31/05/2026
This is Josiah Magama Tongogara. For almost 7 years, he was the leader of ZANU’s military wing during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
Tongogara led ZANLA from 1973 until his death in 1979. He died just months before independence. He was only 41. That means he was five years younger than Stunner is today and only three years older than Jah Prayzah.
Tongo was a very complicated figure. He commanded both fear and devotion from his troops. He was not highly educated, having only completed two years of secondary education. But he had a sharp mind and strong military acumen.
He started his political journey in ZANU’s youth department. He attended ZANU’s first congress in 1964 but at that stage he was still too insignificant for his name to feature much in the bigger story.
In 1965, he was sent to China for military training at the Nanjing Higher Military Academy where he studied political science, military intelligence, mass mobilisation, guerrilla war strategy and military tactics.
That Chinese training shaped his thinking. From Mao’s ideas, he learnt that guerrilla fighters had to live among the people and depend on them.
Tongogara rose through ZANLA because of discipline, military skill and force of character. His rise came at a time when power inside ZANU was changing. The older nationalist leaders of the 1950s and 1960s were losing ground, while younger military commanders were becoming more powerful. Since its formation, ZANU’s military wing had been led by a guy named Noel Mukono. But that changed in 1973 when Tongogara was elected Secretary for Defence at a conference held at Kafue in Zambia.
That election made Tongogara chairman of the High Command, effectively placing him in charge of ZANLA forces, replacing Mukono.
But Tongogara was not just a military thinker. He was also a ruthless commander. He believed that anyone who betrayed the struggle had to be punished harshly. This was seen after the Nhari Rebellion, when more than a dozen ZANLA fighters were executed on his orders, although he denied responsibility.
This issue also created tension between Tongogara and Herbert Chitepo. Tongogara and Chitepo disagreed over how the Nhari conspirators should be treated. Tongogara wanted them dead but Chitepo opposed this.
A year later, Tongogara himself would suffer inside Zambian prisons after he was arrested over the killing of Herbert Chitepo.
He was also accused of running a Karanga dominated High Command, which fueled tribal tensions and contributed to internal revolts.
During his close to 7 years as the head of the military, Tongogara faced three major groups that either criticized or opposed him.
The first group were the traditional spirit mediums. They accused Tongogara and his commanders of disrespecting sacred traditional rules, especially the rules about protecting life and avoiding sexual misconduct. It is alleged that some spirit mediums said Tongogara would not live to see independent Zimbabwe because he had “angered the gods.”
The second group that opposed Tongo was led by Thomas Nhari and Dakarai Badza. This group tried to remove Tongogara from power in 1974, but it failed. After the rebellion was stopped, Tongogara ordered the main leaders of this group to be killed.
The third group was the Vashandi group. These were young educated soldiers. They tried to wrestle power from Tongogara in 1976 but they were outmanoeuvred. Unlike the Nhari group, they escaped death because the political leadership intervened quickly.
By the end of ZANU’s internal struggles, Robert Mugabe had emerged as leader of the stronger faction. He also enjoyed the support of Tongogara and the military wing. That support had first been shown through the Mgagao Declaration of 1975, a document in which ZANU’s military wing disowned the party’s founding president, Ndabaningi Sithole.
By 1977, when ZANU held its first congress since 1964, the party had entered into a political agreement with ZAPU called the Patriotic Front. The idea was for ZANU and ZAPU to unite under one name and one leader. But not everyone in ZANU wanted unity with ZAPU, especially not under the leadership of Joshua Nkomo.
However, according to Dumiso Dabengwa, Tongogara strongly supported unity with ZAPU. Dabengwa said Tongo believed Joshua Nkomo was supposed to become president of the united party because he saw him as the natural national leader. In Tongogara’s view, Mugabe was better suited to an administrative role, such as secretary general. Dabengwa also claimed that Tongogara openly warned that Mugabe’s leadership would be a disaster, and that he wanted the leadership question settled at Lancaster House.
Six days after the Lancaster House Agreement was signed, Tongogara died in a car crash in Mozambique. This was only four months before Zimbabwe’s independence. The official story says it was an accident but because of the timing, many people have always questioned it.
So was it just a normal accident?
Your guess is as good as mine.
After Tongo's death, Solomon Mujuru who by now was second in command, took over as ZANLA commander. Mujuru would go on to become Zimbabwe's first black ZNA commander in August 1981.
TAFFY THEMAN
