Opinion
The last time these floods hit Zimbabwe was in 1979 when Ian Smith was washed away
28 February 2017
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The last time these angry floods hit Zimbabwe was in 1979 when Ian Smith was washed away and a new country emerged.

By Chris Tongogara| The last time these angry floods hit Zimbabwe was in 1979 when Ian Smith was washed away and a new country emerged. Just before, it was a never ending economic and bloody chaos, and suddenly the same waters brought in a new nation as people both black and white kissed a smashing new country. It was anger enmeshed in throbbing joy, at last.

Operation Zero Hour.

How it all happened: Joshua Nkomo’s ZIPRA was vitiated by a long-standing debate on military strategy. It was not a sudden Moscow diktat which created the most secret ZIPRA plan: Operation Zero Hour.

This envisaged a co-ordinated general offensive on several fronts simultaneously. Five regular battalions with artillery support were to seize bridgeheads in the northern front at Kenyemba, Chirundu and Kariba to enable ZIPRA troops to cross with armour and artillery. At the same time attacks were to be mounted on the airfields at Kariba, Victoria Falls and Wankie, which would be secured to enable the transfer of ZIPRA MiGs from Angola. The principal objective was to enable regular troops to seize and hold the strategic rear bases along the border in support of the offensive to be launched from within Rhodesia.

Offensive at the start of the 1979 rainy season.

As the offensive moved in-country, guerilla units already in place would sabotage transport links to undermine the Rhodesian counter-offensive, which would be further slowed by urban warfare. Zero Hour was planned for the start of the 1979 rainy season,

October or November. Far from encouraging this plan, the Soviets refused to release ZIPRA pilots in training in the USSR. Rhodesian raids on the army being assembled on the Zambian border delayed Zero Hour, which was ultimately aborted by the Lancaster House talks.

By end of December 1979, Zimbabwe had come and it came with rain. The new Zimbabwean nation that is coming is coming with angry rains. It has come!, Mrs Mugabe, as you watch with your two eyes!