A black member of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts wearing his uniform

ZIMSEC O Level History Notes: The Struggle for Independence in Colonial Zimbabwe 1900-1980: Nyadzonya raid

  • The Rhodesian Security Forces with the help of part-time soldiers organized a major counter-offensive attack on 2 May 1976
  • Rhodesian Selous Scouts on 9 August 1976 besieged a ZANLA military camp in Mozambique at Nyadzonya and attacked it
  • There were about 5,000 guerrillas and hundreds of refugees.
  • The Selous Scouts were 72 in number and they wore FRELIMO uniforms,
  • The whites among them had black ski masks,
  • They also attached FRELIMO license plates and painted their vehicles in FRELIMO colours in disguise White soldiers wore black ski masks
  • They crossed to Mozambique at about 0005 hours and greeted FRLIMO forces as they drove by
  • They got to the ZANLA camp at around 0800 hours,
  • They were allowed entry and
  • they went on to set up their positions around 4,000 guerrillas
  • When they were ready they shouted the words “Zimbabwe tatora!” (We have taken Zimbabwe/Zimbabwe is now ours )
  • They began firing and only stopped when there was no movement on the ground
  • They killed more than 1000 ZANLA forces and only four of the Selous Scouts were wounded lightly

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