout in the Rhodesian Army, Martin owned and ran a ranch with mixed cattle and wildlife. Fearing trouble with the onset of the government orchestrated ‘land reform’ exercise, he had sent his wife and family away to relative safety in Bulawayo.
Upon arrival on the ranch, the military contingent rounded up all Martin’s workers and placed them under armed guard to prevent them interfering on behalf of the man who had done so much to improve their, and their family’s lives.
The troops then surrounded the homestead and assumed seven separate firing positions with machine guns in place. Martin phoned for help but in vain; the police in the area, aware of what was about to happen, had in fact positioned roadblocks at strategic points to prevent any unwanted intervention from neighbours or anyone else.
In the hope he might be able to engage someone to defuse the situation and avert bloodshed he walked out his front door unarmed looking for a peaceable response but he was not aware that his fellow citizen and president had given very clear orders to the men on the ground; Martin had been condemned to death. His crime: he was a white farmer, a Christian, a pillar of the local community, a devoted husband and father, a respected employer, and a significant contributor to the land-based economy of the country.
His fatal mistake was he believed he had an inalienable right to his home, his land and his livelihood. Unbeknown to him his president saw it differently; he had decided Martin had no such rights and in fact had no right to life itself.
His appearance outside his house was met by a hail of gunfire and he was hit in the leg, his femur shattered. He retreated indoors, reached for his CB radio, and put out an SOS call before fashioning a splint out of two planks which he strapped to his thigh so he could walk again and commenced returning fire using his hunting rifles, while moving from window to window.
Recently a highly regarded mounted infantryman, a marksman with considerable combat experience, he remained cool against massive odds and a sustained deluge of incoming bullets while using his limited ammunition accurately and wisely.
Three hours after the first shot he fought fiercely on until flaming projectiles struck the roof and set the house on fire. To mitigate the intense heat, Martin filled the bathtub with water and, partially submerged, fought on from there.
His last call was to his mother Gloria (murdered on Mugabe’s orders a few months later) who pleaded with the police on the phone for help but to no avail. An ambulance was sent but stopped by the police.
Out of ammunition, his body punctured by bullets, his house an inferno, dragging his broken leg, he exited through a window and crawled along the side of the house. There he was met by his assailants who beat him to death with iron bars and axes. The facts may never be confirmed but one report indicated 18 attackers dead, an unknown number wounded.
In the aftermath, over 1,000 pedigree cattle, his prized herd of Sable antelope, and all the wildlife was slaughtered and eaten.
This is but one of countless outrageous acts perpetrated by Robert Mugabe and his acolytes since the euphoria that permeated the night air in 1980.
I do wonder if this would have happened had Donald Trump been on duty in the Oval Office then? At that time President Bill Clinton of Monica Lewinsky fame was ensconced, and Tom MacDonald his ambassador in Harare was on record declaring Zimbabwe an ‘African success story’.
But sadly, it appears, I was right, and the world was wrong.
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Who is the bearded white man standing in the photograph?
Anger still burns when rereading the account of a brave man’s wasteful murder.
RIP. Martin Olds, a man so much more than those who destroyed him.
Hannes,
‘The strange machinations of Africa’ were surely afoot that day. Martin, whom I knew well – we were in KG together in North-end, then through high school at Plumtree; was a fine example of a true gentleman. Christian, upright, proud, family-orientated – and indeed a person you were 100% certain always had your back. Honourable to a fault when dealing with friends, suppliers and his valued staff – every bit an example of the tough roots of the pioneer stock he descended from. How so many of us hoped on the eve of the 18th April, 1980 that this scenario would never occur – and indeed how wrong we were. Thanks for the stark reminder.
I remember that conciliatory speech and – inspired – signing on to serve two more years with Zimbabwe National Army as my part in building a new and just future for all of us in that benighted country. Over the next several weeks and months, while working with BMATT (British Military Assistance and Training Team) as part of 4 Brigade I had noticed quite a few things not adding up – 42 battalion (formerly 2 RAR) soldiers in an army bus being stopped and beaten up by 5 Brigade elements stands out (the 42 men were on a sporting team and unarmed) – CIO Land Rovers driving around up to no good, etc. I remember saying to a British Colonel that these were disappointing developments given our brave new world – and he snapped back at me: “Oh for God’s sake, don’t be so [expletive] naive.” How right he was, what an idiot I had been. I even remember one of my trainees, a former ZIPRA member, then a Captain in the ZNA, saying sadly that he thought he had been on the wrong side! It was about raw power for a small cabal of thugs and “the povo” could go hang. RGM had carefully planned being the sole arbiter of power and he set about making sure that he was.
I want two things from this amazing post .
1) This post is spread worldwide for ALL to see !
2) A copy of this post is sent to President Donald Trump….so he can see the REAL Africa !
Such a sad incident, which in the end achieved absolutely nothing positive. The farm was ruined, Martins family devastated, all of his employees were now out of work and probably lost their right to live on the land. RIP Martin the diaspora will never forget you and your bravery.
As a Rhodesian born, and similarly experienced and disenfranchised white African, I too weep for our old country, and this continent Hannes.
Human rights for all (land ownership, right to citizenship in your birth country, hell even sometimes like Martin, the right to continue living) have been summarily stripped from pretty much everyone living in this “dark” continent for any length of time, by many if not most of the so-called leaders in Africa.
These maniacal people have literally been able to do anything they want to Africa’s hapless inhabitants, while the rest of the world looks away – sometimes these psychopathic heads of state were lauded and even rewarded for their shameful criminal deeds – Britain KNIGHTED Mugabe , and Africa made him head of the OAU FFS. The world forgets that the world’s darling Nelson Mandela founded uMkhonto weSizwe and was found guilty of the terrorist style murders of circa 40 South Africans, and went to jail to pay for his sin. He was extraordinarily lucky to escape the death penalty. But he is still revered globally in all quarters, his politically motivated crimes and those dozens of deaths conveniently forgotten. And on and on I could go – there are many, many more similar stories about dozens of other bad bastards visiting atrocious acts of violence upon their undeserving “electorate”.
This horrific and unjust status quo affects every African – black, white, Indian – take your pick. And make no mistake – we ARE ALL African, by any standards: but try telling that to the Sikh immigration official, who often gives you a hard time entering Britain these days, that he is not English, or that Australian of colonial origin that he or she has no right calling him- or herself a citizen down under, and it will likely end badly for you.
However, while feeling very terribly sorry for myself all these years, where most of my fellow white Rhodesians (about 250,000 of them) have found a better life elsewhere in this troubled world, the people I weep hardest for from my old country (I reluctantly discarded my Rhosesianness when I moved because passport renewal was denied me as I was no longer resident in Zim) are the many low-income Zimbabwe / Rhodesians who left with absolutely nothing. It is they, Mugabe’s kith and kin, who have suffered the most. Millions and millions of stateless people, scattered by one man’s greed. The new guy ain’t doing to badly either, is he?
As the world smiles benignly on … but our new bestie DJT DOES seem to be noticing the plight of those, and drawing attention to this disgusting behaviour, and I am quietly hopeful that the future will not hold the same horrors for our kids, as it did for us Rhodesian baby boomers.
Hannes you were right! In 1986 at a post political rally in the Shona language Mugabe said this & I quote “We are working with those whites who want to with us – the rest will have to find a new home. We will kill those snakes among us. We will smash them completely”. unquote. I clearly remember my father saying, “he is not to be trusted as he talks with a cloaked menacing tone, despite the often used word ‘Reconciliation'”, every time Mugabe spoke on TV or Mugabe was quoted in The Chronicle newspaper.
As for Martin Olds, he was genuinely looking after others backs & had that tenacity to keep going despite the odds, whether it was drought or financial hardship. I might add Hannes that he was a black belt judo competitor hence his strength to rest the crocodile but he took on two state operatives that he apprehended with poached kudu in the back of their pickup who tried to muscle their way through an official stock theft/poaching roadblock one night. They both ended up in hospital & that was a reason eventually for Mugabe to give the go ahead to take out the farming community strongman of Nyamandhlovu Farming Association. I might add there were other seen to be strongmen to be eliminated in other farming districts but were alerted & took evasive action to live.
Good article Hannes. I have a vague memory of watching that on TV in London. One thing that stuck with me is hearing Mugarbage murmur under his breath words to the effect of: “Now, where is the Aid?”. Does anybody else remember that?
The heartbreaking tragedy of Martin Olds’ murder is a stark reminder of the horrors that have plagued Africa for millennia.
Can true peace and unity ever be achieved in a land so scarred by betrayal and loss?
May Jimmy Carter rot in Hell.