Bonyongwe launches revealing book

Talks About 2017 Military Coup

Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) former Director-General Happyton Bonyongwe, the longest-serving head of the country’s state security service under the late ex-president Robert Mugabe, has launched a cautiously revealing autobiography titled One Among Many: My contribution to the Zimbabwean story.

Bonyongwe’s memoirs – an intriguing tale and historical account about his life – was launched this morning at The Nest at Thirty, 30 Domboshawa Road (Hellensville), Harare, by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.

Chiwenga gave a glowing account of Bonyongwe’s history and life of service.

He described him as a loyal, humble and dedicated public servant did his best for his country.

This confirmed that there was no bad blood between Chiwenga and Bonyongwe caused by the November 2017 against Mugabe as widely speculated.

Bonyongwe actually says one day he spoke to Chiwenga during the coup seeking his permission to go Blue Roof to meet Mugabe in the midst of the coup.

Chiwenga said at the book launch that he was instrumental in helping Bonyongwe advance his military career and was also involved his marriage process with Willia Madzingura, his wife who was present at the book launch.

The book, obtained by The NewsHawks in advance, has 23 sections, which include his “family background and early life, education and political history, liberation struggle, war intensification and loss of a father, officer cadet training, deployment to Rhodesia and the ceasefire, serving in the Zimbabwe National Army, the social side (outside the military), army staff training, Brigadier-General training and operations, further education endeavours, higher defence echelons and departure from the army, the headquarters of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Congo war, the land question and land reform, the West’s response to land reform, from the Desk of CIO DG, the economic implosion, 2008 elections and the Global Political Agreement, national security in the inclusive government, committee of intelligence and security services of Africa, the 2013 elections, the impact of science and technology on security and intelligence work, surviving the storm, adieus to the CIO and public service, and finally the national question: whither Zimbabwe”.

The autobiography portrays Bonyongwe’s life history, experiences and achievements in a lucid, coherent and gripping narrative. He devotes significant time and space on his origins as the entry point to his book.

Upfront, Bonyongwe, who hails from Honde Valley, Manicaland province, although his father Elisha Kumbuyani came from Chipinge where his relatives, including grandfather Mabuya and his ancestors originate from, reveals who really he is genealogically, tracing his history back to his Nguni (Ndau/Shangani) roots from the Mhlanga clan.

His clan names include Mhlanga and Dube, ordinarily two different Nguni surnames, but it is not clear how those relate and got intertwined in his family.

His father Kumbuyani and mother Celia Mbavhumana, came from Mount Selinda, Chipinge, under Chief Mapungwana.Yet as a product of a multi-cultural society; the story of his ethnicity and identity manifests itself as more of a social rather than a biological construction.

Bonyongwe, born Happy before colonial administrators changed his name to Happyton, also identifies himself with the Shumba totem because of where his family settled in Honde Valley and the community around Muparutsa Business Centre where he grew up.

Admittedly, he says he is not good with totems as part of the foundation of his self-identity, although he explains that they play an important social role in African culture.Shedding light on his roots, Bonyongwe says his people, the Ndau, are mainly found in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, Manicaland, from where his father migrated to Honde Valley.

He says the Ndau people are a “subset” of the Shona and the language itself is a “Shona dialect”, but his origins are genealogically Nguni, although his family was referred to by the community as Shangani.In the current constitution, Ndau is no longer identified as a Shona dialect, but one of the 16 official languages in Zimbabwe.Bonyongwe, who comes from a well-off background by standards of the time, narrates how he grew up, left his village to join the struggle, fought in the liberation war from 1975 to 1980, came back home, joined the army from independence to 1998, the CIO from 1998 to 2017 and his seven weeks stint as Justice minister just before the coup which ousted Mugabe.

Some of the most interesting parts of the book include his 19 years of service in the CIO, the DRC war, emergence of the now defunct opposition MDC, land reform, elections, the Equatorial Guinea counter coup by Zimbabwe, Mugabe’s succession and the November 2017 coup.Bonyongwe served as the seventh CIO Director-General after Ken Flower who was at the helm from 1963 to 1981; Derrick Robinson (1981-1985); Elias Mutevera (1985-1990); Elleck Mashingaidze (1990-1997); Shadreck Chipanga (1998); Elisha Muzonzini (1998-2002); Bonyongwe (2002-2017) and Isaac Moyo (2017 to present).

A reluctant politician and a spymaster who likes operating in the shadows, Bonyongwe says the main cause of the coup was Mugabe’s succession battle.

The succession power struggle was the catalyst of the coup, he says, although a cumulative chain of events led to that.

He narrates events leading to the coup and how he survived the political storm of the time.

He says in 2009, the then Minister of State Security Sydney Sekeramayi and him as CIO boss commissioned a well-researched and comprehensive document by done by intelligence experts advising Mugabe that he needed to address the succession issue, with examples from Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and China.Sekeramayi went on to submit the paper to Mugabe, but “his body language” was “negative” and it was subsequently ignored.By refusing to address the succession issue, a major dynamic in Zimbabwe’s national politics at the time, Mugabe sowed the seeds of the coup.Bonyongwe says in 2015 while they were returning from a United Nations General Assembly summit, he also gave Mugabe a report on succession during a flight in the presence of former first Lady Grace Mugabe, trying to persuade him to retire.Bonyongwe went on to have a meeting with Grace after that.She expressed grave concern over the issue and wanted Mugabe to rest; have a dignified exit.They even thought of asking former Namibian president Sam Nujoma or Mozambican ex-president Joachim Chissano to intervene, but feared Mugabe would erupt and call them “sellouts”.

In the end, Mugabe refused to resolve the succession issue by retiring voluntarily and as a result the country inexorably slid into a power struggle crisis leading to the coup.

Bonyongwe narrates events leading to the coup through his lens as Justice minister and former CIO boss, remarking Mugabe had left it too late to exit with dignity.

So he was ignominiously removed in the end.